Maplins in administration!!

[bonehead]

I have just read that Maplins has gone into administration. Yet another sad story of a high street chain struggling to keep its doors open. Even tho their prices for electronic spares were high they used to be handy for me as sometimes you don’t want to wait for online deliveries.

Another one looks like it will bite the dust!!!

 

[Chopper79]

Damm! They were handy for capacitors/fuses/components etc. It won't be long before their is no high street, except for pound and charity shops!

 

[stevebm1]

sadly in todays throw away society more people throw electronic stuff away rather than fix it,plus people who do fix the stuff know ebay/cpc is cheaper than maplins

 

[Brettster]

I used to work in the mondo maplin in Leeds must be 18 years ago now!
It was one of the first stores to change from loads of bags of parts on the shelves to moving them all behind a counter and selling loads of gadgets useless tat

From that point on is where it started to go down hill, I think I just helped it along lol
Sad times though, I mourned the loss of Tandy too

 

[dj_yt]

i didn't really see the point in Maplins. It turned into Dixons crossed with the gadget shop. Shame for the staff obviously.

All my electronics orders come from RS/CPC/mouser/eBay these days as Maplins never had anywhere close to the range in stock, if the right part at all.

 

[Chopper79]

i didn't really see the point in Maplins. It turned into Dixons crossed with the gadget shop. Shame for the staff obviously.?

All my electronics orders come from RS/CPC/mouser/eBay these days as Maplins never had anywhere close to the range in stock, if the right part at all. 

You mean you had no use, for a colour changing flashing led pacman desk lamp? Or a million pound ipad operated flying drone?

 

[big10p]

Looks like the plasma ball my mate got me from Maplins for my birthday has a useless guarantee now, then.

I also read today that Toys R Us is gone, too. The high street is dead, thanks to online shopping.

 

[Jon-A-Tron]

15-20 years ago i used to use Maplin often for parts and components for my college projects. The catalogue was full of components and you could always find what you needed. They would also hold lots of components in stock.

Roll on 15 years and when i started getting into the arcade hobby i would visit Maplin for parts that i needed while repairing stuff. Unfortunatly, everytime i went to get stuff in store they never had it. I was told that they only hold one of every item (1 x 1k resitor, 1 x 10pF Cap etc..) in the back and if you want more then you would have to order it and collect 3-4 days later. I stopped going back tbh. Quicker, easier and cheaper online unfortunately.

If i wanted a spinning disco light, an overly expensive drone or an inflatable snowman then i could always count on Maplin.

Shame but lost its way and stopped being what it was useful for.

 

[ArcadeAddict77]

Not the biggest surprise here. Radio Shack started selling mobile phones and have ultimately gone the way of the the dodo or have been bought out relabeled as sprint resellers.

 

[Shinydaz]

Sadly this news does not surprise me one bit.

 

[robotech]

no great loss really everything in maplin was way over priced
and if you were desperate for a cap or resistor
the website always showed they had stock that they never had when you actually drove to the store

Halfords will probably be next not many car spares now just seem to sell overpriced tools and a few bikes

I do miss tandy though used to love looking round there as a kid

 

[Vamino]

Where will I buy the 1 quid Rolson screwdrivers that the bit falls out and cuts my hand on the pocket clip when using it, and those 25 quid DVI cables from now?

It's a shame the store turned into something akin to a gadget shop.
It was a great place to buy the odd computer component and odd cap/resistor etc from, but like you guys have already mentioned they don't hold enough stock these days.

 

[DanP]

I'm gutted, it's the last place left where you can get those odd bits and bobs. Agree it's not perfect and it has it's issues but once it's gone there's nothing. Was really looking forward to the day when I took my kids in there to pick some electronics projects and there own soldering iron to get started with. Really hope someone steps in to save it.

 

[penrhos]

Well overdue - never have stuff in stock or not enough in stock. Too much tat and why pay £3 for a scart plug when I can get it from eBay for 99p.

Should do a jessops - shut all the stores and run as a website only business.penrhos2018-03-01 10:13:52

 

[John Bennett]

https://www.maplin.co.uk/p/spot-face-cutter-fl25c

Pretty sure they actually told me £13 when I went into a store last year, so maybe they had a sale! I didn't bother, unsurprisingly (think I swore when they told me the price).

Handy to have when really desperate, but you had to be desperate - paid £7 for two 15-way VGA d-type sockets the other day (and felt bad afterwards).

Shame it went downhill though.

 

[virtvic]

Who cares? Overpriced rubbish with halfwit staff (mainly) I have an RS near me, so I’m sorted

Hopefully CEX will be next.

 

[big10p]

Who cares? Overpriced rubbish with halfwit staff (mainly) I have an RS near me, so I’m sorted

Hopefully CEX will be next.

I think GAME will go first (from the high street, at least). Haven't been in my local one for years now, but when I walk past, there's hardly anyone in there.

 

[grobda]

Sad to see it go, bought my first soldering iron from maplin, and two of the three glasgow branches had pretty good staff. One of the only high street stores I had any interest in visiting.