Maplin stores - Page 26 - UK Vintage Radio Repair and Restoration Discussion Forum

Davewantsone · 11th May 2018, 9:44 am

I went to Maplins in Wigan earlier this week. I was loking for a paper shreader, but they were still more expensive than Argos.
I was quite surprised to see they were trying to sell 800, 470 ohm quarter watt (other values available) resistors for £24. I usually buy mixed value packs off the internet. I recently bought 400 for less than £2 including postage!
I wonder if anyone will buy them and for what project?

Radio Wrangler · 11th May 2018, 10:13 am

It sounds like the bean counters brought in to wind the firm up have no more idea of the market prices of components and finished goods than the managers of Maplin had.

David

WaveyDipole · 11th May 2018, 12:14 pm

Somebody mentioned the component drawers a while back. In Leicester they had ther same, component drawers with odds and ends for about £25-£30 each. Just recently they removed the components and are selling just the component drawers only for £25 each?

And yes, they also had bags of resistors at silly prices. Someone must have got a good deal on the £899 drone though. It had eventually gone down to £539 and got sold. Still plenty of unsold ones there though.

I was tempted to buy those multicoloured LED strips with remote, but even with discount, they were priced above eBay prices for what looks very much like the identical re-packaged good.

On my last 3 visits when I have been in town I have been in and left with nothing. I have seen people coming in and wandering around and also leaving with nothing.

I guess the closing of the online store means they have shifted most things from the warehouse to the stores? I guess the next step will be consolidating the remaining stock into a few stores with high footfall and we will start to see stores closing.

qualityten · 11th May 2018, 12:15 pm

Inspired by this thread, I popped into the Maplins in Oxford Road, Manchester yesterday. Bought some small banana sockets--at slightly more than I could get them online--but was pleased to get two bags of 630V large polypropylene caps (2 x 8uf and 2 x 10uF) for £10. A fellow customer and I shook our heads at the £70+ still being asked for their used component drawers with fairly random contents.

PsychMan · 11th May 2018, 2:08 pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Davewantsone

I was quite surprised to see they were trying to sell 800, 470 ohm quarter watt (other values available) resistors for £24. I usually buy mixed value packs off the internet. I recently bought 400 for less than £2 including postage!
I wonder if anyone will buy them and for what project?

RS offer 1000 Vishay x 470 ohm resistors for £20 with free next day shipping

https://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/throu...stors/8764862/

MrBungle · 11th May 2018, 2:28 pm

Even better than that; RS cocked up the pricing a while back on the TE LR1F series resistors. I paid £1.87 for what I thought was 1000. Being 100 ohms, I get through a ton of them so I thought I'd buy a couple of bags.

Two boxes of 4000 turned up. Phoned RS and they said keep 'em!

Oldcodger · 11th May 2018, 11:26 pm

Mr B- just nip into Asda and pick up a pack of their own Black with red writing. Almost a good as Duracell, but at a fraction of the cost.

Maplin- our local says closing in four days, with signs giving discounts up to 80%. Permanant staff have jobs to go to, but are waiting till the death, as that way they get redundancy.

cheerfulcharlie · 12th May 2018, 12:00 pm

With Maplin sinking into the sunset I have been getting a lot of online traffic from a company called 'Rapid Components' which seems to be the sort of business model that Maplin should have gone forward with...however they seem very expensive indeed for small components..unless I am not reading the quantity right.

G8HQP Dave · 12th May 2018, 1:54 pm

In the Solihull branch they appear to be trying to sell empty plastic component cabinets for £60 each. Maybe I misread the sign, as £6 might be a fairer price for a used cabinet with Maplin part number stickers on every drawer. A section of normal metal retail shelving is £100!!

Sean Williams · 12th May 2018, 3:23 pm

Speaking from experience, the shop fittings and fixtures can be had much cheaper by negotiation/quantity......

MrBungle · 12th May 2018, 4:28 pm

Actually the value is usually negative on these. You have to pay people to take fittings away I hear. They're trying to avoid that cost.

AC/HL · 12th May 2018, 5:05 pm

The Administrators aren't Customers. Faced with a long goodbye and like as not fixed costs, everything that goes out of the door is a minor success. They're probably grateful for our advertising, keep it up!

