Maplin meltdown
 

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Dave Plowman (News)" writes:
In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Yes that was stupid - all the stores did that. Who the hell wants
to buy a bag of 200 8.2 ohm resistors.

I buy resistors by the hundred.

So do I, but 8.2 ohms is not a value I use much. I appear to
have used one in the last ~45 years, given I have 9 in stock.

Could be I have 99, then. But rather +99 than -1. ;-)

Rapid were selling the 0.6w metal oxide

These came from Rapid, ~45 years ago - an E12 set of 10 each
value which primed my stock of resistors, instead of rummaging
around my dad's biscuit tin with random resistors from valve
amps. I still have a few values where I still have the original
Rapid ones, but mostly not.

I have a nest of drawers each of which has three compartments, each with 4
values still on their strip. Keep each of those stocked to about 10 -
adding a further 10 when needed, and write the value on the strip.

The spare stock is kept in their original packets, and sub grouped into
larger packets. Meaning I can find replacements pretty quickly without
having to try and read the colours through plastic.

If I have a particular project that is better with resistors other than my
'stock' type, I'll obviously order them in. But for most of my stuff
they're fine.

--
*Why is the word abbreviation so long? *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Maplin meltdown
 

In article ,
Theo wrote:
"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote:
In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
Yes that was stupid - all the stores did that. Who the hell wants
to buy a bag of 200 8.2 ohm resistors.

I buy resistors by the hundred. Rapid were selling the 0.6w metal oxide
type I like for about 1p each by the 100. Maplin at about the same time
were charging 35p each. One reason I stopped using them. ;-)

We buy 5000 resistors for £3 a time. They are surface mount and come on
reels, but it's always worth going out of your way to get a bargain ;-)

Oh indeed. But for my sort of stuff, through hole is the norm. I'm old. ;-)

--
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Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Maplin meltdown
 

In article ,
alan_m wrote:
On 22/06/2018 21:33, Cursitor Doom wrote:


What with one store or another going to the wall it's beginning to look
an awful lot like a recession.

Or so many businesses getting too out of touch with what the customer
wants.

People still buy food, cloths, white goods etc. but many do not still
use the shops they may have done 10 years ago.

Today, I've sat in front of my computer and ordered goods on-line from 6
different retailers.

The sad thing is, as has been said, it that Maplin were very much in on
the start of mail order. But IIRC changed hands and lost its direction.

I'm one of those that don't mind paying slightly over the odds for
convenience. But not when that markup for convenience becomes silly. Like
B&Q charging the same for a few screws you can get 100 for in the nearby
Toolstation. Something they could get away with once, but not today.
Especially since their stock can lie on the shelves unsold for ages.

--
*I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Maplin meltdown
 

On 23/06/2018 06:34, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 22/06/18 21:33, Cursitor Doom wrote:
On Fri, 22 Jun 2018 15:33:08 +0000, Jethro_uk wrote:

Argos *are* in trouble. Unless I am misinformed the "savings" on the
tie-
up/merger with Sainsburys are coming in part from a "harmonisation" of
their stock and logistic systems. And you can bet it will mean dumping
the working Argos one, and overwhelming the could-it-get-any-worse
Sainsburys one.

What with one store or another going to the wall it's beginning to look
an awful lot like a recession. When the arch globalist Mike Carney said
the BoE was expecting to raise rates again in August, I have to conclude
the man is a fool or a liar (and I don't believe he's a fool).


Its not a recession, its just that Internet/Mail order continues to
replace the high street as the place to buy stuff - especially stuiff
that doesn't need 'touch and feel'.


Shopping centres (malls?) - not necessarily the high street - still have
a huge role. The main one in Sheffield (2 miles from the centre,
Meadowhall) never ceases to amaze me - absolutely packed. It even has a
food annex which I accidentally came across - must have been 30 eateries
- all full. And that was mid-week.

I can't say I understand it (or like it), but terrestrial retail still
has a place.

--
Cheers, Rob

Maplin meltdown
 

On Sat, 23 Jun 2018 06:34:53 +0100, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

Its not a recession, its just that Internet/Mail order continues to
replace the high street as the place to buy stuff - especially stuiff
that doesn't need 'touch and feel'.

There are so many retail jobs now going for the chop. If those people
can't get re-employed, then they will not be spending in the shops that
remain open. Normally recessions are caused by either some economic shock
(like a substantial oil price hike) or a steep rise in interest rates or
a period of austerity necessitated by a prudent government taking over
from an overspending one. If this is another recession, it will arise
from an entirely novel cause.


