I was told this is despite there has been two offers for the company.

The last I heard is there is going to be a merger between the Staples
and Maplin brands. The demise of the website seems to dispel that idea too.

Fredxx wrote:

The last I heard is there is going to be a merger between the Staples
and Maplin brands.

Staples UK are online only now, all their shops were sold off and are
now "Office Outlet"

On 29/04/2018 12:21, Fredxx wrote:
I was told this is despite there has been two offers for the company.

The last I heard is there is going to be a merger between the Staples
and Maplin brands. The demise of the website seems to dispel that idea too.

Are not Staples in the process of closing all their stores?

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

On 29/04/2018 12:52, alan_m wrote:
On 29/04/2018 12:21, Fredxx wrote:
I was told this is despite there has been two offers for the company.

The last I heard is there is going to be a merger between the Staples
and Maplin brands. The demise of the website seems to dispel that idea
too.

Are not Staples in the process of closing all their stores?


Staples UK doesn't have any stores to close, they were sold and have/are
becoming office outlet or something like that.

In article , Fredxx wrote:
I was told this is despite there has been two offers for the company.

The last I heard is there is going to be a merger between the Staples
and Maplin brands. The demise of the website seems to dispel that idea
too.

The Staples brand has vanished; most of the stores have been renamed.

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

In message , Huge
writes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staples_Corner

That takes me back! There was another one in that area, known as
Gastetner Corner, but I cannot remember where, exactly.
--
Graeme

On 29/04/2018 13:34, charles wrote:
In article , Fredxx wrote:
I was told this is despite there has been two offers for the company.

The last I heard is there is going to be a merger between the Staples
and Maplin brands. The demise of the website seems to dispel that idea
too.

The Staples brand has vanished; most of the stores have been renamed.


And the renamed stores are closing which suggests maybe a failing
business model.

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

In article ,
alan_m writes:
On 29/04/2018 13:34, charles wrote:
In article , Fredxx wrote:
I was told this is despite there has been two offers for the company.

The last I heard is there is going to be a merger between the Staples
and Maplin brands. The demise of the website seems to dispel that idea
too.

The Staples brand has vanished; most of the stores have been renamed.

And the renamed stores are closing which suggests maybe a failing
business model.

I do not know any business which buys their office supplies
from any store like that. It's all been online for years.
Rymann has perhaps found a market for when a town centre
business needs a roll of sellotape or ream of paper "now".

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

On 29/04/18 12:21, Fredxx wrote:
I was told this is despite there has been two offers for the company.

The last I heard is there is going to be a merger between the Staples
and Maplin brands. The demise of the website seems to dispel that idea too.

There was a time some years back that when the Maplin web site
developers got quite good at SEO and link spamming, they totally trashed
Google's ability to find me electronic items from other suppliers, even
for items that eventually could not be found on the Maplin website
though Google sent me there.

My cursing then seems to have worked ...

--
Adrian C

On Sun, 29 Apr 2018 18:02:28 +0100, Adrian Caspersz wrote:

On 29/04/18 12:21, Fredxx wrote:
I was told this is despite there has been two offers for the company.

The last I heard is there is going to be a merger between the Staples
and Maplin brands. The demise of the website seems to dispel that idea
too.

There was a time some years back that when the Maplin web site
developers got quite good at SEO and link spamming, they totally trashed
Google's ability to find me electronic items from other suppliers, even
for items that eventually could not be found on the Maplin website
though Google sent me there.

My cursing then seems to have worked ...

Unlike mine... Amazon are still polluting web searches with useless
results. :-(


--
Johnny B Good

On 29/04/18 14:07, Graeme wrote:
In message , Huge
writes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staples_Corner

That takes me back!Â* There was another one in that area, known as
Gastetner Corner, but I cannot remember where, exactly.

and Henley's Corner, and Hobart Corner€¦

--
djc

(–€Ì¿Ä¹Ì¯–€Ì¿ Ì¿)
No low-hanging fruit, just a lot of small berries up a tall tree.

Graeme wrote:

In message , Huge
writes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staples_Corner

That takes me back! There was another one in that area, known as
Gastetner Corner, but I cannot remember where, exactly.

