dougbgt6 Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Reading the news today it looks like Maplin are going down the pan. Oooo! it's just on Victoria Derbyshire! Closing down sale coming up? They are already offering 50% off tools although, the prices are still not as good as elsewhere. Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 I think that is the problem, they just can't compete having all the overheads associated with physical shops. Thesedays it is so easy to sit at home and press a button for whatever to arrive the next day. A shame, the high streets of the UK will become smaller, with only coffee shops, food outlets (can't call them restaurants) and probably clothing but greatly reduced numbers of them as we all move online for everything. I guess it is progress...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Clive, Yes I think you're right Maplins 200+ stores and in trouble. Radio Spares still going strong but only 15 stores and mostly on line. Shame, I love Maplin's science projects, always buying them for my descendants, who are total disinterested, so I have to put them together myself . Doug Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Our daughters other half is getting into electronics. Luckily it makes for easy birthday/christmas pressies! My electronics knowledge 30 odd years ago was quite good, but I can barely remember a thing now. But he could come in handy...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlubikey Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Yes, if you want high streets, you have to pay for them. You pay by buying stuff at high street prices. If you always buy the cheapest, don't come crying later that you've lost quality/choice/service/high street shop/{insert another thing you value here} Shame about Maplin. Gone the same way as Tandy & Laskys. (remember when Laskys sold electronics stuff? I'm pretty sure my old Russian multi-meter came from there.) Remember the old 70's & 80''s Maplin catalogues with the Sci-Fi front covers? Happy days! Cheers, Richard Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin Lindsay Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 2 hours ago, clive said: A shame, the high streets of the UK will become smaller, with only coffee shops, food outlets (can't call them restaurants) and probably clothing Don't forget the charity shops, nothing but these days... they're rate free so get the prime spots in town centres. None of them ever sell tools though... probably some kind of legal thing as they can't accept electrical items either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nautam Mistry Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Another store bites the dust...Amazon and the internet must have a long list of companies it has indirectly killed off from giants like Woolies to Maplins....Just means there are more vehicles on the roads make these internet deliveries...pity but this is a sign of the times with us all being responsible for the sake of convenience and the progression of technology. Nautam Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlubikey Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Good for your son-not-quite-in-law Clive. When I were a nipper, we all did electronics projects building all sorts of things. From school right the way through Uni. and on to the present day. I wonder if people doing electronics courses do that sort of thing now? Talking about all the things I made got me my apprenticeship way back when. Funnily enough I was reminiscing yesterday at the, now long gone, electronics shops in Reading we would pop in to on our way into town. Chiltmead (later called Stuart's), the Shop on the Bridge, the one with the off-hand old bloke in, the one in Oxford Road. And of course Tandy & Lasky in the centre. All long gone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rlubikey Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Well Nautam, each van delivers to several people. If each of those people went into town, and a percentage of them drove, then you easily get more vehicles on the road. It's one the good thing coming out of the death of the high street. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nautam Mistry Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Pity really...however the variety of restaurants that have cropped up on our high street is great...all service based industries will benefit but then makes you wonder what will happen to the large retail parks we have....will they be next? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 You should try Brighton. The main high street is a shadow of when I was a teenager. I used to walk down to HMV, buy an album (3.29 at the time, some of them still have the price on), go home, sit with friends listening to the album and drinking Tea. And if we were lucky, a packet of bourbons. The good old days... SNQIL (I like that) is a decent chap. Works in film special effects, trying to work his way up. I am digressing, but he sussed he had to start at the bottom after his degree, so made the tea, ran errands etc whilst getting a bit of training. He is the only one out of about 40 who actually work in the industry they did their degree in. Says a lot. He has had credits on several top films (Alien, Paddington 2, and several others) and was really chuffed when he got his own IMDB listing! so I am confident he will get there. And yes, we are all to blame for the High St demise. It is just the way the world is changing. Just like it has always been, constant change. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nautam Mistry Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 One could argue that the High Street has become more exciting with little chic pop up shops and boutiques that come crop up from time to time...Also some places have little markets with people coming over from Europe to sell their wares...the demise of certain industries will open up opportunities for something else...its how we progress as a society I suppose... