Otis
Well-Known Member
Words also frequently said by Rolf Harris victims.
Maplin and Toys R Us next to go pop! (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Nick
- Start date
dutchman
Well-Known Member
Woolworths were the best for Airfix, as that's where they originated. The bagged Airfix kits were entirely Woolworth's idea. Before that they were boxed and much more expensive.
Where I lived there were two specialist model shops within easy walking distance, one at the bottom of Far Gosford Street and another in Lower Ford Street so didn't even need to go into town.
clint van damme
Well-Known Member
I lived through the closure of Barnabys, that was a traumatic toy shop closure!
Edit: just saw that there's already been some posts about the king of toy shops!
Covstu
Well-Known Member
Its another two out of many high street shop closures. Stores cannot compete with online alternatives due to the costs of stores alone. Amazon deliver food in the US, if that gets traction here you could see that impact local supermarkets also.
I still remember my first visit to Toys R Us in Birmingham when I was a kid, the place was huge! Maplins always seemed too expensive and you could see many a person in there looking at the items then looking on their phone for a cheaper price.
I still remember my first visit to Toys R Us in Birmingham when I was a kid, the place was huge! Maplins always seemed too expensive and you could see many a person in there looking at the items then looking on their phone for a cheaper price.
Captain Dart
Well-Known Member
You think I didn't practically live in those shops as well? How naive. :emoji_smile:
Didn't know about the bag innovation though, new one on me.
Liquid Gold
Well-Known Member
I read somewhere that 43% of all online purchases in the US are made through Amazon.
Covstu
Well-Known Member
scary isn't it!!!
Captain Dart
Well-Known Member
Not if your name is Bezos.
chiefdave
Well-Known Member
Only been in Toys R Us a couple of times in recent years but they seem to put zero effort into the shopping experience. As a toy shop they should make it fun so kids are begging their parents to take them.
Maplin is just too expensive, you only go there if its a last resort.
Maplin is just too expensive, you only go there if its a last resort.
Terry Gibson's perm
Well-Known Member
Amazon do food here as well I comes through our warehouse it’s dreadul as the boxes are all rammed and really heavy
Nick
Administrator
Yeah it's not like Hamleys where they have demos or anything.
If you have Amazon prime now you don't really need to use much else. Even stuff like Dog Food I just get from Amazon delivered the next day to save a trip out and paying £2 more.
Maplin was laughable, silly money for a network cable where they would rip old people off who had no clue.
dutchman
Well-Known Member
LIkewise Staples and Currys, ended up getting one direct from China.
Nick
Administrator
Think they need to give people a reason to go there and think outside the box.
If I want a PS4 game as an example, why would I finish work, drive to down, park, walk to a shop in town, buy it, walk back to car, pay for parking, drive home and pay more for the game than I would if I just ordered it from Amazon to be here tomorrow at work? If I really wanted it tonight, I'd stop at Tesco for the ease of it but Amazon are bringing more and more to same day delivery too.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
Footfall in many cities is increasing. Just had a look at Nottingham and it’s increased 10% over 4 years.
Plenty of cities remain busy. It’s probably the fact Toys r Us didn’t have smaller boutique stores in cities that led to their demise.
Maplins was a shop that offered nothing to a consumer anyway. Even it’s nane has a negative image.
Grendel
Well-Known Member
Just looked - profits and turnover grew in 2017 and more stores are planned.
I wouldn’t use our centre as a barometer for any store. Most shops are deserted.
Nick
Administrator
It can't be as bad as the Hamleys at Resorts World, got an email saying it had opened. Went over thinking it would be half like the london one.
It's a tiny shop, full of over priced shite toys.
You won't beat Hamleys in London, ideally that's how Toy Shops would be. Loads of stuff going on forcing you to buy stuff you dont need.
It's a tiny shop, full of over priced shite toys.
You won't beat Hamleys in London, ideally that's how Toy Shops would be. Loads of stuff going on forcing you to buy stuff you dont need.
dutchman
Well-Known Member
Amazon customers can pick up orders with their regular shopping at Morrison's. Saves me having to stay in of the off-chance of the postman turning up.
Nick
Administrator
Yep there is that as well.
I think High Street shops will need to learn to be able to keep up with it as give it a few years and it will be an hour delivery on most things from Amazon and cheaper than going to the shop. I know it's lazy but it's convenient.
People will still want to go and try on clothes etc, I saw a programme the other day where online clothing stores had made an App where you take a picture of somebody and it tells you how to buy their clothes, where from, how much online etc.
Toys R Us was dire, my daughter who is 8 has already figured out that if she has £10 and wants something she can look online and possibly get 2 of them rather than 1 from somewhere like Toys R Us or downloading from the Playstation store where its more expensive.
fernandopartridge
Well-Known Member
I really don't like the direction that we're going in.
Ordering everything from Amazon Prime with them employing 'self employed' workers on serf wages to deliver it, whilst the parent creams away billions of profit on which it pays no tax in the UK. Meanwhile our town and city centres become ghost towns with the local economy suffering greatly as a result. Time to put Amazon on a level footing with everybody else I think.
Ordering everything from Amazon Prime with them employing 'self employed' workers on serf wages to deliver it, whilst the parent creams away billions of profit on which it pays no tax in the UK. Meanwhile our town and city centres become ghost towns with the local economy suffering greatly as a result. Time to put Amazon on a level footing with everybody else I think.