Its a revolution in shopping habits. Going 'into town' is now about
cafes, and bookshops and the odd clothing store. Specialist places are
now in industrial estates and the rest have just closed down.

I'm partially responsible for these high street closures, being an early
adopter of online purchasing. :(





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This message may be freely reproduced without limit or charge only via
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GBP10.00 per reproduction. Publication in this manner via non-Usenet
protocols constitutes acceptance of this condition.

Maplin meltdown
 

On 23/06/2018 08:35, Andy Burns wrote:
alan_m wrote:

Some of the retailers that supply clothes on-line have very high
overhead costs because of high returns. People will often order the
same thing in different sizes to try on at home and return the items
that don't fit.

Didn't people do the same with Grattan's/Kay's catalogues 40 years ago?


Yes and that's why they were not competitive with high street shops at
the time. In addition, they tended to trade on buy now and pay later in
installments at fairly high rates of interest.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Maplin meltdown
 

On 23/06/2018 12:15, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I'm one of those that don't mind paying slightly over the odds for
convenience. But not when that markup for convenience becomes silly. Like
B&Q charging the same for a few screws you can get 100 for in the nearby
Toolstation. Something they could get away with once, but not today.

I've just been down to my local hardware store and purchased 2 crimp
connectors that can be used to attach wires to bolts (negative
connection in a car) and 10 "penny" washers for grand total of 45 pence.
All sold loose from self service bins. Nails are sold by weight and
screws can be purchased in small numbers or by the box. Prices tend to
be a lot lower than B&Q.


--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Maplin meltdown
 

On 23/06/2018 13:24, Cursitor Doom wrote:

I'm partially responsible for these high street closures, being an early
adopter of online purchasing. :(


And soon there will be on-line retailers going to the wall! There are a
few I would never use again having found alternative on-line retailers
with comparable goods/prices but with much better customer service.








--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Maplin meltdown
 

On 23/06/2018 12:15, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
alan_m wrote:
On 22/06/2018 21:33, Cursitor Doom wrote:


What with one store or another going to the wall it's beginning to look
an awful lot like a recession.

Or so many businesses getting too out of touch with what the customer
wants.

People still buy food, cloths, white goods etc. but many do not still
use the shops they may have done 10 years ago.

Today, I've sat in front of my computer and ordered goods on-line from 6
different retailers.

The sad thing is, as has been said, it that Maplin were very much in on
the start of mail order. But IIRC changed hands and lost its direction.

"Maplin Electronic Supplies was established in 1972 as a mail order
business by Roger and Sandra Allen and Doug Simmons." (Wikipedia)

Er.. what about all those electronics suppliers I bought stuff from in
the 60s?

--
Max Demian

Maplin meltdown
 

In article ,
alan_m wrote:
On 23/06/2018 12:15, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I'm one of those that don't mind paying slightly over the odds for
convenience. But not when that markup for convenience becomes silly. Like
B&Q charging the same for a few screws you can get 100 for in the nearby
Toolstation. Something they could get away with once, but not today.

I've just been down to my local hardware store and purchased 2 crimp
connectors that can be used to attach wires to bolts (negative
connection in a car) and 10 "penny" washers for grand total of 45 pence.
All sold loose from self service bins. Nails are sold by weight and
screws can be purchased in small numbers or by the box. Prices tend to
be a lot lower than B&Q.

You're very lucky. My local hardware shop I liked and used a lot - with
the original owner who knew about almost everything he sold - got taken
over by a youngster who merely thought he knew it all. And wanted to only
sell fast moving high profit stuff. Just like a supermarket sold in its
hardware section for less. It's now yet another takeaway. Which I don't
use either. ;-)

--
*I'm really easy to get along with once people learn to worship me

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Maplin meltdown
 

In article ,
Max Demian wrote:
The sad thing is, as has been said, it that Maplin were very much in on
the start of mail order. But IIRC changed hands and lost its direction.

"Maplin Electronic Supplies was established in 1972 as a mail order
business by Roger and Sandra Allen and Doug Simmons." (Wikipedia)

Er.. what about all those electronics suppliers I bought stuff from in
the 60s?

Yes- there were plenty. What I liked about the original Maplins was
visiting a shop as an alternative - and almost always buying something
extra that took my fancy. And if they didn't have the parts I wanted in
stock, they phoned them through and got delivered free here usually the
next day.

--
*Windows will never cease *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Maplin meltdown
 

In message , at
14:42:15 on Sat, 23 Jun 2018, Max Demian
remarked:

"Maplin Electronic Supplies was established in 1972 as a mail order
business by Roger and Sandra Allen and Doug Simmons." (Wikipedia)

Er.. what about all those electronics suppliers I bought stuff from in
the 60s?