Wasn't that just a cheap copy? ;-)

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

Not really. I suspect that they need to make the operation in one place. its
the only way to make it pay. You might want to alias the name to the other
site. However I suspect components from maplin are going to be a non
starter. That type of business is now firmly on line from cheapo places.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Fredxx" wrote in message
news
I was told this is despite there has been two offers for the company.

The last I heard is there is going to be a merger between the Staples and
Maplin brands. The demise of the website seems to dispel that idea too.

Maplins big mistake was to open high street stores. They obviously did not
look at history and see what happened to Tandy. Tandy used to sell a lot of
good stuff. I bought one of their cassette decks and it was the best one I
ever owned. dead now of course as it actually wore out in the end.
However you could buy almost anything electronic based there, including
transistors and toys.
The high rents and rates on high streets scuppered it and this and the
Internet scuppered Maplin as well aas to some extent Comet who hoped that
selling large appliances would be lucrative of course.
Brian

--
----- -
This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please!
"Chris J Dixon" wrote in message
...
Graeme wrote:

In message , Huge
writes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staples_Corner

That takes me back! There was another one in that area, known as
Gastetner Corner, but I cannot remember where, exactly.

Wasn't that just a cheap copy? ;-)

Chris
--
Chris J Dixon Nottingham UK


Plant amazing Acers.

On Mon, 30 Apr 2018 09:47:02 +0000, Jethro_uk wrote:

On Mon, 30 Apr 2018 09:39:46 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:

Maplins big mistake was to open high street stores. They obviously did
not look at history and see what happened to Tandy. Tandy used to sell
a lot of good stuff. I bought one of their cassette decks and it was
the best one I ever owned. dead now of course as it actually wore out
in the end.
However you could buy almost anything electronic based there,
including
transistors and toys.
The high rents and rates on high streets scuppered it and this and the
Internet scuppered Maplin as well aas to some extent Comet who hoped
that selling large appliances would be lucrative of course.
Brian

They had a sweet deal pre-internet of *selling* their catalogue too. But
it was invaluable with spec sheets and the like.

They were still selling it recently.

--
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

In article ,
Brian Gaff wrote:
The high rents and rates on high streets scuppered it and this and the
Internet scuppered Maplin as well aas to some extent Comet who hoped that
selling large appliances would be lucrative of course.

Maplin - when they were a serious electronics supplier - were at the
forefront of fast mail order. First by phone and then via their website.

But before that, they had a high street presence. Perhaps at the poor end
of the street, but there nevertheless.

--
*In "Casablanca", Humphrey Bogart never said "Play it again, Sam" *

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

On Monday, 30 April 2018 15:58:36 UTC+1, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Maplin - when they were a serious electronics supplier - were at the
forefront of fast mail order. First by phone and then via their website.

Don't forget Computer Assisted SHopping by TELephone :-)

(And Distel from Display Electronics)

But before that, they had a high street presence. Perhaps at the poor end
of the street, but there nevertheless.

Their stated strategy, when they started opening shops, was secondary trading areas with lower rents, with high footfall and parking.

I can see why they had a shop in Dalry Road, Edinburgh, but I don't think that moving into the new unit between TK Maxx and Waitrose in Stirling was particularly sensible, even if Waitrose customers possibly buy they children an above-average number of radio-controlled cars and educational kits.

Owain

On 30/04/18 09:39, Brian Gaff wrote:
Maplins big mistake was to open high street stores. They obviously did not
look at history and see what happened to Tandy. Tandy used to sell a lot of
good stuff. I bought one of their cassette decks and it was the best one I
ever owned.

A rebranded Aiwa?

--
Adrian C

On 30/04/2018 14:08, Bob Eager wrote:
On Mon, 30 Apr 2018 09:47:02 +0000, Jethro_uk wrote:

On Mon, 30 Apr 2018 09:39:46 +0100, Brian Gaff wrote:

Maplins big mistake was to open high street stores. They obviously did
not look at history and see what happened to Tandy. Tandy used to sell
a lot of good stuff. I bought one of their cassette decks and it was
the best one I ever owned. dead now of course as it actually wore out
in the end.
However you could buy almost anything electronic based there,
including
transistors and toys.
The high rents and rates on high streets scuppered it and this and the
Internet scuppered Maplin as well aas to some extent Comet who hoped
that selling large appliances would be lucrative of course.
Brian

They had a sweet deal pre-internet of *selling* their catalogue too. But
it was invaluable with spec sheets and the like.

They were still selling it recently.

