Maplin

I think I am going to miss Maplin. Mostly it was where I would go if I was in a pickle as a last resort - their prices were a bit too high - but it had gotten me out of trouble on many an occasion. I even bought stuff many times from their eBay outlet.

Lambert wrote: Maplin have gone bust? Oh! I used to get loads of stuff in there.

First it was Tandy, now these. What next for electronics. They ought to have gone online.

mlines wrote: [They are online?

Yes though I am not sure whether or not that's going now too but I meant online exclusively.

Maplin lost its way many years ago in my humble opinion. It was a "go to" as a last resort place for me, mainly as they only ever stocked 1 or more likely 0 of any component. They had plenty of expensive toys or gizmos in store, but as an electronic store the shops offered little. Yes you could order the part and get it posted, but at this point you could order it and get it posted cheaper elsewhere. Sad to see it go,........the world it is a changing .

I remember many years ago when you wanted an electronic component, or a kit to build something and that was a large part of the store..
Went there a few months ago for a resistor, actually 100 times more expensive than what I could get them from china at, and they had a small rack in the corner that had components..
Shame to see them go as its not always suitable to buy online as you may not know exactly what you need..

Scimike wrote: Maplin lost its way many years ago in my humble opinion. It was a "go to" as a last resort place for me, mainly as they only ever stocked 1 or more likely 0 of any component. They had plenty of expensive toys or gizmos in store, but as an electronic store the shops offered little. Yes you could order the part and get it posted, but at this point you could order it and get it posted cheaper elsewhere. Sad to see it go,........the world it is a changing .

Exactly right plus the staff got poorer and poorer in terms of helping.

I must say the maplins staff in Portsmouth were extremely helpful for me.. Wasted a good half an hr of their time for a 10p item !
I needed to dim right down a led. they helped with getting the right resistor, I would go out to the car for the 12v supply, see how bright the led was then go back in for the next resistor until I finally found the one I was happy with and bought it !
guess its like any store where some are really helpful and some just don't care

kirkynut wrote:
Sounds like they resisted passing comment. See what I did there?

Kirkynut

lol
I gottit but it was a struggle.