Maplins & Toys R Us both enter administration

Sidney1st · Post by **Sidney1st** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 6:29 pm

Both appear to have fallen victim to the ever changing shopping habits of the consumer.

The American arm of Toys R US has been in trouble for a while so it wasn't going to be that long for the Uk end to get in trouble also.

ŽižkovClaret · Post by **ŽižkovClaret** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 6:33 pm

Taking a screaming kid to a toy shop or ordering online where it probably is cheaper. I'm surprised it lasted so long frankly

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:06 pm

I was going to buy some games from Toys R us for around £60. I'm now going to put a £1 bid in for the whole company.

conyoviejo · Post by **conyoviejo** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:06 pm

Can't wait for Rovers to join them..

evensteadiereddie · Post by **evensteadiereddie** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:12 pm

They do a good line in Mickey Mouse outfits.....Rovers, that is.

Walton · Post by **Walton** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:20 pm

According to their boss, Maplin suffered directly as a result of the weak pound due to Brexit. Nothing to do with customers.

ŽižkovClaret · Post by **ŽižkovClaret** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:24 pm

Walton wrote:According to their boss, Maplin suffered directly as a result of the weak pound due to Brexit. Nothing to do with customers.

Well, not the ones who voted remain, anyway

starting_11 · Post by **starting_11** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:24 pm

Maplin... there's one in every ******* town but who ever actually bought anything from there?!

Blaming Brexit... like Jamie Oliver did... Nooo, maybe take a look at yourself sunshine, you're the failure here!

ŽižkovClaret · Post by **ŽižkovClaret** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:25 pm

starting_11 wrote:Maplin... there's one in every ******* town but who ever actually bought anything from there?!

Blaming Brexit... like Jamie Oliver did... Nooo, maybe take a look at yourself sunshine, you're the failure here!

Really? It's hardly a stretch to believe that a business which buys the vast majority of its stock from abroad might suffer when that suddenly becomes circa 25% more expensive?

Quickenthetempo · Post by **Quickenthetempo** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:36 pm

Nearly as good as Smacks charging a 2 quid entrance fee and blaming Brexit.

dushanbe · Post by **dushanbe** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:39 pm

Maplin was weird. Didn’t seem to be able to make its mind up what it was. It had the shops selling all the stuff but nothing in particular but it also tried to be an electronics distributor. Within that, it tried selling to the hobbyist but also to professional electronics manufacturers and was miles out on price and stock range.

It’s no surprise it’s gone to me.

starting_11 · Post by **starting_11** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:41 pm

ZizkovClaret wrote:Really? It's hardly a stretch to believe that a business which buys the vast majority of its stock from abroad might suffer when that suddenly becomes circa 25% more expensive?

I'm more inclined to believe it's a convenient excuse.

ŽižkovClaret · Post by **ŽižkovClaret** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 7:41 pm

Quickenthetempo wrote:Nearly as good as Smacks charging a 2 quid entrance fee and blaming Brexit.

That did make me laugh when he claimed that

thatdberight · Post by **thatdberight** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:21 pm

ZizkovClaret wrote:Really? It's hardly a stretch to believe that a business which buys the vast majority of its stock from abroad might suffer when that suddenly becomes circa 25% more expensive?

Remind me not to get you to anything with numbers, unless I want a predetermined outcome to suit a narrative I've already decided upon. 25%. Right.

ŽižkovClaret · Post by **ŽižkovClaret** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:24 pm

thatdberight wrote:Remind me not to get you to anything with numbers, unless I want a predetermined outcome to suit a narrative I've already decided upon. 25%. Right.

Im basing that on what ive seen the exchange rate deteriorate to here.

Feel free to find your own examples, and thanks for your concern, but i don't have any intention of needing UK based employment anytime soon.

mealdeal · Post by **mealdeal** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:36 pm

ZizkovClaret wrote:
Feel free to find your own examples, and thanks for your concern, but i don't have any intention of needing UK based employment anytime soon.

Is there any particular reason for that? Are you currently living elsewhere?

