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DaftnDirect
Honored Contributor
February 28, 2018
Question

Maplin collapse. A sad day.

Just heard that Maplin has collapsed into administration.


It's sad news for those of us who enjoyed wondering around the store, getting inspiration for those little electronics projects we like to mess about with. It was also a useful place for the occasional emergency PC component purchase... for when you just can't wait for an on-line order to come though. With the disappearance of Tandy (RadioShack) and now Maplin, my high street is becoming a much less geeky and altogether less appealing place to visit.


It's obviously worse news for the 2,500 UK staff who work in the 200 stores and I'd like to wish well for the future.

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    DaftnDirectAuthor
    Honored Contributor
    February 28, 2018
    You'll always get staff that know and staff that don't. Same thing with PC World (before it became a white goods retailer) some staff didn't have a clue, some staff were enthusiasts... depends on the store. I suggest someone arguing over gigabyte being a brand was pretty unique... unless you were arguing over the Gigabyte printed on the box of a  a Gigabyte branded Hdd! My point is, having a bricks & mortar option is better than not having the option.

    I disagree with the them being overpriced too... unless you mean a few percent. My PSU was probably 5% above online price which is fair enough given a physical store overheads, that's life, and it saved my bacon getting some work finished that day.

    Don't get me wrong, 95% or the electronics I buy comes online but that doesn't mean Im happy about losing the other 5% option. 
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    LZoltowski
    Inspiring
    February 28, 2018

    Zenbane said:


    LZoltowski said:

    I blame Amazon, I increasingly get almost everything from there, even shampoo or basic groceries.



    Amazon is definitely causing a lot of these closures. I have a few favorite locals that closed up shop as well in recent months. The worst part about it (for me) is that I hate ordering from Amazon. They screw up more than 50% of my orders.

    Never had an issue with them, and I can seemingly return items that I've had for a year with no questions asked. Just recently I returned my Bose QuietComforts because I scratched them, got a new pair no hassle. An electric oil heater broke (well out of warranty) .. returned and refunded with no questions, they even arranged to have it picked up at no extra cost. Their customer support is second to none. I ordered a GPU once from another retailer, wanted to return it because I ordered the wrong thing by mistake, too 5 weeks to get it sorted!!!
    Core i7-7700k @ 4.9 Ghz | 32 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance @ 3000Mhz | 2x 1TB Samsung Evo | 2x 4GB WD Black ASUS MAXIMUS IX HERO | MSI AERO GTX 1080 OC @ 2000Mhz | Corsair Carbide Series 400C White (RGB FTW!) Be kind to one another :)
    LZoltowski
    Inspiring
    February 28, 2018

    DaftnDirect said:

    You'll always get staff that know and staff that don't. Same thing with PC World (before it became a white goods retailer) some staff didn't have a clue, some staff were enthusiasts... depends on the store. I suggest someone arguing over gigabyte being a brand was pretty unique... unless you were arguing over the Gigabyte printed on the box of a  a Gigabyte branded Hdd! My point is, having a bricks & mortar option is better than not having the option.

    I disagree with the them being overpriced too... unless you mean a few percent. My PSU was probably 5% above online price which is fair enough given a physical store overheads, that's life, and it saved my bacon getting some work finished that day.

    Don't get me wrong, 95% or the electronics I buy comes online but that doesn't mean Im happy about losing the other 5% option. 

    Agree with brick and mortar 100%, when I went to PC world I got to check out and play with several DSLR's ... I chose one because of how it felt in my hand. Mind you I left the store and bought it on Amazon :/
    Core i7-7700k @ 4.9 Ghz | 32 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance @ 3000Mhz | 2x 1TB Samsung Evo | 2x 4GB WD Black ASUS MAXIMUS IX HERO | MSI AERO GTX 1080 OC @ 2000Mhz | Corsair Carbide Series 400C White (RGB FTW!) Be kind to one another :)
    Anonymous
    February 28, 2018
    Bloody hell, awful news but the shops had gone noticeably down hill during the last 15 years or so, but it was still good to pick up things if you were in a rush to get something that day. :(
    DaftnDirectAuthor
    Honored Contributor
    February 28, 2018


     Agree with brick and mortar 100%, when I went to PC world I got to check out and play with several DSLR's ... I chose one because of how it felt in my hand. Mind you I left the store and bought it on Amazon :/


    Yep, I'm definitely guilty of doing that too.


    If it's only a few % difference though I'll stick with the store, returns are just soo much less hassle. I don't want to keep plugging John Lewis but the last TV I bought was a big purchase, Sony had just released its Android TV platform & I took the plunge on a 55 incher. 3 weeks after I bought it, they reduced the price by £350, just took the receipt in & they refunded the difference there & then. That's the kind of thing we'll never get from an on-line store.


    A big loss for me was Yoyotech, they used to have a superb little store just off Tottenham Court Road, must have spent a fortune in there... on-line only now. Don't even know what computer stores are left on TCR now.