David G4EBT · 12th May 2018, 5:35 pm

Went into the Bradford branch on Weds. The had bandoliered packs of 1,000 single value resistors (eg 39R) reduced from £81 to £24.00. Huh? I'm trying to envisage a retail customer who'd need 1,000 one off values of resistors, and if they did, why they've be willing to pay £24.00 for them, let alone £81.00. Basically, just landfill.

I did however buy two 250G reels of enamelled copper wire for £3.60 - at least £10 a reel below what they'd have cost if bought directly from Wires & Co. (Whether I'll ever use them is another matter entirely!).

IanBland · 13th May 2018, 1:37 am

Talking of job losses, I feel sorry for the person at the warehouse who used to split those bandoliered resistors into pairs of individuals and dispatch them to the shops for restocking.

Dai Corner · 13th May 2018, 7:06 am

The chap I saw bagging up random selections of components which nobody was buying looked fairly glum too.

electronicskip · 13th May 2018, 7:32 am

Quote:

Originally Posted by MrBungle

Actually the value is usually negative on these. You have to pay people to take fittings away I hear. They're trying to avoid that cost.

Even if they are made of metal, the value is almost zero as scrap metal prices are not good at the moment.

ortek_service · 13th May 2018, 11:22 am

I popped into the Boston Branch last Sunday, whilst passing it for the Dambusters radio rally, and heard them say it was closing for good the following (this) Sunday.
- I've been unable to find any info online about which stores are closing when

But I couldn't really find anything to buy that was a good deal, and reductions weren't any more than at Northampton a few weeks before, despite the imminent closure.
They had component packs - even a belt kit they'd dug out still for over £10!
And their behind the counter used component drawers at £20 each with no contents (I'd previously seen these in Northampton branch for nearly £30 - after 70% from itemised till receipt of components in them. Not sure if this included the price of the drawer unit, as very few parts in them - 2 elect. caps in one drawer, 1off TO3 transistor in another so about what their usual stock levels were).

Fixture & Fittings were now also on-sale, and reminded me of when Woolworths closed down.

I recall whilst still at school in the mid 1980's, getting trains to Perry Barr when a branch had recently opened there when they only had a few branches and it was all very good then (compared to the alternative of Tandy's with their 5pk of 1/4W resistors for 99p! and was only really worth going to for the monthly free battery 'club').
But I had rarely gone into one these days, due to high prices and little stock
- £5 for a watch battery, that they only had 1 in stock in about 1 store in the W.Mids. that I got a decent brand one from a UK supplier for around £1 delivered off Amazon etc.

It wasn't too bad having to pay for a catalogue, as struggled to get one at all from CPC and had to pay more for an Electromail one when RS wouldn't deal direct to the public. But after all the component data etc. went - like most of the components - I didn't buy one for the toys.

A sad end of an era, and now often resort to eBay to get parts from China at prices usually cheaper than postage from many UK suppliers.

I might try and pop into one on the way to the NVCF, just to see if there is anything at a good price.

Station X · 13th May 2018, 4:23 pm

I visited the Ipswich store today. I didn't see anything I needed or even wanted, so I didn't get round to considering the prices.

The price of the lucky dip component drawers is a joke!

MrBungle · 13th May 2018, 4:47 pm

Apparently Blackburn had some bargains!

https://i.redd.it/bf7ibcev9fx01.jpg

PsychMan · 15th May 2018, 4:04 pm

I visited my local branch again to see if they had followed suit on component drawer units, unfortunately not. Still priced £35 - £75, depending on what's inside. I noticed one draw labelled "gold plated fuse" - it wants to be for that money.

I would like a drawer unit as a souvenir of my (mostly fruitless) trips to Maplin, but I won't pay more than it costs to get a new one from Screwfix.

11th May 2018, 9:44 am	#501
Davewantsone Hexode Join Date: Dec 2011 Location: Wigan, Greater Manchester, UK. Posts: 291	Re: Maplin stores I went to Maplins in Wigan earlier this week. I was loking for a paper shreader, but they were still more expensive than Argos. I was quite surprised to see they were trying to sell 800, 470 ohm quarter watt (other values available) resistors for £24. I usually buy mixed value packs off the internet. I recently bought 400 for less than £2 including postage! I wonder if anyone will buy them and for what project?