Very few diversified into mail order with a wide enough product range.
Many were in effect a development from the 'Army Surplus' stores such as
those on Tottenham Court Road, but getting their stock as end-of-line
unused components from UK-based electronics manufacturers (mainly
"hi-fi" but other stuff too).

A lot of both types of business were located in south Essex (and Maplin
was of course started in Southend, where one of the bigger components
clearance outfits was). Maplin also got into the business of supplying
"complete kits" to build things, with an emphasis to the music/disco end
of the market. Whereas down the road Ambit was doing the same with an
amateur radio slant.
--
Roland Perry

Maplin meltdown
 

On Saturday, 23 June 2018 14:06:33 UTC+1, alan_m wrote:
Didn't people do the same with Grattan's/Kay's catalogues 40 years ago?
Yes and that's why they were not competitive with high street shops at
the time. In addition, they tended to trade on buy now and pay later in
installments at fairly high rates of interest.

A lot of provincial high streets were much less well provided for with big shops, and local department stores were already in decline in the 1970s. I didn't see an Argos until I was at university! Also credit was much less available with many people still being paid in cash.

The same philosophy still applies with places like Brighthouse.

Owain

Maplin meltdown
 

"RJH" wrote in message
...
On 23/06/2018 06:34, The Natural Philosopher wrote:
On 22/06/18 21:33, Cursitor Doom wrote:
On Fri, 22 Jun 2018 15:33:08 +0000, Jethro_uk wrote:

Argos *are* in trouble. Unless I am misinformed the "savings" on the
tie-
up/merger with Sainsburys are coming in part from a "harmonisation" of
their stock and logistic systems. And you can bet it will mean dumping
the working Argos one, and overwhelming the could-it-get-any-worse
Sainsburys one.

What with one store or another going to the wall it's beginning to look
an awful lot like a recession. When the arch globalist Mike Carney said
the BoE was expecting to raise rates again in August, I have to conclude
the man is a fool or a liar (and I don't believe he's a fool).


Its not a recession, its just that Internet/Mail order continues to
replace the high street as the place to buy stuff - especially stuiff
that doesn't need 'touch and feel'.


Shopping centres (malls?) - not necessarily the high street - still have a
huge role. The main one in Sheffield (2 miles from the centre, Meadowhall)
never ceases to amaze me - absolutely packed. It even has a food annex
which I accidentally came across - must have been 30 eateries - all full.
And that was mid-week.

None of our malls are anything like that mid week.

Presumably you dont have enough of them or something.

I can't say I understand it (or like it), but terrestrial retail still has
a place.

For some stuff, sure, but not for the
very specialist operations like Maplin.

Very few of ours have survived now
and the stock of even the most basic
stuff is pathetic in the ones that are
still around, aliexpress, ebay and
amazon leave them for dead now unless
you must have it in half an hour etc.

Maplin meltdown
 

Cursitor Doom wrote
The Natural Philosopher wrote

Its not a recession, its just that Internet/Mail order continues
to replace the high street as the place to buy stuff - especially
stuiff that doesn't need 'touch and feel'.

There are so many retail jobs now going for the chop.

Because so many buy over the net now. Someone still
has to put it in the plastic bag etc and put it in the pile
for the courier etc to pick up and deliver to the buyer.

If those people can't get re-employed,

But they obviously do get re-employed because the
unemployment rate is about as low as it has ever been,
even with all those unspeakable EUians pouring in.

then they will not be spending in the shops that remain open.

They do that even if they are on the dole. They still
have eat and wear clothes and wipe their arses etc.

Normally recessions are caused by either some economic shock
(like a substantial oil price hike) or a steep rise in interest rates
or a period of austerity necessitated by a prudent government
taking over from an overspending one. If this is another recession,

It isnt. What we are seeing with retail operations closing
is many choosing to buy stuff on the net instead of going
into a physical store now.

it will arise from an entirely novel cause.

Nope. We've seen big changes in how retail is done before
with the change from corner stores to supermarkets etc.

Its a revolution in shopping habits. Going 'into town' is now about
cafes, and bookshops and the odd clothing store. Specialist places
are now in industrial estates and the rest have just closed down.

I'm partially responsible for these high street closures,
being an early adopter of online purchasing. :(

Me too.

Maplin meltdown
 

On 23/06/2018 20:40, Rod Speed wrote:

Nope. We've seen big changes in how retail is done before with the
change from corner stores to supermarkets etc.