ŽižkovClaret · Post by **ŽižkovClaret** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:38 pm

mealdeal wrote:Is there any particular reason for that? Are you currently living elsewhere?

The location bit on here is visible isnt it?

bfcjg · Post by **bfcjg** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:40 pm

I feel sorry for the poor people worried sick about their jobs, no doubt the big wigs who have made disastrous decisions over the years to get both businesses into this state will have already feathered their nests.

mealdeal · Post by **mealdeal** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:41 pm

ŽižkovClaret · Post by **ŽižkovClaret** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:42 pm

bfcjg wrote:I feel sorry for the poor people worried sick about their jobs, no doubt the big wigs who have made disastrous decisions over the years to get both businesses into this state will have already feathered their nests.

That does seem to be the way. These yachts don't polish themselves though eh?

bluelabrador16 · Post by **bluelabrador16** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:49 pm

The exchange rate for the British Pound to Chinese Yuan has hardly moved since June 2016.

dushanbe · Post by **dushanbe** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 8:52 pm

bluelabrador16 wrote:The exchange rate for the British Pound to Chinese Yuan has hardly moved since June 2016.

What’s it done against the US Dollar? That’s the currency used to buy electronic components

Sidney1st · Post by **Sidney1st** » Wed Feb 28, 2018 11:59 pm

I wonder what excuse companies used prior to brexit...

Garnerssoap · Post by **Garnerssoap** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:06 am

I always preferred Tandy

dsr · Post by **dsr** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:37 am

dushanbe wrote:What’s it done against the US Dollar? That’s the currency used to buy electronic components

June 2014 - Dollar rate was 1.7011
June 2015 - Dollar rate was 1.5747 - a fall of 8%
June 2016 - Dollar rate was 1.4578 - a fall of 7%
Feb 2018 - Dollar rate is 1.3748 - a fall of 7%.

So as you see, the Brexit effect has been going on since long before the referendum.

More seriously, I presume that all the other companies that sell electricals have to pay in US Dollars too? Maplin shouldn't have lost any competitive edge against other UK retailers.

Sidney1st · Post by **Sidney1st** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:41 am

I think everyone has to use dollars or face invasion by the yanks.

dushanbe · Post by **dushanbe** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 7:21 am

dsr wrote:June 2014 - Dollar rate was 1.7011
June 2015 - Dollar rate was 1.5747 - a fall of 8%
June 2016 - Dollar rate was 1.4578 - a fall of 7%
Feb 2018 - Dollar rate is 1.3748 - a fall of 7%.

So as you see, the Brexit effect has been going on since long before the referendum.

More seriously, I presume that all the other companies that sell electricals have to pay in US Dollars too? Maplin shouldn't have lost any competitive edge against other UK retailers.

I didn’t say Brexit was the main factor, the CEO did. Maplin lost whatever edge it had because it was a confused retailer/distributor caught up between online and high end. It did nothing well, other than have staff who had decent technical knowledge.

claptrappers_union · Post by **claptrappers_union** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 7:53 am

I’ll miss Maplin, hardly used the place but it got me out of sticky situations where I’ve bought £25 leads or £10 adapters... things you can get online for a couple of quid - but I considered that as tax for not packing equipment properly.

ElectroClaret · Post by **ElectroClaret** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 11:59 am

Carpetright now issues profit warning, second this year.
Which usually translates as "we're up a certain creek, give us a paddle."

There's gonna be nowt left.

Sidney1st · Post by **Sidney1st** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:02 pm

Mixture of reasons I suspect.

Brexit will be one of them, BUT don't forget that for a long time now companies have maximised their profits by sourcing goods from abroad.

Coupled with consumers buying online or finding cheaper stores and eventually companies will feel the pinch.

LeadBelly · Post by **LeadBelly** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:11 pm

Aye; , Woolworth, Rumbelows, Virgin record stores, Barratts shoes, KwikSave, Comet, GUS, thousands of local pubs - all gone & clearly down to Brexit exchange rates.
I believe Amazon gets a lot of its products abroad- that'll be next then.

