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Andrew Gabriel

In article ,
(Andrew Gabriel) writes:
In article ,
Nick Odell writes:
I was living in Leigh on Sea when that shop opened. There was a sort of
magic: we'd never had a shop quite like that before and what's more, it
wasn't in London, it was in our neighbourhood. Unfortunately, several of
the local second-hand radio junk shops in Westcliff closed shortly
after. The business actually started in a private house around the
corner from my in-laws in Rayleigh.

I remember sending off orders by post to Rayleigh (getting my Dad
to write a cheque to go with it), and eagerly waiting for a week to
get the goodies. They came with an order form and an envelope to
send off your next order in, with a dot-matrix printed sticky label
with your named and address and customer number stuck to the top.

The sad thing is I still remember my customer number, but last used
it 20-25 years ago. When I used to quote it in the shops some years
later, they always assumed I'd got it wrong as it had far fewer digits
in it than they expected, but it worked when they put it in the
computer.

I think all the Maplin stores I visited in recent years have now closed.
Guildford was the first I knew closed, when their stock
suddenly boosted the shelves of my local Maplin.
Farnborough and Bracknell closed a couple of weeks ago.
Reading last week.
Noticed Luton is closed.
I meant to check the Canary Wharf one when I was at
a client's office on Monday, but I forgot.

--
Andrew Gabriel
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