Now many of the big players in the grocery business are starting to open
small corner stores well away from the main high street. Many petrol
stations around my way have been re-modeled to accommodate these smaller
stores as well them acquiring what used to be independent corner stores.

This seems to have killed off one of the expensive local Co-ops and I
cannot see the other Co-op lasting much longer. The latter operates from
the lower floor of a large 3 floor building in a residential area and I
suspect that it is worth a lot more for redevelopment than it is as a
retail outlet, especially as it has a very large car park.


--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Maplin meltdown
 

On Sat, 23 Jun 2018 14:42:15 +0100, Max Demian wrote:

On 23/06/2018 12:15, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
alan_m wrote:
On 22/06/2018 21:33, Cursitor Doom wrote:


What with one store or another going to the wall it's beginning to
look an awful lot like a recession.

Or so many businesses getting too out of touch with what the customer
wants.

People still buy food, cloths, white goods etc. but many do not still
use the shops they may have done 10 years ago.

Today, I've sat in front of my computer and ordered goods on-line from
6 different retailers.

The sad thing is, as has been said, it that Maplin were very much in on
the start of mail order. But IIRC changed hands and lost its direction.

"Maplin Electronic Supplies was established in 1972 as a mail order
business by Roger and Sandra Allen and Doug Simmons." (Wikipedia)

Er.. what about all those electronics suppliers I bought stuff from in
the 60s?

I can only remember two offhand:

* Technical Trading in Brighton (I worked for them)
* Electrovalue in Englefield Green, Egham



--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

Maplin meltdown
 

On Sun, 24 Jun 2018 05:24:30 +1000, cantankerous geezer Rot Speed blabbered,
again:


Shopping centres (malls?) - not necessarily the high street - still have a
huge role. The main one in Sheffield (2 miles from the centre, Meadowhall)
never ceases to amaze me - absolutely packed. It even has a food annex
which I accidentally came across - must have been 30 eateries - all full.
And that was mid-week.

None of our malls are anything like that mid week.

You STILL haven't noticed this is a UK group, Ozzietard and troll? tsk

--
Richard addressing Rot Speed:
"**** you're thick/pathetic excuse for a troll."
MID:

Maplin meltdown
 

On Sun, 24 Jun 2018 05:40:20 +1000, cantankerous geezer Rot Speed blabbered,
again:

FLUSH troll ****

....and much better air in here.

--
Cursitor Doom about Rot Speed:
"The man is a conspicuous and unashamed ignoramus."
MID:

Maplin meltdown
 

alan_m wrote
Rod Speed wrote

Nope. We've seen big changes in how retail is done before with the change
from corner stores to supermarkets etc.

Now many of the big players in the grocery business are starting to open
small corner stores well away from the main high street.

Sure, corner stores never did disappear completely.

Many petrol stations around my way have been re-modeled to accommodate
these smaller stores

Sure, but there is plenty of stuff that you
still have to go to the supermarket to get.

as well them acquiring what used to be independent corner stores.

Particularly the ones run by asian immigrants since the war.

This seems to have killed off one of the expensive local Co-ops and I
cannot see the other Co-op lasting much longer.

Yeah, ours are all very long gone now. We do still have just the one
that does agricultural stuff for the farmers etc, but thats all now.

Still lots of credit unions tho and still a few mutual insurance operations.

The latter operates from the lower floor of a large 3 floor building in a
residential area and I suspect that it is worth a lot more for
redevelopment than it is as a retail outlet, especially as it has a very
large car park.

Ours had the biggest multistory building in the town for a long time,
with the supermarket on the ground floor and a full department store
on the floors above. And another branch in the more recent housing
subdivision. That wound up more than 30 years ago now with the
big building being reused for normal retail stores. All the parking
in the street outside with big carparks there.

Maplin meltdown
 

On 23/06/2018 21:29, Bob Eager wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jun 2018 14:42:15 +0100, Max Demian wrote:

On 23/06/2018 12:15, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
In article ,
alan_m wrote:
On 22/06/2018 21:33, Cursitor Doom wrote:


What with one store or another going to the wall it's beginning to
look an awful lot like a recession.

Or so many businesses getting too out of touch with what the customer
wants.

People still buy food, cloths, white goods etc. but many do not still
use the shops they may have done 10 years ago.

Today, I've sat in front of my computer and ordered goods on-line from
6 different retailers.

The sad thing is, as has been said, it that Maplin were very much in on
the start of mail order. But IIRC changed hands and lost its direction.