JohnMcGreal · Post by **JohnMcGreal** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:17 pm

dsr wrote:June 2014 - Dollar rate was 1.7011
June 2015 - Dollar rate was 1.5747 - a fall of 8%
June 2016 - Dollar rate was 1.4578 - a fall of 7%
Feb 2018 - Dollar rate is 1.3748 - a fall of 7%

Quite an obvious gap in your sequence there, dsr. Is there any reason in particular why you omitted the exchange rate for June 2017? I mean, you've got the rates for June 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Is it because the rate was down to 1.26 in June 2017?

dsr · Post by **dsr** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:32 pm

JohnMcGreal wrote:Quite an obvious gap in your sequence there, dsr. Is there any reason in particular why you omitted the exchange rate for June 2017? I mean, you've got the rates for June 2014, 2015 and 2016.

Is it because the rate was down to 1.26 in June 2017?

Since Maplins allegedly blamed Brexit for going bust, I thought the difference between the referendum and now was relevant. If Maplins had blamed the increase in the rate between June 2017 and now for going bust, I would have quoted those prices.

The dollar exchange rate is all over the place anyway - I remember happy days when it was $2 to a pound, not that long ago. Made my baseball trips cheaper.

JohnMcGreal · Post by **JohnMcGreal** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:37 pm

dsr wrote:Since Maplins allegedly blamed Brexit for going bust, I thought the difference between the referendum and now was relevant. If Maplins had blamed the increase in the rate between June 2017 and now for going bust, I would have quoted those prices.

The dollar exchange rate is all over the place anyway - I remember happy days when it was $2 to a pound, not that long ago. Made my baseball trips cheaper.

Well yes, the exchange rates of June 2016 and now are relevant, but the rates in between those dates are probably even more relevant, because that's when the company began getting into financial difficulty.

I think it's safe to say that your baseball trips will become even more expensive if the small faction of lunatics get their way on Brexit!

dsr · Post by **dsr** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:52 pm

JohnMcGreal wrote:... the small faction of lunatics ...

17 million people? What would be a large faction?

JohnMcGreal · Post by **JohnMcGreal** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 12:58 pm

dsr wrote:17 million people? What would be a large faction?

I was referring to the sixty-odd headbangers in the Conservative party. I don't for one minute believe that all 17 million leave voters are on a par with them.

LordBob · Post by **LordBob** » Thu Mar 01, 2018 2:56 pm

As said a sign of the changing times will miss Maplins though, the old Tandy's were my second home in back in the day but I have to admit in recent years I have been a Maplin visitor rather than shopper I'd check out the stuff then find the same thing cheaper online. I have bought several CCTV systems as good as Maplins but at half the cost shame but thats where we are at.

Sidney1st · Post by **Sidney1st** » Wed Mar 07, 2018 3:57 pm

New Look is now also on it's arse, blaming both Brexit AND online shopping.

LeadBelly · Post by **LeadBelly** » Wed Mar 07, 2018 4:11 pm

It's a wonder that Arsenal haven't blamed Brexit for their fall out of the top 5.

Retailers have been going bust (and others emerging) for as long as I can remember. With online sales continuing to rise, the weakest bricks&mortar retailers will fall by the wayside; Brexit or not.
Primark seem to be doing OK, just announced the world's biggest Primark to open in Birmingham this year.

Sidney1st · Post by **Sidney1st** » Wed Mar 14, 2018 1:59 pm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43401674" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Looks like I'm going toy shopping at the weekend for the kids.

Sidney1st · Post by **Sidney1st** » Sat Mar 17, 2018 10:09 am

Usual reports surfacing that there's a pension deficit and half a billion was transferred to the British Virgin Islands a little while ago...

Sidney1st · Post by **Sidney1st** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 8:39 am

50% off anything left at Toys R Us.

On my way to my local one now.

IanMcL · Post by **IanMcL** » Sat Mar 31, 2018 9:50 am

LeadBelly wrote:It's a wonder that Arsenal haven't blamed Brexit for their fall out of the top 5.

They are saving that one for falling out of the top 6 and being replaced by a team in Claret & Blue.