Sorry to hear that Maplin are going, but it is not surprising.
I do not feel that they were well run. In particular the components stocked were often very poorly selected, with needless duplications and needless stock holding.
As an example, they offered 1 amp silicon rectifier diodes in a wide selection of different PIV ratings But why ? the 1000 volt ones were so cheap that there was no need to stock the lower voltage items.
And as for 5mm LEDs, they had a vast selection despite the fact that almost any requirement for a 5mm LED could be met by a choice of just 2, in each colour. Brightest available, and cheapest available.
Add to that some wrongly described items such as "12 volt fluorescent tubes" Er no, the voltage is determined by the ballast, the tube is the same for 12 volts or for mains.
And what about the incandescent lamps marked "240 volts AC only" I wonder what would happen if I connected one to DC !
Or for that matter the "240 volts AC only" mains flex, this I used on 12 volts DC without ill effect
