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Old 4th Jun 2018, 1:57 pm   #561
PsychMan
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Default Re: Maplin stores

My local branch is not long for the world. They've had the "last few days" sign up for a few weeks now, very little stock left and 50% of the store cordoned off. Not sure why they're still open to be honest. Good for the staff I suppose.

I bought a component draw unit before I went on holiday as I wanted one for a souvenir, £30 but decent components inside (including lots of audiotechnica styli), not a massive bargain in my view but I wanted one. They only have one left now that's pretty sparse on parts and has 1 broken draw for £25.

Good luck to whoever takes the name, at least if the site is redone (the old one was horrendous) and their focus shifts they may be worth a look
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Old 4th Jun 2018, 2:43 pm   #562
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Default Re: Maplin stores

I think the Rugby branch has now closed. I went past it on Friday and had 2 days left displayed though the shop had closed early so this branch must have ceased. Not that there was much when I went in a few days prior to Friday. Just the 2 central isles available, the rest cordoned off.

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Old 4th Jun 2018, 5:35 pm   #563
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Default Re: Maplin stores

Quote:
Just the 2 central isles available, the rest cordoned off.
That had me guessing....I had a feeling that there was a spelling error, but couldn't quite place it. I think you mean "aisles", but I suppose I could be wrong on that.....maybe you meant the island displays?
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Old 4th Jun 2018, 5:58 pm   #564
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Default Re: Maplin stores

Doncaster closes next Monday at 6pm. Google says it is already closed....
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Old 4th Jun 2018, 7:23 pm   #565
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Default Re: Maplin stores

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Originally Posted by PsychMan View Post
My local branch is not long for the world. They've had the "last few days" sign up for a few weeks now, very little stock left and 50% of the store cordoned off. Not sure why they're still open to be honest. Good for the staff I suppose.
All the open branches have a "Last few days" sign in the window regardless of when they are closing. Apparently the administrators told the stores to do this. Maybe they think it will encourage more people to go inside. Probably trading standards would have something to say regarding this but the administrators probably know by the time trading standards did anything to stop them all the stores would have closed anyway.

When the Cheshire Oaks branch closed down they had a 7 day coundown in the window.
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Old 5th Jun 2018, 1:21 pm   #566
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Default Re: Maplin stores

Went into Maplins Gloucester today while my wife went to the supermarket next door and picked up 3 big bags of mixed components for £3 a bag.
Bags were sealed so no idea what was in them so a big lucky dip really.
Glad I did buy them as there are loads of hi fi gold plated plugs/sockets etc etc in that I would use .
Bags said OVER 80% off .
Lots of battery holders fuses caps allsorts.
Only a few days left now until they close.
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Old 5th Jun 2018, 1:40 pm   #567
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Went into Maplins Gloucester today while my wife went to the supermarket next door and picked up 3 big bags of mixed components for £3 a bag.
That's pretty good and well worth a punt at £3. My branch is only offering single value component bags like that which really aren't appealing and demonstrably cheaper from RS if you do
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Old 7th Jun 2018, 11:56 pm   #568
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Default Re: Maplin stores

Maplin was mentioned on Question time tonight [51 minutes in] as an example of people going into the store and then buying on line, given today's news re what is [apparently] causing the potential death of the High Street! Unfortunately that very reasonable chap thought that punters exploited the "expert" staff before buying on line, which was probaly the only weak spot in his argumen. The whole program is available via "our" BBC I-Player and Richard Madeley does makes sense. I don't like smoothies but that was the OTHER Richard.

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Old 8th Jun 2018, 7:04 am   #569
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Default Re: Maplin stores

I can’t say I haven’t walked into a Maplin before, found something, looked at the price on a web site somewhere, gone pfffff rather loudly and left the shop and ordered it on my phone.
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Old 8th Jun 2018, 10:00 am   #570
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Default Re: Maplin stores

Me also. Though sometimes it's a battle with one's self - "much cheaper online...but...want..for..project now....Grrr"

My recent trips after the closing down reductions have consisted of me picking up an item, searching ebay and RS etc and if any cheaper putting it back.

Speaking of RS, they seem to have extended their deadline for next day to 8.30pm now - helped me last night when I was running some new cat 6 to my workshop and wanted to get a faceplate for today
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Old 8th Jun 2018, 11:23 am   #571
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Visited Leicester branch for the last time yesterday. Now has a sign on the door saying '5 days to go' so closure is imminent. There was nothing much left except for a few batteries and cables, leads and odds and ends, and rather a lot of resistor packs. Very sad.

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Old 8th Jun 2018, 12:07 pm   #572
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Default Re: Maplin stores

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I can’t say I haven’t walked into a Maplin before, found something, looked at the price on a web site somewhere, gone pfffff rather loudly and left the shop and ordered it on my phone.
Yes but the web site hasn't provided you with a convenient air conditioned shop perhaps with car parking where you have a look at the item in the flesh and perhaps even see it working before buying.

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Old 8th Jun 2018, 12:57 pm   #573
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Default Re: Maplin stores

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Originally Posted by dave walsh View Post
Maplin was mentioned on Question time tonight [51 minutes in] as an example of people going into the store and then buying on line
Presumably Maplins charged a stocking fee to suppliers and I would have though an additional placement fee if they had shelf / display space? I think this is pretty typical now in retail. This would have compensated them for customers who looked in store and then bought online.

