And so, the end grows nearer. The Maplin website has now shut. Maplin Website

It will probably change again, at some stage, so I'll get a screenshot up at some point.

Yes, I know at least some of the reasons why Maplin have gone, but it's still very sad, seeing one of my favourite shops from "the olden days" closing.

Far too expensive for most things, but an absolute godsend for hard to find bits and pieces - uncommon cable adapters, electrical components, you name it. I often found myself there on a Sunday morning, hunting supplies for a last minute repair.

I will miss Maplin.

Agreed, although they were handy for electronics components... I bought some LEDs and resistors last week.

They weren’t that helpful when it came to me needing a USB thumb drive, but there have been times when I’ve needed components for a repair and they’ve either had what I needed, or the staff have been able to find it. I remember taking my Electron power supply in because I needed a new barrel plug to go into the computer (the wire had kinked and frayed at the end), and one of their assistants spent some time looking for the right size. He found it too.

The last thing I bought was a screwdriver set with all the right heads for taking a modern computer apart.

I think I’ll miss it - being able to drop in on a Saturday for something necessary for a fix or a build.

It seems strange that a company whose roots were in the mail-order supply business, weren't able to take advantage of selling on the internet.

When I first started buying from them, mail-order through their catalogue was the only way unless you lived close to one of their two shops. However their turnaround times for a mail order business were impressive, getting orders delivered in under 2 weeks when the standard model of the the time was 28 days at best.

Once they expanded with stores all over the country the quality of the service started to go down as their prices went up. Being able to go to one of their stores in person to buy couldn't always make up for the lack of stock and knowledge in some of the stores or compensate for the significantly higher prices.

Last time I visited one of their stores (about 6 months ago) they couldn't even fulfil my order for some good quality metal bodied TRS jack plugs and coloured balanced line microphone cable - things that would have been in plentiful supply (and possibly with a choice of brands) back in the 90s.