11th May 2018, 10:13 am	#502
Radio Wrangler Moderator Join Date: Mar 2012 Location: Fife, Scotland, UK. Posts: 22,858	Re: Maplin stores It sounds like the bean counters brought in to wind the firm up have no more idea of the market prices of components and finished goods than the managers of Maplin had. David __________________ Can't afford the volcanic island yet, but the plans for my monorail and the goons' uniforms are done

11th May 2018, 12:14 pm	#503
WaveyDipole Nonode Join Date: Mar 2013 Location: Leicester, UK Posts: 2,532	Re: Maplin stores Somebody mentioned the component drawers a while back. In Leicester they had ther same, component drawers with odds and ends for about £25-£30 each. Just recently they removed the components and are selling just the component drawers only for £25 each? And yes, they also had bags of resistors at silly prices. Someone must have got a good deal on the £899 drone though. It had eventually gone down to £539 and got sold. Still plenty of unsold ones there though. I was tempted to buy those multicoloured LED strips with remote, but even with discount, they were priced above eBay prices for what looks very much like the identical re-packaged good. On my last 3 visits when I have been in town I have been in and left with nothing. I have seen people coming in and wandering around and also leaving with nothing. I guess the closing of the online store means they have shifted most things from the warehouse to the stores? I guess the next step will be consolidating the remaining stock into a few stores with high footfall and we will start to see stores closing.

11th May 2018, 12:15 pm	#504
qualityten Octode Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Wallasey, UK. Posts: 1,310	Re: Maplin stores Inspired by this thread, I popped into the Maplins in Oxford Road, Manchester yesterday. Bought some small banana sockets--at slightly more than I could get them online--but was pleased to get two bags of 630V large polypropylene caps (2 x 8uf and 2 x 10uF) for £10. A fellow customer and I shook our heads at the £70+ still being asked for their used component drawers with fairly random contents.

11th May 2018, 2:28 pm	#506
MrBungle Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: London, UK. Posts: 3,687	Re: Maplin stores Even better than that; RS cocked up the pricing a while back on the TE LR1F series resistors. I paid £1.87 for what I thought was 1000. Being 100 ohms, I get through a ton of them so I thought I'd buy a couple of bags. Two boxes of 4000 turned up. Phoned RS and they said keep 'em!

11th May 2018, 11:26 pm	#507
Oldcodger Nonode Join Date: Oct 2014 Location: West Midlands, UK. Posts: 2,181	Re: Maplin stores Mr B- just nip into Asda and pick up a pack of their own Black with red writing. Almost a good as Duracell, but at a fraction of the cost. Maplin- our local says closing in four days, with signs giving discounts up to 80%. Permanant staff have jobs to go to, but are waiting till the death, as that way they get redundancy.

12th May 2018, 12:00 pm	#508
cheerfulcharlie Heptode Join Date: May 2009 Location: Birmingham, West Midlands, UK. Posts: 708	Re: Maplin stores With Maplin sinking into the sunset I have been getting a lot of online traffic from a company called 'Rapid Components' which seems to be the sort of business model that Maplin should have gone forward with...however they seem very expensive indeed for small components..unless I am not reading the quantity right. Last edited by cheerfulcharlie; 12th May 2018 at 12:09 pm.

12th May 2018, 1:54 pm	#509
G8HQP Dave Rest in Peace Join Date: Sep 2008 Location: Solihull, West Midlands, UK. Posts: 4,872	Re: Maplin stores In the Solihull branch they appear to be trying to sell empty plastic component cabinets for £60 each. Maybe I misread the sign, as £6 might be a fairer price for a used cabinet with Maplin part number stickers on every drawer. A section of normal metal retail shelving is £100!!

12th May 2018, 3:23 pm	#510
Sean Williams Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: St.Ippolyts, Hitchin, Hertfordshire QRA IO91UW Posts: 3,517	Re: Maplin stores Speaking from experience, the shop fittings and fixtures can be had much cheaper by negotiation/quantity...... __________________ Engineers make things work and have spare bits when finished

12th May 2018, 4:28 pm	#511
MrBungle Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: London, UK. Posts: 3,687	Re: Maplin stores Actually the value is usually negative on these. You have to pay people to take fittings away I hear. They're trying to avoid that cost.

12th May 2018, 5:05 pm	#512
AC/HL Dekatron Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Heckmondwike, West Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 9,642	Re: Maplin stores The Administrators aren't Customers. Faced with a long goodbye and like as not fixed costs, everything that goes out of the door is a minor success. They're probably grateful for our advertising, keep it up!

