Are Toys R Us and Maplins next to go under ?

guitars4you

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43219651

not looking good and one hell of a statement regarding Toys R Us - did not realise they had filed for bankruptcy protection in the USA some months ago so missed that - Trying to recall through the grey matter, that a holding company had financial interest in both Toys R Us and Guitar Centre sometime in the past ???????

That BBC report is not looking good for others inc House of Fraser and New Look

More empty stores on the high street !!!!!!!!!!!!!

guitars4you

Bain Capital was the link behind Toys R Us and Guitar Centre - With a past connection to Mitt Romney

richh

Toys R Us have been teetering on the brink of collapse for a while now, and it seems inevitable that they are going under.  Things don't look great for a lot of traditional high street retailers at the moment - though Toys R Us were never really high street - more out of town warehouse places.  Let's hope this isn't a sign of where the UK economy as a whole is heading.

chillidoggy

I'm not surprised about Maplin. Whilst I 've found the stores to be pretty good, their prices are astronomic compared with online purchasing. I always wondered how they managed to keep going.

fandango

guitars4you said:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43219651

not looking good and one hell of a statement regarding Toys R Us - did not realise they had filed for bankruptcy protection in the USA some months ago so missed that - Trying to recall through the grey matter, that a holding company had financial interest in both Toys R Us and Guitar Centre sometime in the past ???????

That BBC report is not looking good for others inc House of Fraser and New Look

More empty stores on the high street !!!!!!!!!!!!!

House of Fraser. Real shame. They stock some very good brands and manage to keep the quality fairly high without getting caught into the silly money boutique territory.

roundthebend

Toys R Us officially into administration now

matdotcodot

chillidoggy said:

I'm not surprised about Maplin. Whilst I 've found the stores to be pretty good, their prices are astronomic compared with online purchasing. I always wondered how they managed to keep going.

+1.....still like mooching about in there for some reason, then inevitably buying somewhere else.

guitarfishbay

chillidoggy said:

I'm not surprised about Maplin. Whilst I 've found the stores to be pretty good, their prices are astronomic compared with online purchasing. I always wondered how they managed to keep going.

Because the staff are helpful.

I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than 5 minutes in Maplins and that’s because the second you walk in someone asks you what you want, takes you straight to that product, then you can pay and go fail miserably at soldering for the rest of your afternoon.

Sesh

Reminds me of Comet. Once upon a time they had decent stock and often the best prices. Then the prices crept up, and guess what, I took my money elsewhere. I assume everyone else did the same.
ToysRus seem to be going the same way. My son got vouchers for Christmmas. As soon as the American arm filed for protection we made sure we spent them asap.

martinw

It's not the economy - sales are up.
It's the change to online, probably along with normal comings and goings. Well managed companies adapt and survive, others fail. Happens all the time, but when it's a well known name you notice.

guitars4you

A very brief business analytical view of Toys R Us would be as follows 

They came, they saw, they conquered and now they are off

Yet before they conquered, they will have forced many smaller independent toy shops through out the UK (I dare say in many locations around the world)  to close down, as they could no longer compete - In many instances, independents could not get the supply of  key products as Toys R Us had acquired a priority supply

Yes I feel sorry for 1000's who will now loose their jobs, but I feel more sorry for 100's of small independent toy stores,  who've had to close down in recent years and in doing so had to personally make, on a one to one basis, their own redundancies - Each local closure will have happened 1 at a time, so no big national news headlines when this happens

I recall a small toy shop in my home town of Ashbourne and my daughters birthday, or Christmas, when she was much younger - I tried to support the local store and never enjoyed the shopping experience at Toys R Us when I had to visit them on the odd occasion, with my daughter - One  Christmas she wanted a Lego kit - The ones that look like a summer holiday house with all the flower pots and small gubbins etc, so I went to my local store - Even though they sold Lego and retained a healthy stock profile, they could not obtain this box set as Toys R Us and Amazon had acquired the full allocation for the UK - So I had no choice but to buy from one of them - Alas our local store closed down a while ago and I dare say many many others have gone likewise - I bet Amazon welcome such news as their pursuit of  domination continues 

jellyroll

ToysRus did what American companies tend to be good at....stripping down a transaction to its bare bones and offering it in a no frills way. But in doing that, my sense was that they took all of the style and romance sense of adventure out of the toy buying process...turning it into a plain financial transaction between store and parent. I'm not suggesting this is why they failed, but its why I never liked them as a business.

