Carpetright should go simply for charging far more than local independents who's product tends to be of a much higher quality. They survive only because people are lazy.
Maplins, meh. Bought a few cables from the Harrogate one but only because I was passing and remembered I needed them. As has been said they sell stuff everyone just buys online.
TrU are slightly different IMO as we still use actual shops to buy the bulk of the children's presents. My 4 year old still looks in wonder at all the stuff in the big shops and I can't see how Smyths will survive if TrU have not. I don't really want to go online for this sort of stuff and our local branches always seem to have shoppers in so think it's a real shame they're vanishing.
Only realised the Jessops are still around the other day. I would have thought they'd have gone long ago.
Noticed they were selling DJI and Feiyu in an attempt to seem relevant. I used to think it was nice to go and physically touch some of these things, but YouTube unboxings/reviews/etc have largely removed the need for that.
Agree with the general thrust of the tax comments above.
I must be the exception to the rule on this thread...
Toys R Us - yeah, I think everyone must have been looking at those massive shops & stock levels for the last decade thinking that surely it can't last.
But since we've gained a family member, we regularly went to Toys R Us to actually look at the toys/bikes/art stuff as it was much better to get a feel of what you were actually buying rather than ordering it online.
We bought most of her stocking fillers from Toys R Us as well as (from memory) a Little Tikes scooter, easel and art stuff, play doh kits, puzzles, alphabet magnets, Toot Toot drivers stuff, etc....and it wasn't much more expensive for a lot of the stuff than buying it online.
Maplin is a bit of an oddity, but again I have bought plenty in there over the years. Standard stuff like a WD NAS drive might be over-priced compared to a lot of other places, but there were certain things they sold that were hard to get hold of. And the Maplin stores in Cambridge & Peterborough were in OK locations; the one in Peterborough particularly.
Only realised the Jessops are still around the other day. I would have thought they’d have gone long ago.
Jessops nearly did - it was a big news story a few years ago. They went into administration.
Argos, IMO, has nailed it - they do same day delivery in most places and the prices are competitive with Amazon. In London, it's much simpler to go to Argos (they're everywhere) and pick something up than wait 5 days for the free delivery from Amazon to be dispatched.
They're ditched the huge warehouse style shops (at least in London) for smaller premises with a huge push to their website to encourage you to reserve online and pick it up - this reduces queues in store and gets more people through the tills.
"Only realised the Jessops are still around the other day. I would have thought they’d have gone long ago"
Jessops did go bust and pretty much disappeared from the high street but that Peter Jones bought them for a pittance and revived them with a new business model. That was many years ago now and now so I assume they are doing OK, so it isn't all over for high street shops, just ones with crap business models who can't or wont modernise and those that are not being run well.
it’s much simpler to go to Argos (they’re everywhere) and pick something up than wait 5 days for the free delivery from Amazon to be dispatched.
This, Argos are my go to for most home and electricals stuff tbh, always keenly priced and ability to check stock levels at 4 different locations within 10 mins of me is great. Argos are great for returns too. John Lewis is my other go to, as I like the business model, price matching and extra year warranty on electricals.
I'll miss Maplin. Yes they were massively overpriced compared to online, but they were occasionally useful when I wanted something like a breadboard or components and didn't fancy waiting a couple of days to see if the one from eBay China at a tenth of the price was actually genuine or not.
My main concern for Maplin is for the staff though.
That's a lot of BO-laden socially-awkward introspective high-functioning autistics to drop on the job market in one go and the programming/IT sector can only absorb so much. 😉
it’s much simpler to go to Argos (they’re everywhere) and pick something up than wait 5 days for the free delivery from Amazon to be dispatched.
Also Argos have cunningly got a (small) finger in the online pie by acting as a delivery point for eBay purchases (possibly Amazon too, not sure).
Maplin / ToysRus failed because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and other companies were doing it better (but not necessarily cheaper). Before them there was Woolworths / Virgin Megastores / HMV etc who went the same way - they were all carrying way too much stock, requiring way too many staff and having way to big premises to stay viable. The business models rely so heavily on peak demand and subsequent discounting that its not surprising to see them get to Feb / March and realise that the maths hasn't worked. This is where Argos has stolen a march on its competitors by almost failing and then being able to re-order itself into streamlined, efficient experience.
It's not the internet / Amazon / government at fault here, its the expectation of their management & shareholders that they can saturate an already full market and keep increasing profits.
I'm not in any way suprised for either of those companies. I'd not put either down to anything other than poor businesses that have failed to adapt to a new market.
I've been in Toys R Us twice in recent months and both times it was a thoroughly horrible experience. Vast amounts of stock, poor store layout, grumpy and unhelpful staff and a feel like it was straight out of 1985. The fact it's lasted that long is the major suprise.