    13700K, RTX 4070 Ti, Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming, Corsair H150i Capellix, 64GB Corsair Vengence DDR5, Corsair 5000D Airflow, 4TB Samsung 870 , 2TB Samsung 990 Pro x 2, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, Quest, 2, 3, Pro, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (10.0.26100)
    nalex66
    nalex66
    Honored Contributor
    February 28, 2018
    I've pretty much stopped buying retail for PC stuff in the past few years. I get everything from New Egg or Amazon now. Actually, it's not just PC stuff. More and more, I'm finding that I just can't get what I want from retail stores, especially if I'm at all picky about what brand or model I'm looking for.
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    Anonymous
    February 28, 2018
    Yup, I got my Rift and Touch controllers from John Lewis for the same reason. Their after-sales support and customer service is second to none here in the UK.
    LZoltowski
    Inspiring
    February 28, 2018




     Agree with brick and mortar 100%, when I went to PC world I got to check out and play with several DSLR's ... I chose one because of how it felt in my hand. Mind you I left the store and bought it on Amazon :/


    Yep, I'm definitely guilty of doing that too.


    If it's only a few % difference though I'll stick with the store, returns are just soo much less hassle. I don't want to keep plugging John Lewis but the last TV I bought was a big purchase, Sony had just released its Android TV platform & I took the plunge on a 55 incher. 3 weeks after I bought it, they reduced the price by £350, just took the receipt in & they refunded the difference there & then. That's the kind of thing we'll never get from an on-line store.


    A big loss for me was Yoyotech, they used to have a superb little store just off Tottenham Court Road, must have spent a fortune in there... on-line only now. Don't even know what computer stores are left on TCR now.



     Maan I remember getting a Voodoo 2 card and a Creative Labs DVD Encore drive (with decoder card) from TCR, it used to be so lively ... only a few left now. AND YOU COULD HAGGLE!
    Core i7-7700k @ 4.9 Ghz | 32 GB DDR4 Corsair Vengeance @ 3000Mhz | 2x 1TB Samsung Evo | 2x 4GB WD Black ASUS MAXIMUS IX HERO | MSI AERO GTX 1080 OC @ 2000Mhz | Corsair Carbide Series 400C White (RGB FTW!) Be kind to one another :)
    DaftnDirectAuthor
    Honored Contributor
    February 28, 2018




     Maan I remember getting a Voodoo 2 card and a Creative Labs DVD Encore drive (with decoder card) from TCR, it used to be so lively ... only a few left now. AND YOU COULD HAGGLE!


    haha I think the first time I ever haggled in a shop was in TCR getting a Blaupunkt car stereo for my sister's birthday...must have been 30 years ago! Watched my first proper surround-sound demo in a shop there too, the Praxis explosion shockwave from Star trek VI, must have been off VHS cos that would have been 91 or 92, remember it vividly!


    That's another thing we're going to lose without shops, getting lustful over tech demos, it's definitely stimulated my spending over the years.

    13700K, RTX 4070 Ti, Asus ROG Strix Z790-A Gaming, Corsair H150i Capellix, 64GB Corsair Vengence DDR5, Corsair 5000D Airflow, 4TB Samsung 870 , 2TB Samsung 990 Pro x 2, DK2, CV1, Rift-S, Quest, 2, 3, Pro, Windows 11 Pro 24H2 (10.0.26100)
    kojack
    kojack
    Honored Contributor
    February 28, 2018
    In australia we had 3 main electronic store chains:
    - Tandy (in america the Tandy corporation owned Radio Shack). Sold some electronics components, but turned into a household gadget store, was bought by Woolworths (grocery store), then bought by Kogan and became online only.
    - Dick Smith Electronics. This was the most common components store. Tons of cool stuff. It was bought out by Woolworths, transitioned into a Tandy style household gadget store, then was bought by Kogan two years ago and became online only. (deja vu?)
    - Jaycar. This is the only well known component chain still running physical stores in Aus. They are definitely a gadget store (drones, toys, etc), but there's still aisles of resistors, capacitors, switches, sockets, etc. Plus a whole arduino section. I'm expecting them to be bought by Woolworths then Kogan.

    From my experience, the real big one against these stores is Aliexpress. While it can take 6-8 weeks to ship, you can bulk buy huge amounts of components for a fraction of the price.
    For example, I just bought 12 Arduino Unos, each with a usb cable, for a total of $44au. But a single Uno with no cable from Jaycar is $29.99au. A pack of 8 resistors is $0.48au at Jaycar, but a pack of 100 is $0.87au on Aliexpress.

    The advantage of Jaycar style stores is I can walk in and buy on the spot. But when I don't mind waiting, I'll buy from Aliexpress. Plus they have some crazy stuff, look at this: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Wholesale-Heavy-Duty-225A-3p-Double-Throw-Knife-Disconnect-Switch-Delivered-Safety-Knife-Blade-Switches/32694816812.html
    That's a 225amp knife switch (3 pole double throw) for only $29.57 (it's on a 12% off sale for the next 10 hours). Imagine hooking that up to, well, anything!

    Speaking of Aliexpress, the 30kpps laser galvanometer I ordered just left Shenzen 6 hours ago and is on it's way to Aus. :)


    It is sad to see the physical stores go though.
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