It's a worry as these guys and all the tech giants believe and do circumvent Govvts /Statehood.
Rees Moggs old fella wrote a book on it with another guy about twenty years back.
They're all allegedly buying swathes of NZ as bolt hole should it all implode in nasty way.
Maybe need to watch out for shifting tectonic plates.
jimmyhillsfanclub
Well-Known Member
Yep.....consumersism will kill us all.....already is....but most folks are too busy drinking their extra large coffee pop, staring at a screen and spending money they don't have on shit they don't need to even notice or care.
I see some glimmers of hope in a few more well read, enlightened and thoughtful people, but I'm afraid the majority of the population have already swallowed the marketing and glossy sales pitch and believe they are somehow individual and worthy of all the glittery plastic shite.
Sometimes I really struggle.
We are unsustainable. It hurts.
I see some glimmers of hope in a few more well read, enlightened and thoughtful people, but I'm afraid the majority of the population have already swallowed the marketing and glossy sales pitch and believe they are somehow individual and worthy of all the glittery plastic shite.
Sometimes I really struggle.
We are unsustainable. It hurts.
Liquid Gold
Well-Known Member
I think eventually a 3/4 day week and UBI is inevitable.
Nick
Administrator
Well yeah, but you can't blame people for choosing that. The same as people who will go to Tesco that's open 24 hours rather than a local butcher who they can only get to at the weekend.
If the local butcher / computer game shop did next day delivery and even if it was a couple of quid more expensive I'd buy it from there rather than Amazon, it's just convenience.
jimmyhillsfanclub
Well-Known Member
There are however millions of examples of consumerism where up selling of delivery speed or quantity is not required or desired.......but people are sleepwalking and just click those options by default.....
We simply do not NEED most of the shut we buy......and we certainly do not NEED it delivered same day or within an hour or whatever.
It's a sickness
Nick
Administrator
To be fair, I buy more shit I don't need when I go into shops. Oh buy one get one free, straight in my basket. Go into a b and m and can guarantee it will be 60 quid gone easy on shite.
Online at Tesco can have a saved list and just repeat.
Delivery speed is usually a factor too, especially now Amazon do Sunday delivery.
I'm way more reserved online shopping.
fernandopartridge
Well-Known Member
It's perceived convenience as if everybody has got so many better things to do than going shopping. It's a load of bollocks really
Nick
Administrator
It's not so much better things to do, can count weekdays out unless it's open late and also shifts etc.
If I need dog food for example I can only physically get that at weekends as the shop closes at 5. It's 3 quid more than Amazon who can deliver it to my work the next day and save me driving there just for that so that's tomorrow I don't need to go there.
Just an example as I had to order some.
Thing before that was a school type book, no idea where I'd have got that. Staples maybe, not sure.
It is just convenience if people can't go to the shops.
If the dog food shop could deliver me 2 bags a month to my work and it cost a tenner more than Amazon I'd have no issue with that.
It is either an emergency or something random they only sell in town if I go there
Last edited:
SBAndy
Well-Known Member
People who would rather buy their meat from Tesco than a local butcher are already a lost cause
ompus:I understand both sides of this really, but working with clients I’ve had in the past I see the difference it makes to small local businesses and so tend to use them where I can over supermarkets, but for the most part the quality is similar yet the supermarkets can undercut on the price. The convenience/cheaper angle I understand, but I’m in agreement with FP/JHFC that society as a whole are a bunch of consumerist zombies nowadays. My younger sister has bought 5 phone cases in the last 3 weeks. What’s the fucking need?
dancers lance
Well-Known Member
As a small business owner I would probably be thrown into prison if I refused to pay my next TAX bill.
Alan Dugdales Moustache
Well-Known Member
There's a maplins near me and I never knew what it was. Looked like a cross between Tandy and Woolworth. I always thought of hi-de-hi when I drove past it.
Nick
Administrator
People who would rather buy their meat from Tesco than a local butcher are already a lost cause
I understand both sides of this really, but working with clients I’ve had in the past I see the difference it makes to small local businesses and so tend to use them where I can over supermarkets, but for the most part the quality is similar yet the supermarkets can undercut on the price. The convenience/cheaper angle I understand, but I’m in agreement with FP/JHFC that society as a whole are a bunch of consumerist zombies nowadays. My younger sister has bought 5 phone cases in the last 3 weeks. What’s the fucking need?
Its not that I have anything against local butchers or greengrocers and decide not to use them, it's just the only day I could physically get to them is on a Saturday, it also means driving there to get some meat and then still having to go to other places to get the rest of the stuff I need.
I wouldn't have an issue paying a bit more if it was going to a local family business, I wouldn't turn my nose up over a couple of quid difference on some chicken breast but I would at having to make a trip out of the way especially to buy some chicken, to then go somewhere else to get some veg, to then go somewhere else to get other bits. It's OK if I have nothing to do and can spend a day on a shop but it's not the case.
I heard the other week about a greengrocer who had given up a shop and just does local deliveries, that would be the way to go about it to keep up.
Captain Dart
Well-Known Member
I often popped in to browse but have hardly ever bought anything, just a few cable adapters & odds and ends simply because the guys behind the counter give good advice & it seems churlish not to buy having picked their brains.
dutchman
Well-Known Member
There used to be a hottie serving in the Bishop Street branch, she knew her stuff too!