They were sometimes convenient, but the last time I bought anything was around three years back. The same stuff as could be obtained from Ebay or Amazon at around half the price.
Also with mail order you don't have to wait in line while the pillock in front of you is having an in depth conversation on the merits of zinc carbon vs alkaline for his penlight.
Whatever the price, most of the stuff was junk and warranty replacements were only after long drawn out arguments.
Good Riddance!!
AB
Worthing store still has a pile of bacofoil 'digital' tv aeriels reduced from £49 to £29 !!!!.
Various reels of cable, including CAT 6 for more than you could pay online anyway. :-).
'Bargain' lucky dips - choose ten bagged items for only' £8, about what they are worth normally.
I had no trouble with returns or advice in our one, I think you must have had a bad one.
However who on the high street now can you buy a nice short wave receiver from? My guess is nobody, and what people forget about shops like Maplin is that they have to keep quite small stocks and have slow moving items. The general result after the escalating costs of running a shop, is higher prices. We had the same with specialist hi if shops back in the 80s, and of course the inevitable happened, the public looked at the specialist stores tested the gear then went round the corner and bought one from a box shifter. Now the problem is the Internet, and unfortunately all these brave towns like ours here in Kingstons plans to make a new retail offering in the next few yeas do seem doomed to failure unless they can find a way to cut the costs of running high street stores. Brian
SNIP
Possibly, it was a USB TV stick that sort of worked, it got around seven channels off a roof mounted aerial.
Basically I was fobbed off because it was a sale item I suppose. I would no doubt have had the refund in the end, but I had better things to do.
I fully agree with what you say regarding the convenience and stock. I would haave been happier if some of the gear was a little more upmarket quality wise, I got the impression that managers had no leeway on local prices because my local store used to do PC boards etc at well over the price of a one man shop a couple of hundred metres away.
I used to use them quite a lot, but I just don't build things anymore. My components are bigger, bulkier and more likely to come from Newey & Eyre.
I would guess that few people have the patience to work with surface mount, which is what electronics seems to be now.
AB
A mate showed me a DMM he just picked up from them that was £17.99, supposedly down from 70 quid or summat?
I asked him if it was something special (thinking that was probably the right (bricks n mortar / retail price for such things) and I think he mentioned it could also measure temperature [1]-(
Cheers, T i m
[1] Many of my DMMs came with a temperature probe (thermocouple?) but in most cases I've long since misplaced it / the box when I actually find a use for it. Similar with the serial / USB interfaces that use a 'special' connector at the DMM end. ;-(
Only because of the heat wave, come the cold weather, waves will be much shorter ;-)
Incidentally Lidl had a short wave radio recently for about £8-00, I was tempted but it didn't have a BFO, Magda at the checkout wasnt sure about the IF selectivity either, so I gave it a miss.
This will be remedied :-(
They wont, they will up the income.
They cannot stop wasting money, it's inherent in the system. Making individuals accountable for their incompetence would go a long way toward cutting waste, but it wont happen.
AB
The one & only occasion we bought something from them it was daylight robbery.
because they're obsolete
that's easy - cut the rates. The whole town centre loss of business problem is largely down to rates. How would councils exist on less income? Stop wasting so much of it would be a good start.
NT
I wish, it's killing retail
it would be easy to stop it, but as you say it won't happen
NT
Business rates are set by central government. Sommetime local councils are allowed to keep some of the income.
Sadly the remedy wont help the retail outlets. The remedy for incurred loss will come when the general public have their council tax ramped up.
It wont be the councils fault, they will blame central government.
Of course it can,t be central governments fault................
The one thing that I am not happy with regarding the EU, I now have to pay council tax in Ireland.
From past experience when the Irish bring in taxes, they start off nice & low, then match and increase on the worst that the UK manages.
There's no justice :-(
AB
I have a local [UK] council that seems to be around 50/50 Competent/ incompetent.
The incompetent seem to speak a different language and indeed use different logic to myself.
The competent seem just as frustrated as I get, yet apart from a degree of sympathy and understanding, there is no benefit from communicating with them either.
The exception being small specialist units, I suppose the idiots don't fit and professionals are still professionals even if they work for a dysfunctional tax drain.
AB
Ever heard of a public sector employee losing their job due to incompetence? I haven't... It generally tends to result in a promotion from my experience ;-)
Not many private sector employees either. When they are sacked they walk away with a golden handshake.
Yeah, Bri, it makes you wonder what town centres will become?
Rather than need, it could become a place of entertainment? Old markets could pop back up? Boot-sales right in the centre with some potential pop idols entertaining in every street.
I was just old enough to witness the disappearance of the music halls and the streets of Manchester lost it's entertainers.
I think there's going to be plenty of room for that.
Ray.
Except this always was the case. That's too small a market (and amateur radio is, like most technical hobbies, dying also). "The Internet subsumed everything that was interesting about amateur radio" -- Phil Karn, KA9Q.
[snippage]
Correct. High Streets need to sell experiences instead of things. You can't get experiences delivered by courier.
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