Maplin Electronics Stores

My experience is like Bazyle's. Looking to buy a few common resistors or transistors, only two in stock. And yet they do seem to stock some less common items. There were three stores in Cardiff, now two. They shut the better one, from a technical knowledge point of view. Not having stock, they would refer me to buy online, 'but I want in now, or I wouldn't be here.'

Similarly, I use Homebase, not the cheapest but convenient. Bunnings (Australian DIY) took them over, and now they seem to be in trouble. I was told a few weeks ago that they were doing more DIY. Like B&Q, Screwfix (yes I know), Wickes, etc., I said. No competition there, then.

Bill

BTDTGTTS!

Have you tried Reichelt?

They do them for 90p.

Neil

Still a Maplins in Brighton but didnt have 3 strong magnets of size required so got them on line, probably like so many more of their ex - customers. Expect they will soon join C & A, BHS, Comet, Woolworths and many more.

Edited By DMB on 20/02/2018 21:43:34

Brighton is in a huge desert for metal supplies, like Bazyle complained. There is a major steel stockholder along the road @ Shoreham harbour but min. order £500! I want a short length of mild steel 50mm/2" square. One ME advertiser does it but post more than doubles cost.

Soon won't be much of any type of shop left. There were several bookshops in Brighton and Hove, including Airds who sold brand new Myfords and stocked all the accessories and every other tool you could want. And it was run by a very knowledgeable woman. Shop gone through several changes and now flogs filled bagettes, like many more round here. Bank branches will soon all disappear. When hard cash finally goes, so will those branches. Remember, we already have swipe n go which is gaining ground, cashless bus travel in London.

It's all not if but when.

All for good progress but some things scare the life out of me as I think it' all becoming a fraudsters paradise and the Police are about as good as chocolate teapots.

Edited By DMB on 20/02/2018 22:06:44

Blimey! My local stockholder will cut to length and happily sell me less than £10 of metal.

Only problem is he hasn't got a shear brake so if I buy sheet it has to be thin enough to fold a 2-metre square in half!

Neil

The way their profits have disappeared there may not be a Maplins anywhere in the near future

Probably because of people like me - buy it on the net and only go to Joe Maplin's place if I want it NOW (if he has it).

Applies to the high street in general though.

My local Maplin shop in Dundee opened a few years ago and I have used it a few times, but it always struck me that there were more staff than customers any time I was in there. It does not surprise me that the business model is suspect since the online competition is very strong and Maplin are not competitive on price. Also a lot of the stuff Maplin sell can be bought at a fraction of the price from China.

Doug

I used to visit the Luton Arches Branch quite often and found the staff helpful; I believe some, at least, moved to the much larger Strood store. I wasn't aware of the parking problem - on the one occasion I visited I went on my folding bike.

It's a case of use it or lose it. The bricks and mortar store has some potential advantages: yesterday I took a suspect HDMI cable to Currys where they cheerfully tested it for me.

**LINK**

I thought maplin were in the good old days the ones you could buy any electrical/electronic component you wanted at any quantity.

Now they've moved on to being more of a "dixons" type store, I think they lost their charm with that.

Michael W

At least here in the lands of the kangaroo and kiwis this company still provide a reasonable range of components **LINK** although they appear to be heading the same way as some of your U.K. outlets.

The best we ever had was the original Dick Smith Stores before they sold out to the highest bidder and then they rapidly went downhill **LINK**

I met Dick Smith at his Chullora store (Sydney) when I went there in the 70's to purchase just a few components. Dick asked what I was making, I told him it was an r/c transmitter and told him how a PWM system worked so that's why I wanted 2% tolerance resistors. He immediately offered me a job as his philosophy was to hire staff with a bit of electronics experience under their belt.

I had to decline due to military commitments but it was nice to be asked. Dick went on to become a great philantropist and like to fly his personal helicopter around the place.

10 years before that there was a was a great Bob Dylan song' The Times They Are A Changing' - How prophetic was that?

* Danny M *

Can anyone remember the name of the store in the Cardiff Arcades (late 70s). I still have a few big old circuit boards bought from the bins in their just to strip components from.

Neil

Neil, I used to do the same (board stripping).

One picks up a lot of useful soldering and de-soldering skills that way, lots of very cheap components and the endless quest to identify some of the more obscure components from manuals.

I actually had (still have) an Apple 2 board that could identify most logic IC's that had the numbers removed (so that the replacements could be sold at a greatly inflated price).

Still have most of my collection of almost every 74xx IC ever made just to satisfy my curiosity at the time and a desire to learn how they worked so that they could be practically utilised. Then the 40xx CMOS series was another challenge.

I suppose my point is that an average bloke could walk into an electronics store and buy this stuff. No online ordering back then!

* Danny M *

Hi, just when you think it's all over, it seems like Maplin will be back. But only online. **LINK**

Regards Nick.

If you are in the Cambridge area H Gee still exists on Mill road. It was there when I was a student and was the source for all my electronics components at the time. I bought a soldering iron in there a couple of years back (something like 40 years after) and Mrs Gee was still sitting on what looked like the same stool. They happily sold individual resistors back then.

To get a feeling of the place here is a link with and image part way down the page.

**LINK**

regards Martin

I think Maplins started out as mail order and had only one shop.

Removing ICs from old pcbs was a pia . Just dumped a box of 74 series logic all marked with A, B, C, D and E. All stored in polystyrene sheet, never hear SSD in those days. Mind you they were reasonably tolerant of static.

Gosh, I never heard of that shop and I do go to Cambridge about once a year. Not sure if I did any component buying during my student years though, I had already built my record deck amplifier and radio control at school so didn't need much more until I was at work and er um getting resistors from er well somewhere else to build by first computer.

Harry Donner closed, so Peterborough seems to have nowhere you can electronic components, or less usual connectors and cables.

Bought Maplin batteries (AA and AAA) in nbulk boxes. Some have corroded and failed in the box. So, from that point of view, less to mourn.

Howard