Yes, but the detailed pin-outs and data for the components had been
reduced and lost for years.

To me, part of the problem with Maplin was that prices had got too high
- when it was cheaper to go to the formerly very high priced RS rather
than Maplin, something was going to give.

SteveW

On 30/04/2018 16:18, wrote:
On Monday, 30 April 2018 15:58:36 UTC+1, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Maplin - when they were a serious electronics supplier - were at the
forefront of fast mail order. First by phone and then via their website.

Don't forget Computer Assisted SHopping by TELephone :-)

(And Distel from Display Electronics)

But before that, they had a high street presence. Perhaps at the poor end
of the street, but there nevertheless.

Their stated strategy, when they started opening shops, was secondary trading areas with lower rents, with high footfall and parking.

I can see why they had a shop in Dalry Road, Edinburgh, but I don't think that moving into the new unit between TK Maxx and Waitrose in Stirling was particularly sensible, even if Waitrose customers possibly buy they children an above-average number of radio-controlled cars and educational kits.

Back when they had a great range of components and actually had plenty
of stock of them, the position on Oxford Road in Manchester was ideal -
out of the centre, but right by Manchester Polytechnic (later Manchester
Metropilitan Univeristy) and with Manchester University and UMIST just a
short walk away - 10s of thousands of students. Once they moved away
from components, that location wouldn't have been anywhere near as good.

SteveW

In article , Steve Walker
wrote:
On 30/04/2018 16:18, wrote:
On Monday, 30 April 2018 15:58:36 UTC+1, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Maplin - when they were a serious electronics supplier - were at the
forefront of fast mail order. First by phone and then via their
website.

Don't forget Computer Assisted SHopping by TELephone :-)

(And Distel from Display Electronics)

But before that, they had a high street presence. Perhaps at the poor
end of the street, but there nevertheless.

Their stated strategy, when they started opening shops, was secondary
trading areas with lower rents, with high footfall and parking.

I can see why they had a shop in Dalry Road, Edinburgh, but I don't
think that moving into the new unit between TK Maxx and Waitrose in
Stirling was particularly sensible, even if Waitrose customers possibly
buy they children an above-average number of radio-controlled cars and
educational kits.

Back when they had a great range of components and actually had plenty
of stock of them, the position on Oxford Road in Manchester was ideal -
out of the centre, but right by Manchester Polytechnic (later Manchester
Metropilitan Univeristy) and with Manchester University and UMIST just a
short walk away - 10s of thousands of students. Once they moved away
from components, that location wouldn't have been anywhere near as good.

You forgot, "almost opposite the BBC studios"

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

On 30/04/2018 22:05, charles wrote:
In article , Steve Walker
wrote:
On 30/04/2018 16:18, wrote:
On Monday, 30 April 2018 15:58:36 UTC+1, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:
Maplin - when they were a serious electronics supplier - were at the
forefront of fast mail order. First by phone and then via their
website.

Don't forget Computer Assisted SHopping by TELephone :-)

(And Distel from Display Electronics)

But before that, they had a high street presence. Perhaps at the poor
end of the street, but there nevertheless.

Their stated strategy, when they started opening shops, was secondary
trading areas with lower rents, with high footfall and parking.

I can see why they had a shop in Dalry Road, Edinburgh, but I don't
think that moving into the new unit between TK Maxx and Waitrose in
Stirling was particularly sensible, even if Waitrose customers possibly
buy they children an above-average number of radio-controlled cars and
educational kits.

Back when they had a great range of components and actually had plenty
of stock of them, the position on Oxford Road in Manchester was ideal -
out of the centre, but right by Manchester Polytechnic (later Manchester
Metropilitan Univeristy) and with Manchester University and UMIST just a
short walk away - 10s of thousands of students. Once they moved away
from components, that location wouldn't have been anywhere near as good.

You forgot, "almost opposite the BBC studios"

So I did. They probably did buy quite a few components there - much
quicker than ordering from RS or Farnell.

SteveW

In article ,
Chris J Dixon writes:
Graeme wrote:

In message , Huge
writes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Staples_Corner

That takes me back! There was another one in that area, known as
Gastetner Corner, but I cannot remember where, exactly.

Wasn't that just a cheap copy? ;-)

It's where school teachers used to go sniff solvents before
the next lesson, using the excuse of printing the handouts.
Even the kids could still get high from the handout sheets
ten mins later (although probably not by today's standards)...

