i still have my concertmate 1000 i got from tandy in 1992 still works great
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpvKpvFUKlA
and a goodmans amp
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpvKpvFUKlA
and a goodmans amp
Is MAPLINS getting worse?
- Thread starter roy_bates
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No, I miss them too.
The Tandy store at Sale was epic and a lot of their 'Realistic' branded stuff was actually quite good.
I remember popping into Tandy in Southampton as they were closing down. I confess to having basically scalped them.
They had a load of Amiga SCART leads for sale, all reduced to some pitifully small amount of money. I bought the lot and eBayed them.
I dunno. I was young and reckless and it seemed a good idea at the time, when I was a poor student. Please don't judge me, I'm much better now!
What's bad about that? They probably wouldn't have got rid of them otherwise and would have dumped them. You did a service to the retro community by saving them and distributing them to the people who need them.
Bryce.
Bryce.
I haven't read most of the thread apart from page 1, but I used to work for Maplins around 9 years ago when I took the job out of desperation when moving to a new area. Its a horrible place to work, basically they employ graduates that have no experience or knowledge of retail or customer service as their store managers, they take on students and give absolutely no training and don't give staff any time during their shift to read up or learn about any of the stuff available. I worked there full time for 6 LONG months and I don't know what a dil socket is either.
We had 2 blokes out of about 15 staff that basically were the brains of the operation, they were both very knowledgeable, one was a manager and the other one turned out to be using the place as his personal stash of pc components (if you know what I mean)
At the end of the day, you pay peanuts... you get monkeys.
We had 2 blokes out of about 15 staff that basically were the brains of the operation, they were both very knowledgeable, one was a manager and the other one turned out to be using the place as his personal stash of pc components (if you know what I mean)
At the end of the day, you pay peanuts... you get monkeys.
I vaguely remember Maplin being the go-to place for electronics components and stuff, but it's from back when I was a kid in the 90s. 
Whilst the Leeds store does stock a small selection, it's shoved all the way at the back.
Shifting focus and changing attitudes probably played a large part, but to me it's a shop for boys' toys and computer bits.
Whilst the Leeds store does stock a small selection, it's shoved all the way at the back.
Shifting focus and changing attitudes probably played a large part, but to me it's a shop for boys' toys and computer bits.
There is a lot of down on Maplin at the moment, and arguable it is of their own doing, but just prior to the Replay Event show in Manchester - I was put in a bit of a bind from an eBay seller sending the wrong D-Type 25 pin socket.
Sadly there was absolutely no time to order from eBay again this left me with only ONE viable option - I phoned the local store of Maplin, spoke to a really nice chap and said sure, we have four of those, I shall put them aside for you!
I popped in later that afternoon, I informed the cashier that I had a small order put aside for me and he called the components department - whom sent this really nice guy with my order.
Very friendly, very professional and somewhat more expensive than eBay - but they had the solution I needed.
So +1 for my local Maplin
still leaves them in a negative, but hey, thought I would share that here.
Sadly there was absolutely no time to order from eBay again this left me with only ONE viable option - I phoned the local store of Maplin, spoke to a really nice chap and said sure, we have four of those, I shall put them aside for you!
I popped in later that afternoon, I informed the cashier that I had a small order put aside for me and he called the components department - whom sent this really nice guy with my order.
Very friendly, very professional and somewhat more expensive than eBay - but they had the solution I needed.
So +1 for my local Maplin
still leaves them in a negative, but hey, thought I would share that here.
No, I miss them too.
The Tandy store at Sale was epic and a lot of their 'Realistic' branded stuff was actually quite good.
I remember popping into Tandy in Southampton as they were closing down. I confess to having basically scalped them.
They had a load of Amiga SCART leads for sale, all reduced to some pitifully small amount of money. I bought the lot and eBayed them.
I dunno. I was young and reckless and it seemed a good idea at the time, when I was a poor student. Please don't judge me, I'm much better now!
Tandy Southampton used to be a brilliant store, tucked away in that grotty shopping centre at the bottom of East street. I used to be able to get pretty much anything in there, and the staff were pretty good too. The one in Eastleigh was really good too.
The original Maplin store in Bevois valley used to be brilliant (as was the Irish pub next to it). The staff all knew everything and they had a brilliant stock. The second Maplin store that opened more recently below Bar by contrast has always been a bit rubbish.
In more recent years (the last 10 years really) it has been in constant decline, with the prices rising as the stock degrades. A case fan for double figures for example. Last time I went in there they didn't even have a Molex y-splitter!
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There is a search engine attached to the EPOS system but it's very old and when you search for something like 'DIL Socket it will return everything with 'DIL' or 'Socket' or nothing. It's very outdated
I have to work with that every day. Type in in the wrong word and it takes up two 5 minutes until you have the till back.