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 46 minutes ago, Nautam Mistry said: people coming over from Europe Lets think about that for a moment? Apart from the fact that our leaders don't want them to come, (based on a very narrow majority vote, which they keep calling "The will of the people"), the £ has sunk so low it's not worth their while. db Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68vitesse Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 We do live in a democracy don't we? I thought this meant majority vote wins. Regards Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 6 minutes ago, 68vitesse said: I thought this meant majority vote wins. Hello Paul, I think that only applies when it suits !! Regards. Richard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 One of the main tenents of democracy is protection of minorities and there is a stonking great minority don't want to go. What are we doing for them? Well, nothing. Which is why it will all end in tears! Before the vote I sat in St Mary's church Twyford, listening to my MP, Mrs May, enthusiastically telling the audience why we should stay! Now her she is driving the bus over the cliff. Politicians! db Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AidanT Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Who ever thought we lived in a democracy? Aidan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Now now, all this "B" talk will only raise everybodies blood pressure. I just want it sorted, but I think the effects Europe wide will go on many years. Maybe we are like the first person to leave a successful pop group. The first to leave is usually the most successful, and the group generally goes into further decline.I suspect that is what will happen, whether or not we leave. (for the record I am a 75% remainer, but accept the democratic decision despite it all being a great unknown) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dougbgt6 Posted February 28, 2018 Author Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Clive, An interesting analogy, Robbie Williams, yes. Geri Halliwell, no. The Spice Girl who did the best stayed with the group, despite the fact she could barely sing. But then Mrs Beckham was always good at making deals! I think we will remain, in all but name. Can't do anything else if the Good Friday agreement is to be preserved. db Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AidanT Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 Plus one on that Doug. We can't go back on that Aidan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68vitesse Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 What bothers me is how often "experts" get it wrong and politicians jumping on band wagons i.e diesels and the need to change names from global warning to climate change. Regards Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thescrapman Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 4 hours ago, rlubikey said: Remember the old 70's & 80''s Maplin catalogues with the Sci-Fi front covers? Happy days! Cheers, Richard Remember them? Still got a couple somewhere! many a happy time going to Westcliffe on Sea to buy parts, when it was their only store. stopped using them when they started to open the big stores, the prices had to go up to cover their costs I guess. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clive Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 What bothers me most about environmental issues (I did my degree in Environmental Science, before it was "fashionable" and contained mostly a hefty Chemistry core with other interesting bits nailed on) is that they have become politicised. So when I started teaching after a few years in industry, the global warming ball was just starting to roll. The estimates suggested my current house should be underwater. They "scientists" got it wrong. Or the politicians listened to the wrong guy/gal. And then everybody was moaning that the temperature was not going up (it has, but not as expected). Then some dimwit saw something about a hurricane, and hey presto, it is now climate change. Has the number of extreme weather events changed? Probably, but many of them will be down to factors other than just climate change (eg flooding caused by changes to farming/drainage/rivers/population etc etc) and who ever is producing data will make damn sure the person paying for the research gets what they want! So I believe climate change IS happening, but much of the scare-mongering does nothing to help combat it.A better approach is needed. Same thing applies to diesels. Bandwagon 10 years ago was climate change and CO2. Diesels were, and still are, better in terms of CO2. However, the emphasis has changed to toxic emissions. Could it be that car manufacturers want to change the cars on the road? make people buy new with the misleading notion doing so will save the Panda's? Who knows. I tell you, they are out to get me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anglefire Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 And the other thing that they have stopped talking about for the moment at least, is particle emissions - diesels are not that good unless they do a lot of things like adblue etc - but the particulates haven't really come down. Why? Because they then found that rubber emits particles too - as does some other things. So they dropped that one pretty quickly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
68vitesse Posted February 28, 2018 Report Share Posted February 28, 2018 And once asbestos asbestos was good. Have over six inches of snow here, last time we had appreciable snow was five years ago. Is this climate change or the result of Brexit?. Cannot be normal as these days someone else is always to blame. Regards Paul 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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