There is no reason why Maplins could not have had different store (get it now) and web based (get it in 1-2 days) prices. They certainly had some web only items.

I pretty sure the debt that was loaded onto Maplins books was a much much larger factor in its collapse.
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Old 8th Jun 2018, 2:50 pm   #574
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Yes but the web site hasn't provided you with a convenient air conditioned shop perhaps with car parking where you have a look at the item in the flesh and perhaps even see it working before buying.
No, but that's exactly what the distance selling regulations do for internet shopping..... you have up to 14 days, from receipt, to inspect internet purchases, in the comfort of your own home, before deciding if you wish to keep them, or return for full refund. You may or may not need to pay the return postage cost (sales T&C's determine), but all other costs are fully refundable by law.

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Old 8th Jun 2018, 4:37 pm   #575
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Default Re: Maplin stores

While on a trip elsewhere I passed the Swindon (Greenbridge) store today and popped in. Signs up saying "Last five days"...

Not much left:

Loads of clingfilm-wrapped trays of plugs/sockets/connectors, but I don't think I need 100 F-connectors, 20 4-pin CB-microphone plugs or 20 3.5mm mono jack-plugs - even for only a tenner a time.

They are still trying to sell 13a-to-IEC309 kettle-leads for £2 a time. Most people I know can't give them away.

No SLAs or significantly-discounted AA/C/D rechargeables left. A few of their own-brand AA primary-batteries but still not worthily cheaper than Screwfix!

They appear to have been clearing out the warehouse and got down to the Stone Age: there were quite a few things like analog-modem-to-BT-plug cables/adapters, plastic and aluminium "D"-connector covers, 9-to-25-pin D-converters, D-connector gender-changers, 10-metre-long VGA cables, some SCART stuff, as well as a VGA-to-UHF-TV modulator or two. How very last-millennium!

As an epitaph for Maplin, I'm reminded of something I said to a friend after his relationship broke up.

"Don't feel sad because it's ended: feel happy because it happened".
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Old 8th Jun 2018, 5:17 pm   #576
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They are still trying to sell 13a-to-IEC309 kettle-leads for £2 a time. Most people I know can't give them away.
OK for us, I also have a lifetime's supply, but not everyone has or had the "usual source" at their disposal, and some are still reluctant to shop on the Internet. It's a long time since I shopped at Maplins I admit, but they are nevertheless a loss to many.
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Old 8th Jun 2018, 5:43 pm   #577
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They were just £1 at the Bedford store and of the right angle variety which I often find useful. Also had those 4mm plugs that fit into the old wander socket for 30p I think.
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Old 8th Jun 2018, 10:59 pm   #578
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Manchester Fort is now closed. On Monday I declined an offer to buy two boxes of large control knobs at 5p each, and bought six, only to find that I needed seven! By the time I got back on Thursday, they were closed for good.

For future projects I really will have to draw up a bill of materials well in advance.
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Old 9th Jun 2018, 2:30 am   #579
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Originally Posted by Goldie99 View Post

No, but that's exactly what the distance selling regulations do for internet shopping..... you have up to 14 days, from receipt, to inspect internet purchases, in the comfort of your own home, before deciding if you wish to keep them, or return for full refund. You may or may not need to pay the return postage cost (sales T&C's determine), but all other costs are fully refundable by law.

Alan
Getting the wrong thing and sending it back isn't actually the same as getting the right thing in the first place, which is what the "shop as showroom" does. Many things can now be ordered on specifications, but some things it's much better to check out before you buy. And it still remains that same day is actually same day with a shop (if they have stock, which Maplin sadly fell down on more and more as time went on).

On the latter point; Wednesday I did a Farnell order. What I didn't realise that because one part (the ones I really wanted) were Liege (Belgium) stock, and the rest (not so urgent) were UK stock, they despatched the UK parts and put the Liege parts on backorder, which meant having to cancel them from the order altogether and reorder separately so they'll be shipped next day from Liege.

"Next day" from today (Friday) being next Tuesday.

Which does kind of bring up the issue of why these days everything still has this five day week and extra or not at all at the weekends and so on. But for now, the comparison is going to a shop and getting the thing in about an hour, or waiting potentially several days.

Then sending it back because it wasn't quite what you thought you were getting, getting a refund, ordering again...
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Old 9th Jun 2018, 5:12 am   #580
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Default Re: Maplin stores

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Then sending it back because it wasn't quite what you thought you were getting, getting a refund, ordering again...
You forgot 'waiting around all day for the parcel to come'.

Seriously, I hate mail order. In general they say they will deliver between 8:00 and 18:00. So you have to wait around all day for a delivery (which often comes middle of the afternoon, but of course you can't be sure of this). And there's nothing I do that can really be done while waiting, simply because you have to drop everything to answer the door for the parcel. I do not want to be interrupted while assembling some bit of machinery (particularly not if holding something against spring tension while trying to get the clip in place), soldering up a PCB, doing some bit of design work (where had I got to with calculating the value of that capacitor..), etc. Going to a trade counter actually wastes less time, I know where it is, I can design with calculator and notebook (paper, not computer) on the bus and know when I get to a bus stop close to where I want to be to not start the next bit of design.

With the demise of Maplin I am seriously wondering where I am going to go for odd-size lithium coin cells, SLA batteries, Servisol, battery holders, etc.
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