Sinclair ZX80 / ZX81 / Z88 Forums

Maplin Electronics is now in administration.

Story on The Register

Maplin are still trading as normal, as the administrators are trying to sell it as a going concern.

Mark

Damn! I really needed that £17 RGB lead.

Sad really as that's where I used to get most of my bits for amp construction from the 70's onwards when they had the single shop in Essex(?) and only really stopped when they become an expensive toy shop with limited component stock plus I found out Farnell had a trade counter just up the road (mail order only now though).

Sad for those it may put out of work though, I hope a buyer can found.

Maplin is not on the top of my favourite suppliers list, but they are in many places just around the corner and I buy some bits and bobs there quite frequently.

It is definitely sad news.

I bought loads of stuff from Maplin before they got bought out the first time. At first, by mail order or by phone. Then by their dial-up modem link service. That was fun. Then with their first internet site.

Then they opened a shop in the nearest city to me. So I could go and see what the non-component items looked like.

Around five years later, they had three stores in the nearest city to me.

Then they started to become less useful. Instead being more of a box shifting company.

But when buying plastic or one of the limited range of metal cases that were sold in store, I found that much easier than ordering online and playing guess if it will fit, measure with a ruler, then compare dimensions. Then go for a final guesstimate and order...

Same with buying some types of switches or buttons.

Now, their website is rather more difficult to use. The search function is poor. The prices in store for components and parts are not attractive.

But some items are still priced okay (some tools for example, at least, when I last bought a tool a while ago).

Not been to a Maplin store this year, but did buy some plastic cases in December last year.

Mark