"Maplin Electronic Supplies was established in 1972 as a mail order
business by Roger and Sandra Allen and Doug Simmons." (Wikipedia)

Er.. what about all those electronics suppliers I bought stuff from in
the 60s?

I can only remember two offhand:

* Technical Trading in Brighton (I worked for them)
* Electrovalue in Englefield Green, Egham

I remember one called TRS for general electronic components. Plus lots
of others (advertised in Practical Wireless) that sold specific
components and kits.

--
Max Demian

Maplin meltdown
 

On Sun, 24 Jun 2018 07:42:00 +1000, cantankerous geezer Rot Speed blabbered,
again:



Sure, corner stores never did disappear completely.

Somewhat like the senile trolls on Usenet, eh, Rot? Many of you die, but
then the next generation of seniles replaces your kind. LOL

Maplin meltdown
 

In message , at 20:29:06 on Sat, 23
Jun 2018, Bob Eager remarked:

What with one store or another going to the wall it's beginning to
look an awful lot like a recession.

Or so many businesses getting too out of touch with what the customer
wants.

People still buy food, cloths, white goods etc. but many do not still
use the shops they may have done 10 years ago.

Today, I've sat in front of my computer and ordered goods on-line from
6 different retailers.

The sad thing is, as has been said, it that Maplin were very much in on
the start of mail order. But IIRC changed hands and lost its direction.

"Maplin Electronic Supplies was established in 1972 as a mail order
business by Roger and Sandra Allen and Doug Simmons." (Wikipedia)

Er.. what about all those electronics suppliers I bought stuff from in
the 60s?

I can only remember two offhand:

* Technical Trading in Brighton (I worked for them)
* Electrovalue in Englefield Green, Egham

There was LST in Brentwood, later changed its name to Arrow. They got a
lot of their components as factory rejects (they didn't hide the fact)
but this meant what was in the shop from week to week varied a lot.

Their standard catalogue was a bit thin, and this was one of the reasons
Ambit was formed, also in Brentwood, as a channel to distribute
first-grade leading-edge components typically not available anywhere
else (other than minimum orders of 100 from a wholesaler).

In fact it was LST who suggested the idea! They were reluctant to expand
their range and/or buy in 100 expensive components when people asked for
just one or two. So Ambit's founder bought some 100's from the
wholesalers LST suggested, and then had to find a way to shift the other
98!
--
Roland Perry

Maplin meltdown
 

In message , at 07:38:23 on Sun, 24 Jun
2018, Roland Perry remarked:
In message , at 20:29:06 on Sat, 23
Jun 2018, Bob Eager remarked:

What with one store or another going to the wall it's beginning to
look an awful lot like a recession.

Or so many businesses getting too out of touch with what the customer
wants.

People still buy food, cloths, white goods etc. but many do not still
use the shops they may have done 10 years ago.

Today, I've sat in front of my computer and ordered goods on-line from
6 different retailers.

The sad thing is, as has been said, it that Maplin were very much in on
the start of mail order. But IIRC changed hands and lost its direction.

"Maplin Electronic Supplies was established in 1972 as a mail order
business by Roger and Sandra Allen and Doug Simmons." (Wikipedia)

Er.. what about all those electronics suppliers I bought stuff from in
the 60s?

I can only remember two offhand:

* Technical Trading in Brighton (I worked for them)
* Electrovalue in Englefield Green, Egham

There was LST in Brentwood, later changed its name to Arrow. They got a
lot of their components as factory rejects (they didn't hide the fact)

Page 27 here describes buying semiconductors from LST and then testing
them individually to pick the "good" ones:

http://www.smrcc.org.uk/members/g4ug...ldcomputer.pdf

but this meant what was in the shop from week to week varied a lot.

Their standard catalogue was a bit thin, and this was one of the
reasons Ambit was formed, also in Brentwood, as a channel to distribute
first-grade leading-edge components typically not available anywhere
else (other than minimum orders of 100 from a wholesaler).

In fact it was LST who suggested the idea! They were reluctant to
expand their range and/or buy in 100 expensive components when people
asked for just one or two. So Ambit's founder bought some 100's from
the wholesalers LST suggested, and then had to find a way to shift the
other 98!

--
Roland Perry

Maplin meltdown
 

On 24/06/2018 07:38, Roland Perry wrote:

There was LST in Brentwood, later changed its name to Arrow. They got a
lot of their components as factory rejects (they didn't hide the fact)
but this meant what was in the shop from week to week varied a lot.

