Maplin to the wall, this can't happen

MtB · February 28, 2018

Curous about Toys R Us, they just opened a huge new store in Reading, only a couple of weeks ago.

**Athy** · February 28, 2018

5 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Curous about Toys R Us, they just opened a huge new store in Reading, only a couple of weeks ago.

I suppose that it would have been planned over a couple of years, so when work began on it the company did not foresee their impending cash flow crisis.

Some companies are obviously better than others in that respect. Four or five years ago, Tesco started to build a very large new supermarket on the outskirts of Chatteris. I don't know what happened to Tesco's trade figures while it was being built, but obviously some accountant held his hand up and said "No!" The building is still there, looking very much like a supermarket, but is not branded and has never been used.

rusty69 · February 28, 2018

8 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Curous about Toys R Us, they just opened a huge new store in Reading, only a couple of weeks ago.

Maybe they don't know their "Я's" from their elbow.

MtB · February 28, 2018

4 minutes ago, Athy said:

I suppose that it would have been planned over a couple of years, so when work began on it the company did not foresee their impending cash flow crisis.

Some companies are obviously better than others in that respect. Four or five years ago, Tesco started to build a very large new supermarket on the outskirts of Chatteris. I don't know what happened to Tesco's trade figures while it was being built, but obviously some accountant held his hand up and said "No!" The building is still there, looking very much like a supermarket, but is not branded and has never been used.

Now that would have been the sensible thing for Toys R us to do. I can't imagine they didnt see the crisis looming when the opened the store, filling it with stock and taking on a batch of new employees. Tesco were more socially responsible to not open their new store then immediately close it again.

davem399 · February 28, 2018

25 minutes ago, Athy said:

I suppose that it would have been planned over a couple of years, so when work began on it the company did not foresee their impending cash flow crisis.

Some companies are obviously better than others in that respect. Four or five years ago, Tesco started to build a very large new supermarket on the outskirts of Chatteris. I don't know what happened to Tesco's trade figures while it was being built, but obviously some accountant held his hand up and said "No!" The building is still there, looking very much like a supermarket, but is not branded and has never been used.

In Herne Bay, there is a large out of town Sainsburys, which was completed a couple of years ago, but never opened.

dor · February 28, 2018

I suspect part of the trouble with TRU is that it was too easy to browse round the shop, scan the barcode of what you were interested in and then buy it cheaper on line, often with next day (or, increasingly, same day) delivery. It's what did for many of the electrical stores and I sometimes wonder just how healthy Currys is.

**Athy** · February 28, 2018

14 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Now that would have been the sensible thing for Toys R us to do. I can't imagine they didnt see the crisis looming when the opened the store, filling it with stock and taking on a batch of new employees. Tesco were more socially responsible to not open their new store then immediately close it again.

You're probably right, although I suspect that a sense of social responsibility was not uppermost in Tesco's thoughts when they made the decision.

Apparently, in the last few days, half the store has been opened as a Poundstretcher. Anyone want the other half?

carlt · February 28, 2018

3 hours ago, Nightwatch said:

Doesn't just effect small business. Where am I going to get my relay units now!!

From your local independent electronic components store...Oh, hang on...They all went bust when the predator was Maplins, undercutting them in their out of town retail stores.

Whilst having great sympathy for the workers set to lose their jobs I don't pity the likes of the big retailers who are getting a taste of their own medicine.

I tend to get my tech fix from online independents who sell through their Ebay and Amazon stores.

It is somewhat ironic that independents can benefit from the internet giants providing them with a platform to sell from...unlike the big retail park megastores that just crushed the opposition.

WotEver · February 28, 2018

56 minutes ago, Mike the Boilerman said:

Curous about Toys R Us, they just opened a huge new store in Reading, only a couple of weeks ago.

Smyths have been ‘wuppin’ TRU for a number of years now. I think it was around 2015 that I was reading that TRU were struggling to compete. Looks like they finally lost that struggle.

12 minutes ago, carlt said:

From your local independent electronic components store...Oh, hang on...They all went bust when the predator was Maplins, undercutting them in their out of town retail stores.

Whatever happened to Tandy?

carlt · February 28, 2018

4 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Whatever happened to Tandy?

I seem to recall them being bought out by Carphone Warehouse.

WotEver · February 28, 2018

Just now, carlt said:

I seem to recall them being bought out by Carphone Warehouse.

Really? I never knew that.

They were doing tat for chavs a long time before Maplin tried it.

matty40s · February 28, 2018

8 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Really? I never knew that.