JAYJO

As a kid i could only dream of getting a toy from the local toy shop or a football kit from the local sports shop . It was all just too expensive. Instead i would make do with the likes of woolies and other stores which would have a toy aisle. 
The likes of subbuteo and hornby trainsets etc sold in small toyshops werent an option .
Now Sports direct offers everything the kids would need so good bye Howards sports. How i longed for a liverpool kit but had to make do with replica bobby washables from a bargain basket it TJ hughes. Well at least i got to be a Tottenham,West Ham and a Leeds Utd player on the cheap.
As for a leather casey , I think the only people who had one were the school teachers. Loved the little toy shops but personally i have no fond memories of them just sad ones. Though i did watch a couple of mates get caught stealing from one. I had a mate who tried to walk out with an action man in a scout truck that was on display. Funny he just pushed it along the floor right out of the shop. 

jellyroll

Maplins going under - where am I going to get my xmas disco lights from then?

I quite like Maplins. They often did good deals on batteries. Even though half the pack of 100 batteries would leak and need to be thrown out, it was still cheaper overall. 

The only thing I REALLY disliked about them was the ROLSON tools line they stock - screwdrivers made out of soft metal; multitools that even at £3.99 were overpriced, etc 

ICBM

guitarfishbay said:

chillidoggy said:

I'm not surprised about Maplin. Whilst I 've found the stores to be pretty good, their prices are astronomic compared with online purchasing. I always wondered how they managed to keep going.

Because the staff are helpful.

I don’t think I’ve ever spent more than 5 minutes in Maplins and that’s because the second you walk in someone asks you what you want, takes you straight to that product, then you can pay and go fail miserably at soldering for the rest of your afternoon.

I use(d) them too - price is essentially irrelevant to me if I need something to do a job the same day without having to wait to order something because I've run out. Unfortunately, me buying a few fuses, jacks, solder etc isn't going to keep a shop with half a dozen staff in one of Glasgow's premier shopping streets afloat.

Sad to see them go but it doesn't surprise me, last time they went in they didn't even have fuses - not an odd value either, one of the most common, which is why I'd run out.

midlifecrisis

Maplins have officially now gone into recievership.    they were just like tandy's. sold branded goods rebranded to their own brand at a 20% premium. they will be missed by the hobbyist needing a roll of solder or a cheap set of screwdrivers, but even our local unbaranded pound type shops sell this stuff now

NelsonP

Need a toy - go to Amazon
Need some specialist electrical or electronic items - go to Amazon
Need some disco lights - go to Amazon

Cheaper than the high street. You can even have it today if you want. Without moving your arse off the sofa.
But surely all of the money leaves the UK economy that way? And we end up with deserted high streets and boarded up shops.

Should this be stopped? Or is it just market forces at play, laissez faire etc.
Can anyone really stop it?

Fretwired

NelsonP said:

Need a toy - go to Amazon
Need some specialist electrical or electronic items - go to Amazon
Need some disco lights - go to Amazon

Cheaper than the high street. You can even have it today if you want. Without moving your arse off the sofa.
But surely all of the money leaves the UK economy that way? And we end up with deserted high streets and boarded up shops.

Should this be stopped? Or is it just market forces at play, laissez faire etc.
Can anyone really stop it?

Spot on.

Interestedly Trump wants to stop it. He hates Amazon as they dodge taxes, pay low wages and have destroyed shopping malls in the USA.

Mention it in the UK and people nod but go straight to Amazon. They are as much a marketplace as a retailer these days. Totally unethical company though.

gubble

Looks like we are spinning out of control towards a Wall.E world.

Amazon are Buy N Large

boogieman

chillidoggy said:

I'm not surprised about Maplin. Whilst I 've found the stores to be pretty good, their prices are astronomic compared with online purchasing. I always wondered how they managed to keep going.

Bit like WHSmiths. No idea how they managed to struggle on for so long. Must be their profits from massively overpriced books and chocolate bars at the railway stations. 

gubble

boogieman said:

 

Bit like WHSmiths. No idea how they managed to struggle on for so long. Must be their profits from massively overpriced books and chocolate bars at the railway stations.

Exactly this from what I understand. All the money is made in airports and train stations