We used to refer to Radio Spares as Reject Spares for a time when they
overprinted manufactures markings with their own stock numbers. The
overprint could be removed to see the original manufacturers part
number. It sometimes revealed that, say, on a order of 10 off of the
same Radio Spares part number it resulted in ICs from 2 different
manufactures with different specifications.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Maplin meltdown
 

In article ,
Cursitor Doom writes:
On Fri, 22 Jun 2018 15:33:08 +0000, Jethro_uk wrote:

Argos *are* in trouble. Unless I am misinformed the "savings" on the
tie-
up/merger with Sainsburys are coming in part from a "harmonisation" of
their stock and logistic systems. And you can bet it will mean dumping
the working Argos one, and overwhelming the could-it-get-any-worse
Sainsburys one.

What with one store or another going to the wall it's beginning to look
an awful lot like a recession. When the arch globalist Mike Carney said
the BoE was expecting to raise rates again in August, I have to conclude
the man is a fool or a liar (and I don't believe he's a fool).

Firstly, I don't think Maplin is a sign of anything except appauling
management. Remarkably, they survived the 90's and 00's when there
was a severe reduction in the hobbiest space (and Tandy went bust),
but they failed to realise the boom in maker/hack spaces, arduino/Pi,
and many other things that were the traditional heart of Maplin. They
would never be able to compete on price in the shops, but they
should have been competing on skills, advice, running hack evenings,
and other things mail order companies can't touch. They could have
got away with higher prices, but not an order of magnitude higher -
even at 80% off, they were still twice the regular price. They
completely missed the resurgence of their traditional market. I'll
bet it's a long time since they had anyone technical on the board.

High street retail as a whole has a problem -- too many overheads
to compete with online, both for the customers (parking) and the
retailers (rates, staff) to compete with online. Even the cost of
car parking verses free browsing on the internet is a big factor,
and retail controlled by local councils (which treat car parking as
a cash cow) will vanish in all but a few large retail towns. Many
stores will no longer consider retail areas unless there's free
parking, and have been moving out from town centres to retail parks
with free parking. Councils, looking to protect their parking
revenue, are betting more on leasure than retail in the future,
believing people who spend money on leasure will also be willing
to spend money on parking.

The retailers who survive will be those with a clearly defined
market sector in which they are the leader - there won't be the
trade to support the retailers in third and fourth place. Lots of
people do enjoy browsing in real stores, and providing it's not
more expensive than browsing on the Internet, the leaders in each
of their market sectors will survive.

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Maplin meltdown
 

In article ,
Bob Eager writes:
On Sat, 23 Jun 2018 14:42:15 +0100, Max Demian wrote:
Er.. what about all those electronics suppliers I bought stuff from in
the 60s?

I can only remember two offhand:

* Technical Trading in Brighton (I worked for them)
* Electrovalue in Englefield Green, Egham

Ones that I recall using...
Henry's Radio (and many other stores in Edgware Rd, names I've forgotten)
Cricklewood Electronics
Watford Electronics (1970's)
Home Radio Components
Proops
Jones Radio, Lovering Bros, Shop on the Bridge (local stores in Reading)

There were also manufacturers selling direct, such as ILP transformers
(made toroidal transformers, and would wind you anything you wanted for
same price as the off-the-shelf models).

I still have my electronics magazines from that era, but to reduce
shelf space, I tore out all the advertising pages and just retained
the article pages (which was easy to do in those days, as the ads
occupied exactly same number of pages at start and end of each magazine).

--
Andrew Gabriel
[email address is not usable -- followup in the newsgroup]

Maplin meltdown
 

On Sun, 24 Jun 2018 09:56:49 +0000, Andrew Gabriel wrote:

In article ,
Bob Eager writes:
On Sat, 23 Jun 2018 14:42:15 +0100, Max Demian wrote:
Er.. what about all those electronics suppliers I bought stuff from in
the 60s?

I can only remember two offhand:

* Technical Trading in Brighton (I worked for them) * Electrovalue in
Englefield Green, Egham

Ones that I recall using...
Henry's Radio (and many other stores in Edgware Rd, names I've
forgotten)
Cricklewood Electronics Watford Electronics (1970's)
Home Radio Components Proops Jones Radio, Lovering Bros, Shop on the
Bridge (local stores in Reading)

There used to be a brilliant over-the-counter shop in Chatham Street,
Ramsgate. You had to set aside half a day for a visit, as it was tiny,
and the owner would chat to customers for hours!

--
My posts are my copyright and if @diy_forums or Home Owners' Hub
wish to copy them they can pay me £1 a message.
Use the BIG mirror service in the UK: http://www.mirrorservice.org
*lightning surge protection* - a w_tom conductor

Maplin meltdown
 

In article ,
Jethro_uk wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jun 2018 12:15:13 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

The sad thing is, as has been said, it that Maplin were very much in on
the start of mail order. But IIRC changed hands and lost its direction.

