Maplin administration

[tomparryharry]

I bought some heat sleeving this week from our local store in Cardiff. There were 8 staff (I counted them) for a sale for £2:50. Excellent service this time, but as I left, I thought "How do they cover the overheads?"

 

Now we know....

 

Ian.

[irishmail]

I read on the inter-web that Toys R Us have gone tits up. But I can not find the news link for it.

 

Terry.

Try this,

 

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43225248

[Robin2]

. However over the past couple of years the stock levels in the shops has been reduced and this has meant that if I wanted six switches for example there would only be four

I found this problem also - I was buying resistors IIRC. The guy in the shop said they didn't sell many of them. Well, what do the expect when they don't stock them.

 

And the stuff they did have was probably twice the price of other suppliers. I'm prepared to pay a small premium for the convenience of a shop, but there are limits.

 

My interest as a customer is in electronic parts associated with Arduinos and in recent years they seem to have focused their business on gadgets - drones, security systems etc - which I have no interest in.

 

I always thought it a pity that they did not team up with the likes of Rapid or RS Components to act as a convenient delivery point where you could order stuff an view it before making a final decision.

 

I'm sorry to see them go but it had got so I felt embarrassed going into the shop and walking out empty handed.

 

...R

[meil]

Hit the nail on the head there gismorail, the expense of having 6 switches sat on the shelf in 100 odd shops (600 switches worth of cost tied up) apposed to, say 100 switches in a low overhead, central warehouse on 'call off' from on line customers. Maplin simply can not compete unfortunately. It will be a sad loss to many modellers if it does go under, me included. 

 

Guy

With RS or Rapid giving next day delivery and probably half (at least) the price of Maplin why would I buy from Maplin?

[Oldddudders]

I fell out of love with Maplin when they seemed to stop sending stuff to France. This seemed odd in view of their boast about their warehouse being close to Southend (Rochford?) airport. And my visits to their shops revealed a concentration on consumer electronics stuff, rather than the switches etc I had been happy to buy by the dozen. The staff were "retail", rather than people who knew about techie stuff. Bad move. 

 

Mind you, it is the way shops are going. For years I had seen magazine ads for a shop in Plymouth offering all sorts of soldering kit. A few years back I dropped in, and found just the same - no sign of the comprehensive soldering range, but loads of consumer garbage - and a nervousness about shop security. I left empty handed. 

[Quarryscapes]

Haven't bought anything from Maplin for a good 15 years, Any time I did find myself on their website recently ended up with nos sale as whatever I was looking at was invariably available much cheaper elsewhere, and with a more comprehensive description. 

 

A good example on clearance they have a copy Fuji NPW126 battery for X series cameras. A cheapo Chinese thing at £49.99. The genuine Fuji battery can be had cheaper!

 

Can't say I'll miss them. 

[Bucoops]

I have been wondering how they have stayed afloat for years. Clueless (lack of training/interest?) staff, poor quality parts, hard to purchase etc. Feel sorry for those that will lose their jobs though.

[StevieD71]

I'm a Maplin employee and today is a sad day. Hopefully a buyer can be found because there is still a place in the High street for us. Some issues, such as pricing do need to be addressed.

I can't speak for other branches, but if you come to Coleraine you will find a friendly, knowlegable and enthusiastic team who are interested in getting the correct solutions for customers, rather than just processing sales (of course that is important too).

[Bernard Lamb]

No  great surprise with Maplins. They seemed to loose direction and focus long ago.

I have used RS since my working days and Eileens at shows and Amazon seem to cater for just bout every thing else.

Bernard

[Butler Henderson]

I hope someone can keep them going as sometimes it was useful to go into a store to look at an item, rather than relying on an on-line picture or description.

 

Must say, however, last time I went into my nearest store about a week ago it took me an age to get served.

The item I wanted, and I knew was in stock, was not on the shelves but in the component section.

When the 'salesman' finally got round to dealing with my request he told me 'we don't sell those'. 

'Yes you do' I said! 

 

We got there in the end. 

Same has happened to me, quite insistent they did not sell something and not convinced still when I quoted their catalogue number - it actually was on the shelves! And I agree serving takes an ages - its a weird arrangement in the Harrogate store with a front and back entrance, the back being where the car park is but the only tills ever in use are at the front, meaning a walk back through the store with the paid for purchases to use the back entrance. Meanwhile any staff seem to loiter around the middle of the store and only man the till when they see someone has been waiting some time to pay. Wonder how much stuff gets nicked.

Edited February 28, 2018 by Butler Henderson

[Jol Wilkinson]

No  great surprise with Maplins. They seemed to loose direction and focus long ago.

I have used RS since my working days and Eileens at shows and Amazon seem to cater for just bout every thing else.

Bernard

I occasionally use Maplin in Ipswich and have found the staff helpful and friendly but agree that the management seem to be unsure of what market they were chasing.

 

Otherwise I have used Rapid or RS, Allcomponents, Eileens or Squires. Amazon is on my black list, but that is another story.

[tc]

I've used a number of the London branches to get things in a hurry, and found quite a variance between knowledge and helpfulness of staff in different stores over the last few years. Most have been very good, but not all.

 

I think a big issue has been stock control over the last 2-3 years - a number of items I've wanted have been ordered on click and collect, only to get to the store and find they can't find the item in the stock room. In one case I was shown the crates full of unsorted stock they had to go through to try and find the item; in other cases I've had items that have clearly been sat around for years, with old style labels. When I ordered a special order of something from the warehouse, the warehouse got the pick list wrong. I hope something can be rescued, both for the staff and consumers.