12th May 2018, 5:35 pm	#513
David G4EBT Dekatron Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: Cottingham, East Yorkshire, UK. Posts: 5,760	Re: Maplin stores Went into the Bradford branch on Weds. The had bandoliered packs of 1,000 single value resistors (eg 39R) reduced from £81 to £24.00. Huh? I'm trying to envisage a retail customer who'd need 1,000 one off values of resistors, and if they did, why they've be willing to pay £24.00 for them, let alone £81.00. Basically, just landfill. I did however buy two 250G reels of enamelled copper wire for £3.60 - at least £10 a reel below what they'd have cost if bought directly from Wires & Co. (Whether I'll ever use them is another matter entirely!). __________________ David. BVWS Member. G-QRP Club member 1339.

13th May 2018, 1:37 am	#514
IanBland Hexode Join Date: May 2015 Location: Northampton, Northants, UK. Posts: 380	Re: Maplin stores Talking of job losses, I feel sorry for the person at the warehouse who used to split those bandoliered resistors into pairs of individuals and dispatch them to the shops for restocking.

13th May 2018, 7:06 am	#515
Dai Corner Hexode Join Date: Oct 2016 Location: Newport, South Wales, UK. Posts: 278	Re: Maplin stores The chap I saw bagging up random selections of components which nobody was buying looked fairly glum too.

13th May 2018, 11:22 am	#517
ortek_service Octode Join Date: May 2018 Location: Northampton, Northamptonshire, UK. Posts: 1,437	Re: Maplin stores I popped into the Boston Branch last Sunday, whilst passing it for the Dambusters radio rally, and heard them say it was closing for good the following (this) Sunday. - I've been unable to find any info online about which stores are closing when But I couldn't really find anything to buy that was a good deal, and reductions weren't any more than at Northampton a few weeks before, despite the imminent closure. They had component packs - even a belt kit they'd dug out still for over £10! And their behind the counter used component drawers at £20 each with no contents (I'd previously seen these in Northampton branch for nearly £30 - after 70% from itemised till receipt of components in them. Not sure if this included the price of the drawer unit, as very few parts in them - 2 elect. caps in one drawer, 1off TO3 transistor in another so about what their usual stock levels were). Fixture & Fittings were now also on-sale, and reminded me of when Woolworths closed down. I recall whilst still at school in the mid 1980's, getting trains to Perry Barr when a branch had recently opened there when they only had a few branches and it was all very good then (compared to the alternative of Tandy's with their 5pk of 1/4W resistors for 99p! and was only really worth going to for the monthly free battery 'club'). But I had rarely gone into one these days, due to high prices and little stock - £5 for a watch battery, that they only had 1 in stock in about 1 store in the W.Mids. that I got a decent brand one from a UK supplier for around £1 delivered off Amazon etc. It wasn't too bad having to pay for a catalogue, as struggled to get one at all from CPC and had to pay more for an Electromail one when RS wouldn't deal direct to the public. But after all the component data etc. went - like most of the components - I didn't buy one for the toys. A sad end of an era, and now often resort to eBay to get parts from China at prices usually cheaper than postage from many UK suppliers. I might try and pop into one on the way to the NVCF, just to see if there is anything at a good price.

13th May 2018, 4:23 pm	#518
Station X Moderator Join Date: Jan 2003 Location: Ipswich, Suffolk, IP4, UK. Posts: 21,286	Re: Maplin stores I visited the Ipswich store today. I didn't see anything I needed or even wanted, so I didn't get round to considering the prices. The price of the lucky dip component drawers is a joke! __________________ Graham. Forum Moderator Reach for your meter before you reach for your soldering iron.

13th May 2018, 4:47 pm	#519
MrBungle Dekatron Join Date: Jun 2016 Location: London, UK. Posts: 3,687	Re: Maplin stores Apparently Blackburn had some bargains! https://i.redd.it/bf7ibcev9fx01.jpg

15th May 2018, 4:04 pm	#520
PsychMan Octode Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Fleet, Hampshire, UK Posts: 1,764	Re: Maplin stores I visited my local branch again to see if they had followed suit on component drawer units, unfortunately not. Still priced £35 - £75, depending on what's inside. I noticed one draw labelled "gold plated fuse" - it wants to be for that money. I would like a drawer unit as a souvenir of my (mostly fruitless) trips to Maplin, but I won't pay more than it costs to get a new one from Screwfix.