I - and many others - used to *buy* the Maplin catalogue as an
invaluable source of data sheets.

Yup - and basic circuits for the relevant ICs too. To save looking up the
data sheets. Gave you an idea what they might be used for when glancing
through the cat.

Rather obviously written with the home constructer in mind. Which is where
Maplin went so wrong later on. They seemed to get rid of the people who
actually knew about such things.

--
*Why 'that tie suits you' but 'those shoes suit you'?*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Maplin meltdown
 

In message , at 11:20:15 on Sun, 24 Jun
2018, "Dave Plowman (News)" remarked:
The sad thing is, as has been said, it that Maplin were very much in on
the start of mail order. But IIRC changed hands and lost its direction.

I - and many others - used to *buy* the Maplin catalogue as an
invaluable source of data sheets.

Yup - and basic circuits for the relevant ICs too. To save looking up the
data sheets. Gave you an idea what they might be used for when glancing
through the cat.

Rather obviously written with the home constructer in mind. Which is where
Maplin went so wrong later on. They seemed to get rid of the people who
actually knew about such things.

Depends what you mean by "Maplin", as if it had some kind of corporate
psyche independent of its venture capital owners that week.

You could argue those dominoes began to fall in 1994.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maplin...ion_by_Saltire

Tandy's UK rot set in much the same time, resulting a few years later in
a very topical refrain:

http://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-rel...nounces-store-
closures-156224385.html

and they were divested in 1999 to Carphone Warehouse, presumably as that
was the only profitable product line they had.
--
Roland Perry

Maplin meltdown
 

In message , at 13:42:23 on Sun, 24
Jun 2018, Huge remarked:

and they were divested in 1999 to Carphone Warehouse, presumably as that
was the only profitable product line they had.

And now they're looking into the abyss.

(TBH, good.)

The networks never were very keen to have third parties selling phones,
so the Carphone Warehouse proposition always was a bit of an interloper.

They then had the bids to get more High Street (and Retail Park)
penetration through Tandy, Best Buy and now PC World.
--
Roland Perry

Maplin meltdown
 

In article ,
Roland Perry wrote:
Yup - and basic circuits for the relevant ICs too. To save looking up
the data sheets. Gave you an idea what they might be used for when
glancing through the cat.

Rather obviously written with the home constructer in mind. Which is
where Maplin went so wrong later on. They seemed to get rid of the
people who actually knew about such things.

Depends what you mean by "Maplin", as if it had some kind of corporate
psyche independent of its venture capital owners that week.

Thought that was the start of its decline? Changing hands from the
original owners?

--
*This message has been ROT-13 encrypted twice for extra security *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Maplin meltdown
 

In message , at 19:04:59 on Sun, 24 Jun
2018, "Dave Plowman (News)" remarked:
Depends what you mean by "Maplin", as if it had some kind of corporate
psyche independent of its venture capital owners that week.

Thought that was the start of its decline? Changing hands from the
original owners?

There are two schools of thought: one being that start-up entrepreneurs
need to hand a business over to those more skilled at building it up and
running it day to day in the medium term; the other that the smart
founders could see that now was the time to bail out.

I've seen both.
--
Roland Perry

Maplin meltdown
 

In article ,
Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Cursitor Doom writes:
On Fri, 22 Jun 2018 15:33:08 +0000, Jethro_uk wrote:

Argos *are* in trouble. Unless I am misinformed the "savings" on the
tie-
up/merger with Sainsburys are coming in part from a "harmonisation" of
their stock and logistic systems. And you can bet it will mean dumping
the working Argos one, and overwhelming the could-it-get-any-worse
Sainsburys one.

What with one store or another going to the wall it's beginning to look
an awful lot like a recession. When the arch globalist Mike Carney
said the BoE was expecting to raise rates again in August, I have to
conclude the man is a fool or a liar (and I don't believe he's a fool).

Firstly, I don't think Maplin is a sign of anything except appauling
management. Remarkably, they survived the 90's and 00's when there
was a severe reduction in the hobbiest space (and Tandy went bust),

I don't think they did.. They found they could make a big profit by selling
their shops to Carphone Warehouse, so did and closed down.

--
from KT24 in Surrey, England
"I'd rather die of exhaustion than die of boredom" Thomas Carlyle

Maplin meltdown
 

"Roland Perry" wrote in message
...
In message , at 19:04:59 on Sun, 24 Jun
2018, "Dave Plowman (News)" remarked:
Depends what you mean by "Maplin", as if it had some kind of corporate
psyche independent of its venture capital owners that week.