[298]

 

Once Toys R Us is gone, we'll have nothing. Where do kiddies go to LOOK at toys now? My kids loved being taken to a big toy shop to spend their Christmas money.

The Entertainer in the city centre, and Smyths Toys on an out of town retail park as it is easier to get to for us than that other big chain who never managed to fix their dodgy sign.

 

TBH, in this day and age going to Maplin (and its business model based on another failed retailer Tandy) in yet another out of town retail park was too much hassle, especially when the same items could be had cheaper over the internet and half the time

they never had any stock at the shop, providing you could find it first on their website. I'm not sure of the recent situation as I haven't had a Maplin Catalogue for ages, but did they start charging or stop doing them altogether..?

[JZ]

I use Maplins from time to time. I have to drive past the Brislington store to and from work. Usually I will order online for store collection. This store has always given me good service, unlike their other Bristol store.

[The Stationmaster]

I think Maplins real problem is the way in which they've expanded their business and gone for a different market, then just chuck in their comparatively high prices (and not just comparatively high compared with online sellers).  I bought an SD card from them last year during a casual visit to the Reading branch only to find it a few days later at not only a third of Maplins price in Tesco but almost as cheap in Boots while various electrical components can be had at a much lower price from Squires and others - for exactly the same thing.  Once you realise they area high price business for not much more convenience then you get turned off buying from them.

[AMJ]

Had an interesting situation some years ago, I called into the RS shop in Leeds for a replacement power supply for the desktop computer. RS said that they didn't have one in stock and advice was to go to Maplin a short distance away. Hey presto one computer back up and running.

 

Might be like Jessops with just a few stores taken over by a new owner.

[96701]

Maplins is handy for Isopropyl Alcohol, but have recently bought a large tin of it, it'll be some time before I need another one.

[truffy]

Had an interesting situation some years ago, 

 

The question comes to the number of years. When I last lived in the UK (ca. 15 years ago). Maplins had knowledgeable staff and good stock, or at least the ones in Watford and somewhere-in-London-that-I-can't-remember did! I'm not sure how much the impact of time, staff loss, and store-to-store management have had in the general decline.

[Shedmaster]

Hi,

 

Do any of you remember the good advice offered on this very forum some years ago about the £9.99 el-cheapo soldering iron ?

 

Based on the said advice, that's the last time I went into Maplins and spent money, on this 'own brand' 50W thing.

 

Unfortunately ( for them ) it is still going strong many years later - I haven't had to return for an upgrade or had the need for any impulse purchases whilst there.

 

Kindest Regards,

 

Shed.

[locomad]

Shame I've purchased quite a few of there bench transformers for the railway over the years the ones with the volt and amp displays knocking out 20v at 5 amps found that they are the best average ones for the layout, idea for "O" gauge as well. Always found discount during February, as for other stuff not surprised service gone to pot during last few years, I've even had the "it's only available online" for a product I then found on the shelf having given up getting it

[Robin2]

Maplins is handy for Isopropyl Alcohol, but have recently bought a large tin of it, it'll be some time before I need another one.

I might get some of that if they are still open at the end of Winter.

 

...R

[Nearholmer]

Stationmaster

 

Bang on the nail!

 

They diversified into junky-quality consumer electronic “toys” (some literally), and lost the plot on cable, components tools etc.

 

I often thought about our local branch that it could be on a quarter the footprint, with a quarter of the staff, specialising in the things that they are the only over-the-counter stockist of for perhaps thirty miles around.

 

It will be interesting to see whether someone buys it at fire-sale price and moves it ‘back to its roots’, because I think that there are probably still enough hobbyists, spread across multiple hobbies, to support a small shop of that kind, in a low-rent area, in each large town/City.

 

And, as for Toys’R’Us ...... it has become the saddest, most soul-sapping giant-warehouse of stuff. Buying toys is supposed to be either quick and cheap (when you know exactly what child X wants), and they are neither, or fun, and they just don’t know the meaning of the word.

 

Very sad for the PBI on very basic wages who work at both.

 

Kevin

[brianusa]

I wouldn't bank on it, Kevin.  Radio Shack over here went the same route, when the electronic toys came in the bits and pieces went and now the stores themselves are all gone.  There is  now nowhere convenient to buy anything suitable for toy trains and their maintainence, not even oil.  Happened to the hobby shops as well; once we had three in the vicinity!

 

Brian.

[Butler Henderson]

Nottingham retains a small off centre low overhead store which has now been joined by one on a retail park shed; Leeds meanwhile was I think one of the first if not the first to have a large retail park located store, back in the days when you had a Maplin Customer Number, but more recently acquired a small store albeit on a far bigger retail park.

[rue_d_etropal]

Who remembers Tandy. Maplins in effect took over the market they had , but wheras Tandy used small stores, Maplins used big stores. The warnings have been there for many years, since Woolworths originally clised all their bigger stores and tried to continue with their smaller ones. The age of the big, mainly out of town, store are over. P&O Properties sold over most of their shopping malls many years ago.

The problem with online shops and electronic bits, is that it is fine when you know what you want to buy, but when it comes to how to say, modify a loco to run on lower power, or even radio control, there isn't someone to go to to ask. Local model shops are also an important source of information. Even online forums can not deliver that service fully. Far too much mis-information found online.

Toy'r'Us closing is no surprise, again far too big, and out of town.

The old high stret will return, especially as small shops often have easy to use online access as well. Low costs are the key, and I have mentioned it before that co-ops are growing and are proven to be more sustainable than single owner shops. We are lucky in the north west having the o-op orhganisation just down the road, making it easier to set up one local(non railway) co-op .