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

In article ,
"Brian Gaff" writes:
Maplins big mistake was to open high street stores. They obviously did not
look at history and see what happened to Tandy. Tandy used to sell a lot of
good stuff. I bought one of their cassette decks and it was the best one I
ever owned. dead now of course as it actually wore out in the end.
However you could buy almost anything electronic based there, including
transistors and toys.
The high rents and rates on high streets scuppered it and this and the
Internet scuppered Maplin as well aas to some extent Comet who hoped that
selling large appliances would be lucrative of course.

My guess is they've had no one technical high up in the company for
years, so they had no direction to go in. They survived the big
downturn in the 90's and 2000's which was good going, but they
completely missed the resurgence of the maker movement in the last
10 years, and there's no excuse for that - they were ideally placed
to make the most of it with a high street presence which would have
enabled them to do lots of things their mail-order competitors
couldn't, but they had completely forgotten what their roots
where, and didn't recognise when demand for that came back in a big
way.

Things like the component ranges dropped so low you were unlikely to
be able to source what you want there for any significant project.
They could have got away with being more expensive than mail-order
because of the value of immediacy and advice, but not 5-10 times
more expensive than next-day mail order.

I've heard it said that the big financial problem was a load of money
was pulled out of the business by the recent owners, requiring the
business to borrow back from them and pay interest, but those payments
were crippling. Without them, the business was profitable, but it was
never going to be able to meet the repayments.

BTW, my local one has got loads more stock in - the staff said more
has come in than they've seen in years. It looks like the sale is
doing so well they think there's a chance of emptying much of the
excess stock in the warehouse through the shops, which was not
originally thought likely. My local one now has loads of giant 12V
electric toy cards which they presumably over-ordered at some time,
and several shops I've been in are stuffed full of C8 mains leads
which someone over-ordered by several orders of magnitude (although
still at 10 times the price from anywhere else).

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

On 03/05/2018 21:52, Andrew Gabriel wrote:
In article ,
"Brian Gaff" writes:
Maplins big mistake was to open high street stores. They obviously did not
look at history and see what happened to Tandy. Tandy used to sell a lot of
good stuff. I bought one of their cassette decks and it was the best one I
ever owned. dead now of course as it actually wore out in the end.
However you could buy almost anything electronic based there, including
transistors and toys.
The high rents and rates on high streets scuppered it and this and the
Internet scuppered Maplin as well aas to some extent Comet who hoped that
selling large appliances would be lucrative of course.

My guess is they've had no one technical high up in the company for
years, so they had no direction to go in. They survived the big
downturn in the 90's and 2000's which was good going, but they
completely missed the resurgence of the maker movement in the last
10 years, and there's no excuse for that - they were ideally placed
to make the most of it with a high street presence which would have
enabled them to do lots of things their mail-order competitors
couldn't, but they had completely forgotten what their roots
where, and didn't recognise when demand for that came back in a big
way.

Things like the component ranges dropped so low you were unlikely to
be able to source what you want there for any significant project.
They could have got away with being more expensive than mail-order
because of the value of immediacy and advice, but not 5-10 times
more expensive than next-day mail order.

I've heard it said that the big financial problem was a load of money
was pulled out of the business by the recent owners, requiring the
business to borrow back from them and pay interest, but those payments
were crippling. Without them, the business was profitable, but it was
never going to be able to meet the repayments.

BTW, my local one has got loads more stock in - the staff said more
has come in than they've seen in years. It looks like the sale is
doing so well they think there's a chance of emptying much of the
excess stock in the warehouse through the shops, which was not
originally thought likely. My local one now has loads of giant 12V
electric toy cards which they presumably over-ordered at some time,
and several shops I've been in are stuffed full of C8 mains leads
which someone over-ordered by several orders of magnitude (although
still at 10 times the price from anywhere else).

My local one is also one of the "chosen" ones to receive stock from
other stores that are closing sooner. I picked up a 12V, 5A regulated
power supply for £12 the other day.

SteveW

Fredxx wrote:

I was told this

And it has now gone ...

"THE MAPLIN WEBSITE IS NOW CLOSED.
However, our stores are still open, so pop in to grab
yourself a bargain in our closing down sale.
Everything must go! When its gone, its gone!"