Maplin is just an oddity, high street locations for a very niche provider, they'd be better off offering a Screw Fix type solution i'd suggest. Like TRU, staff were terrible, store layout all over the shop and just an odd place.
Who's next is interesting, a lot of talk of Debenhams which i can understand. Big stores, lots of stock, constant sales and no real niche or specialism. House of Fraser I'm more surprised about, they have a much stronger brand to me, offer a better product line and generally seem "better", big shops and expenses though.
WHSmiths will be fine, they make most of their money in stations and airports from what I understand. Argos too will be fine, they're actually doing very well from what I understand.
Went to Homebase at the weekend and asked if they had something to clean electrical contacts. The sales droid looked at me like I had landed from Mars, and then went to find a colleague who asked me what electrical contacts are. I explained as best as my stunned confusion would allow, and she pointed to the wire wool. At that moment I would have been very grateful for a Maplins.
(Of course Amazon have pages of contact cleaning stuff available for next day delivery)
Only realised the Jessops are still around the other day. I would have thought they’d have gone long ago.
Jessops aren't too bad - there's one on Oxford Street that holds its own with the "posh" Park Cameras round the corner, and the staff are'nt as arsey.
DrJ if you'd just asked for IPA they would probably have told you they don't sell beer 🙂
I avoided Toys Were Us because shopping there was like being trapped inside a migraine. Too bright. Too much information. Kids may love it, but it is the grown ups that have to take them there.
I'd much rather go to Smyth's because the atmosphere in the place doesn't make me feel unwell.
No idea how WH Smiths are still in business. The one in Bury always looks like a tip and the grim carpets remind me of a heavy night in the Student's Union.
Toys R Us is a weird one, here in Edinburgh they downsized their main unit citing "retail climate", meanwhile Smyths opened a new unit which was pretty much the same size as TRU's old one, filled it with good stuff, and sell it. They're 2 chains doing literally the same thing, in the same industrial estate, one is dying while the other apparently is growing at the same rate as Amazon. Smyths don't seem especially cheaper, for the stuff I compared, but they're definitely more up to date...
And the TRU felt like a pound shop - and that's not new- while the Smyths feels like a magical place with toys in their millions all under one roof. TRU can't even do online stock checks properly, I was looking for an item that they were advertising in a sale and the answer was "contact the shop", wtf? And no option to relocate stock to where you are.
(don't get me wrong, I love a pound shop, I just don't want to buy a £100 toy there, I want to buy haribos)
I know the underlying issue with TRU is that they're drowning in debt but they just seem to be a really rubbish retailer.
It's not like the demise of the high street hasn't been clearly identified years ago. Yet still the business rates that local councils charge for such locations are stupidly high. They need to drop these massively for any chance of shops to stay.
"Yet still the business rates that local councils charge for such locations are stupidly high. They need to drop these massively for any chance of shops to stay."
very much this.
I looked into commercial property recently. - the rates locally not even on the high street for NON RETAIL properties were astronomic.....
and for context i can move to peebles and pay rent and rates for the year on a building twice the size AND pay my mortgage.
Is it time for an honest discussion on the economic path the country is moving to?
No we needed that 30 years ago... now we just need to prepare for the decline.
We can moan about Maplin for selling cheap tat imported from China whilst employing people.
We can moan about Amazon .. for importing cheap tat, mostly from China
The truth is we are just consumers as a nation. We don't REALLY make much to sell. Even the things we "make" we mainly just put together or "sew on a badge saying finished in the UK" (the sewing the badge on being the finishing)
What can we do? Look for a nearby market where the people can afford the things we make (as opposed to buying them all from China)? or are we going to export our UK made Hope and Superstar to China?
Is this the "fault" of low interest rates?
Vulture capitalists unable to make a return in the banks resort to creating shell companies that buy businesses and grind them up to make a return? Saddle the companies with debt so all they do is pay the loan back, never improve or grow unless it's to pay rent to one of the other venture capital company's property owning divisions?
By paying rent they justify the collosal rent charged, enabling the land owner to borrow more money to set up more stores, all leveraged to the max?
All the while knowing that <span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">the government will sort out pensions...</span>
I thought toys r us and maplins we’re almost exclusively out of town shops? You know, the ones that were built on ring roads and were killing the high street?
anyway, the local ones to me (Bristol) were utter bilge. I wanted to like them and especially, take the kids to a toy mega store but really it was just a tatty shop full of poorly displayed toys...
I stopped using Amazon, avoid Starbucks, never used Uber etc, etc
No no real issue with Uber. Taxis generally have always been expensive and utterly shite for me.
With regards to Toys R Us it's a case of the hunter becoming the hunted.
They stripped bare the toy shops from the high street by opening large out of town retail units and undercutting prices.
But they then failed to respond to the threat of online shopping.