Thought that was the start of its decline? Changing hands from the
original owners?

There are two schools of thought: one being that start-up entrepreneurs
need to hand a business over to those more skilled at building it up and
running it day to day in the medium term; the other that the smart
founders could see that now was the time to bail out.

I've seen both.

There also appears to be another effect where the founders
are amazed at what someone is prepared to offer for their
operation and find it hard to refuse that massive bag of money.

We have seen a lot of that with ISPs particularly.

Maplin meltdown
 

On 24/06/2018 22:38, Rod Speed wrote:

We have seen a lot of that with ISPs particularly.

Homebase purchased by incompetent Assies?

On the subject of businesses set to fail, how may Turkish barbers can a
small area support and how many Vaping Parlours are required? There are
4 of the latter within 10/15 minutes walk from my house - all empty when
I walk past them.

--
mailto : news {at} admac {dot} myzen {dot} co {dot} uk

Maplin meltdown
 

On 24/06/2018 22:54, alan_m wrote:
On 24/06/2018 22:38, Rod Speed wrote:

We have seen a lot of that with ISPs particularly.

Homebase purchased by incompetent Assies?

On the subject of businesses set to fail, how may Turkish barbers can a
small area support and how many Vaping Parlours are required? There are
4 of the latter within 10/15 minutes walk from my house - all empty when
I walk past them.



It is a 'sign of the times' that our high streets are full of shops /
businesses which come and go as their owners discover the area can't
support them. Eventually, many premises end up as charity shops-
apparently they can get some favourable deal.


People blame 'out of town' shopping centres but France, for example
supports both healthy local shops and out of town shopping. Likewise,
the demise of the high street predates the growth of online shopping.

--

Suspect someone is claiming a benefit under false pretences? Incapacity
Benefit or Personal Independence Payment when they don't need it? They
are depriving those in real need!

https://www.gov.uk/report-benefit-fraud

Maplin meltdown
 

On Mon, 25 Jun 2018 07:38:50 +1000, cantankerous geezer Rot Speed blabbered,
again:

There are two schools of thought: one being that start-up entrepreneurs
need to hand a business over to those more skilled at building it up and
running it day to day in the medium term; the other that the smart
founders could see that now was the time to bail out.

I've seen both.

There also appears to be another effect where the founders
are amazed at what someone is prepared to offer for their
operation and find it hard to refuse that massive bag of money.

We have seen a lot of that with ISPs particularly.

Who's that "we" you keep hallucinating about, you forsaken, endlessly
ranting geezer? NOBODY identifies with you ...or wants anything to do with
you. Why else would you be pestering these groups with your obnoxious senile
presence?

--
Richard addressing Rot Speed:
"**** you're thick/pathetic excuse for a troll."
MID:

Maplin meltdown
 

On 24/06/2018 10:56, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
Bob Eager writes:
On Sat, 23 Jun 2018 14:42:15 +0100, Max Demian wrote:
Er.. what about all those electronics suppliers I bought stuff from in
the 60s?

I can only remember two offhand:

* Technical Trading in Brighton (I worked for them)
* Electrovalue in Englefield Green, Egham

Ones that I recall using...
Henry's Radio (and many other stores in Edgware Rd, names I've forgotten)
Cricklewood Electronics
Watford Electronics (1970's)
Home Radio Components
Proops
Jones Radio, Lovering Bros, Shop on the Bridge (local stores in Reading)

There were also manufacturers selling direct, such as ILP transformers
(made toroidal transformers, and would wind you anything you wanted for
same price as the off-the-shelf models).

I still have my electronics magazines from that era, but to reduce
shelf space, I tore out all the advertising pages and just retained
the article pages (which was easy to do in those days, as the ads
occupied exactly same number of pages at start and end of each magazine).

Ironically, its quite of the ads that are the most interesting bit of
some old mags now... Like looking at just how much a decent V22 bis
modem was back in the 80's ;-)


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
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| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

Maplin meltdown
 

On 24/06/2018 10:59, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Sat, 23 Jun 2018 12:15:13 +0100, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

The sad thing is, as has been said, it that Maplin were very much in on
the start of mail order. But IIRC changed hands and lost its direction.

I - and many others - used to *buy* the Maplin catalogue as an invaluable
source of data sheets.

I still have a 1995 one on the shelf for just that reason - one of the
last to include full pinouts for many of the ICs they stocked.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
| Internode Ltd - http://www.internode.co.uk |
|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/