They were doing tat for chavs a long time before Maplin tried it.

I don't think Chavs had been invented when I used to use Tandy....

**Dave_P** · February 28, 2018

1 hour ago, dor said:

I suspect part of the trouble with TRU is that it was too easy to browse round the shop, scan the barcode of what you were interested in and then buy it cheaper on line, often with next day (or, increasingly, same day) delivery. It's what did for many of the electrical stores and I sometimes wonder just how healthy Currys is.

The Bhuna is healthier than the Korma

BlueStringPudding · February 28, 2018

1 hour ago, dor said:

I suspect part of the trouble with TRU is that it was too easy to browse round the shop, scan the barcode of what you were interested in and then buy it cheaper on line, often with next day (or, increasingly, same day) delivery. It's what did for many of the electrical stores and I sometimes wonder just how healthy Currys is.

It got subsumed into a mutant "Curry's-PC World" some time ago having been eaten by Dixon's years before that, so can't have been doing brilliantly.

WotEver · February 28, 2018

1 hour ago, matty40s said:

I don't think Chavs had been invented when I used to use Tandy....

Tat for unnamed-but-soon-to-be-chavs then

6 minutes ago, BlueStringPudding said:

It got subsumed into a mutant "Curry's-PC World" some time ago having been eaten by Dixon's years before that, so can't have been doing brilliantly.

What you can do in Curry’s though is to view an item, walk outside and go online to find the best price, then go back into the store, show them your phone and ask if they’ll price match. I’ve done that at Halfords too.

**Athy** · February 28, 2018

14 minutes ago, BlueStringPudding said:

It got subsumed into a mutant "Curry's-PC World" some time ago having been eaten by Dixon's years before that, so can't have been doing brilliantly.

I saw this as a sensible step: Curry's management realised that customers now demanded more than just a traditional electrical-goods shop and added a computer section, thus broadening its appeal.

However, Hughes', mainly a traditional electrical-goods shop, seems to be growing and growing. They even do almost-forgotten things like monthly rentals of household electrical goods: tellies, washing machines, cookers...

Edited February 28, 2018 by Athy

carlt · February 28, 2018

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

Tat for unnamed-but-soon-to-be-chavs then

It was always interesting to see the mix in Tandy/Maplins.

Geeks peacefully coexisting with their usually hostile school nemeses.

It was a sort of Ham versus CB interaction.

WotEver · February 28, 2018

3 minutes ago, Athy said:

However, Hughes', mainly a traditional electrical-goods shop, seems to be growing and growing.

TJ Hughes? Yep, they’ve even opened a store in Nuneaton. I recently bought 3 pairs of trousers!

**Athy** · February 28, 2018

1 minute ago, WotEver said:

TJ Hughes? Yep, they’ve even opened a store in Nuneaton. I recently bought 3 pairs of trousers!

No, the electrical shops, which are a completely different company (though the manager of our local Hughes, or "Oozes" as it's pronounced round here, tells me that the two are sometimes confused - as you have shown!)

WotEver · February 28, 2018

Just now, Athy said:

No, the electrical shops, which are a completely different company (though the manager of our local Hughes, or "Oozes" as it's pronounced round here, tells me that the two are sometimes confused - as you have shown!)

Oh, don’t know them.

**Athy** · February 28, 2018

3 minutes ago, WotEver said:

Oh, don’t know them.

I can't find exactly how many stores they have, but it's certainly over 30. They started in Suffolk and have gradually spread outwards.

Alan de Enfield · February 28, 2018

26 minutes ago, Athy said:

They started in Suffolk and have gradually spread outwards.

Is there any other way ?

Can one 'spread inwards' ?

David Mack · February 28, 2018

2 hours ago, carlt said:

I seem to recall them being bought out by Carphone Warehouse.

But still exist online:

https://www.tandyonline.com/

MHS · February 28, 2018

2 hours ago, WotEver said:

Really? I never knew that.

They were doing tat for chavs a long time before Maplin tried it.

Careful, you could be punished for the new crime of Chav-ism. It is presumably a form of racism.

http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-leeds-43227761

**Athy** · February 28, 2018

47 minutes ago, Alan de Enfield said:

Is there any other way ?

Most certainly. They could have spread along the coast, or along the A47, or Northwards, or Southwards, but that wasn't for them.

So they spread outwards.

Was it Mr. Dury who said "There ain't half been some clever fellows", or words to that effect?

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