What comes around goes around, eh! Now they know how the high street toy stores felt like!
No no real issue with Uber. Taxis generally have always been expensive and utterly shite for me.
Shite and inconvenient. When I need a taxi it's generally because of some unforseen need so I didn't supply myself with 100 quid in cash, so their refusal to accept cards is a deal breaker.
I went in to Maplins yesterday, as I needed a watch battery, £3.99, not a common cell, so unable to walk in and buy one elsewhere, I usually use buy from a local independent hardware and mixed goods shop, not as cheap as on line, but convenient and useful, so I support it when I can.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">I could have bought one on line, but not had it there and then, a couple of days wait is annoying when you want to get it done and dusted.</span>
I bought a set of outdoor LED Christmas lights last year, they were half the original price and cheaper than the DIY stores offerings.
I remember Maplins when they had a store off the Kings Road in Hammersmith, but were largely mail order, with a huge catalogue to select from.
I think there is a place for Maplins, but probably not in its current form, it filled the hole left by Tandy (Radio Shack), but hasn't improved on it?
I'll miss maplin if they do completely go. Been using them for years from the first shop in Southend. My local one is a short walk away. Prices ate higher than the web but not crazy. Friendly helpful staff too.
TRU deserved to go bust, horrible shops, always felt like they expected you to shop lift and treated you as such from when you walk in. Smyth on the surface is the same concept but so much better. Welcoming and with some discounting.
Will miss Maplin, don't use them much but useful from time to time. Like most people though not often enough.
The truth is we are just consumers as a nation. We don’t REALLY make much to sell.
So what else does the rest of Europe make that we don't?
From what I see the Chinese churn out the vast majority of tech and everyday things we buy (toasters, kettles etc.) These are the same products that are sold all over the world - they aren't made just for us.
As a country we still make a lot of high quality stuff - just not the throw-away tat products.
Well, thirty seconds in and she's already repeated the lie about working for "the many". Downhill from here.
"5 tests" turn out to be meaningless waffle. What a shock!!
Irish problem left to unicorns.
So what else does the rest of Europe make that we don’t?
From what I see the Chinese churn out the vast majority of tech and everyday things we buy (toasters, kettles etc.) These are the same products that are sold all over the world – they aren’t made just for us.
As a country we still make a lot of high quality stuff – just not the throw-away tat products.
The rest of Europe makes a few things (SRAM/RS for one) we don't but that isn't really the issue I see.
Most of our products (and those of Europe) that are not tat have a fairly limited market and a huge slice of that market is "the rest of Europe".
Now don't get me wrong ... Hope make some fantastic kit and Superstar make some pretty decent stuff but it's WAY more expensive than made in Taiwan or Korea who also make some pretty decent kit as do Cane Creek or Chris King.
If I was in the US would I buy Hope or CC or Taiwan/Korea premium?
I'd guess CC if I wanted to support 'local' or Taiwan/Korea premium for value but I'm not going to pay a 50% surcharge for Hope over CC. (Just comparing a headset a CC is cheaper than Hope in the UK, that's before import duties into the US)
I’ll miss Maplin. Yes they were massively overpriced compared to online, but they were occasionally useful when I wanted something like a breadboard or components and didn’t fancy waiting a couple of days to see if the one from eBay China at a tenth of the price was actually genuine or not.
My main concern for Maplin is for the staff though.
That’s a lot of BO-laden socially-awkward introspective high-functioning autistics to drop on the job market in one go and the programming/IT sector can only absorb so much.
LOLZ.
or just buy from a reputable online source like RS or CPC Farnell? Agree it's a shame that there'll be nowhere now that you can just wander in & buy components once a year, but obviously that doesn't pay the bills for them. Ripping the arse out of Joe public with massively inflated prices did though, and they've got away with it for a long time so kudos to them for that, but it's time to see the back of them now!I’ll miss Maplin. Yes they were massively overpriced compared to online, but they were occasionally useful when I wanted something like a breadboard or components and didn’t fancy waiting a couple of days to see if the one from eBay China at a tenth of the price was actually genuine or not.
Debenhams will be next or Wilko,s both seem dated and oldie world.
Debenhams is quite likely, but I very much doubt Wilco will, they’re always really busy, and there isn’t a high street store that can match them for the range or variety of goods they sell or the price they sell at, they often sell cheaper than the Pound shop up the road.
I buy lots of stuff from them, I can walk into town and get stuff, instead of having to get in the car and drive up to the supermarket, although Sainsbury’s is within walking distance they’re not as cheap.
With regards to Toys R Us it’s a case of the hunter becoming the hunted.They stripped bare the toy shops from the high street by opening large out of town retail units and undercutting prices.
But they then failed to respond to the threat of online shopping.
What comes around goes around, eh! Now they know how the high street toy stores felt like!
Exactly this