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Author Topic: The end of Maplin ( and Toys 'R us )  (Read 14371 times)

Colin Bishop

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Re: The end of Maplin ( and Toys 'R us )
« Reply #75 on: March 20, 2018, 01:01:11 pm »

Personally I prefer to support the established UK based suppliers. Much of their stuff may still be sourced from China but you can be more confident of the quality control, availability and after sales service. OK, it costs a bit more but removes the uncertainty and gives peace of mind. I want to spend my time building models rather than researching oriental business practices.

As far as local model shops in the UK are concerned, they are essentially dead ducks unless they have an online business supporting them and even then will struggle to compete given their overheads of rent and business rates. There are simply not enough modellers these days to support local retail operations as was the case up until the early 80s or so.

Colin
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grendel

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Re: The end of Maplin ( and Toys 'R us )
« Reply #76 on: March 20, 2018, 03:55:02 pm »

most small shops in Canterbury struggle to pay the rents, as it is the church that owns a vast amount of the properties, they demand high rents for them.
we have a couple of wargaming shops and a couple of art / crafts shops, but thats as close as it get to model shops.
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smudger1309

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Re: The end of Maplin ( and Toys 'R us )
« Reply #77 on: March 20, 2018, 10:28:44 pm »

model shop near me but he mainly deals in model railways mostly pre owned and airfix kits etc but main business is model railway,    one that did boats planes and trains closed few years back due to ill health no one took over the shop
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RST

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Re: The end of Maplin ( and Toys 'R us )
« Reply #78 on: March 22, 2018, 12:21:32 am »

Personally I prefer to support the established UK based suppliers. Much of their stuff may still be sourced from China but you can be more confident of the quality control, availability and after sales service. OK, it costs a bit more but removes the uncertainty and gives peace of mind. I want to spend my time building models rather than researching oriental business practices.

As far as local model shops in the UK are concerned, they are essentially dead ducks unless they have an online business supporting them and even then will struggle to compete given their overheads of rent and business rates. There are simply not enough modellers these days to support local retail operations as was the case up until the early 80s or so.

Colin

Here, here Colin. I think this discussion is like religion, politics and football.  There are those of us who support our "trade", others who don't.  There's no explaining between the two as long as those who DON'T support it don't start complaining when we have nothing local left to offer when they start looking.

Rich
Proud Supporter of UK business and keeping our hobby shops open
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roycv

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Re: The end of Maplin ( and Toys 'R us )
« Reply #79 on: March 27, 2018, 09:48:54 am »

Hi reference to reply 61 Carpetright.  This maybe a family feud!
Son has fallen out with daddy and set up a rival company called Tapi, possibly tempting staff away and undercutting him.
regards Roy
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tigertiger

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Re: The end of Maplin ( and Toys 'R us )
« Reply #80 on: March 27, 2018, 12:14:13 pm »

Support your local store ...
Just been announced that Carpetright could be going into administration.


   


I am not a fan of Carpetright, or any of these big chains, and here is why.
Some years ago, when I lived in the UK, I wanted some cheap bathroom carpet. I went to Carpetright. I didn't like the price but knew no better and would have bought on the spot, assuming that they must be cheap as it was a big discount sale item from a big volume outlet, but there was 3 or more weeks delivery.
I checked the yellow pages and there was a local backstreet carpet warehouse. They had the identical carpet for less than half the price, and all of their carpets were in stock in the warehouse ready to buy. The fitting was also less than half the price and was done in less than a week.


I said it before, we forget that only a decade or so ago, these stores (Carpetright, Maplin, Toys'rÚs, MyHobbies, etc.)we think of as local probably are not. These stores put a lot of small local traders out of business, and often we falsely perceived that the products the high street/mall/retail park places sold were better or cheaper. Often they were not. The only things these companies were much better at were range of goods, lost leaders, marketing, and selling extended warantees.
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RAAArtyGunner

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Re: The end of Maplin ( and Toys 'R us )
« Reply #81 on: March 30, 2018, 05:52:32 am »

Because their workers are paid a fraction of the rate that ours are. If we paid our people £1.50 an hour then we would make a profit too but our workers wouldn't be able to live on their wages.

Colin

What about relativity.
What do the Chinese pay for their cars proportional to salary??????
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phil_parker

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Re: The end of Maplin ( and Toys 'R us )
« Reply #82 on: March 30, 2018, 10:05:09 am »

What about relativity.
What do the Chinese pay for their cars proportional to salary??????

Most Chinese don't own cars for a start (watch any film of the country and see lots of bikes and mopeds) and are a long way from our standard of living - although they are aspiring to this.

However, the ONLY relativity that matters is Chinese vs UK wages and therefore manufacturing costs. £1.50ph vs £7.50ph. Until there is parity, Chinese products will always be cheaper in the UK than those manufacturered in Britian. This means jobs will be exported to low wage countries unless we are willing to pay a premium for locally sourced items.

Or, we can compete by paying UK workers £1.50ph - and either let them starve or make up the difference from state benefits (taxation).
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tigertiger

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Re: The end of Maplin ( and Toys 'R us )
« Reply #83 on: July 20, 2018, 11:23:24 am »

Car ownership in China went over 300 million last year, that is almost 1 car per household. Where I live it is mostly 2 and 3 car families. Because the population density of Chinese cities is 3 x that of most European cities, the congestion on urban roads is incredible. It is also worth noting that the urban road infrastructure in China is better than in a lot of UK cities. Almost every road outside of a housing estate is dual carriageway, most main roads are 3 or 4 lanes each way, and still we get traffic worse than London.


As for wages, the minimum wage has risen to about 1.50, causing many Chinese companies to off-shore, and foreign companies to quit China in favour of lower cost labor markets. But there are also other costs associated with manufacturing overseas, which is why some UK companies are now re-shoring production to the UK.
Additional costs include:
Shipping
Loss of goods through theft and damage in a longer supply chain.
Quantity of product in the supply chain. Both raw materials and finished product.
Longer lead times make JIT replenishment impossible. Requiring larger inventory and loss through theft and damage.
Chinese workers are less efficient and don't do multitasking well, requiring a larger workforce.
Money tied up in the supply chain is cash tied up, that could be used to earn money elsewhere (yes even companies put their cash to work on the stock market etc.)
The long distances also mean that operations are further from the boardroom, coupled with the lead time issues, this affects flexibility to deal with sudden changes in the market.


It is also getting more complex with other things that affecting global supply chains in the global markets right now.
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