High Street Brands Going Bust-Who's Next?
Discussion
t. Adrian W said:
Thorntons
Mothercare
WH Smith
DSG
Doubt it, with their biggest rival Comet gone......Mothercare
WH Smith
DSG
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21055640
I wonder how Maplin is still going. Lots of stock that is so specialist that you'd expect it to sit on a shelf for a year. When I popped in for something yesterday I noticed lots of "out of stock" signs where more regularly purchased items should be suggesting they may be struggling to restock. They're a useful shop so I hope they stay but I can't see how they will.
I can't see Thorntons going just yet, although I think they will continue to shut more of their own shops. I can see DSG being propped up for a while yet as the last large electrical retailer. I don't know about WH Smith. The ones I visit always have a lot of people in and they seem to be buying. Homebase has got be right up there to go next though. Inferior and more expensive than their rivals in almost every area. The only reason I ever visit one is that the nearest B&Q is 10 miles away.
I can't see Thorntons going just yet, although I think they will continue to shut more of their own shops. I can see DSG being propped up for a while yet as the last large electrical retailer. I don't know about WH Smith. The ones I visit always have a lot of people in and they seem to be buying. Homebase has got be right up there to go next though. Inferior and more expensive than their rivals in almost every area. The only reason I ever visit one is that the nearest B&Q is 10 miles away.
gingerpaul said:
I wonder how Maplin is still going. Lots of stock that is so specialist that you'd expect it to sit on a shelf for a year. When I popped in for something yesterday I noticed lots of "out of stock" signs where more regularly purchased items should be suggesting they may be struggling to restock. They're a useful shop so I hope they stay but I can't see how they will.
I can't see Thorntons going just yet, although I think they will continue to shut more of their own shops. I can see DSG being propped up for a while yet as the last large electrical retailer. I don't know about WH Smith. The ones I visit always have a lot of people in and they seem to be buying. Homebase has got be right up there to go next though. Inferior and more expensive than their rivals in almost every area. The only reason I ever visit one is that the nearest B&Q is 10 miles away.
Am sure I have heard that Maplins are backed by someone like RS Components, sharing board members etc.. But dunno if I have made it up in my head long agoI can't see Thorntons going just yet, although I think they will continue to shut more of their own shops. I can see DSG being propped up for a while yet as the last large electrical retailer. I don't know about WH Smith. The ones I visit always have a lot of people in and they seem to be buying. Homebase has got be right up there to go next though. Inferior and more expensive than their rivals in almost every area. The only reason I ever visit one is that the nearest B&Q is 10 miles away.
Adrian W said:
WH Smith
Not sure about these tbh.Their larger/main stores are a little on the sparse side and I can't imagine they sell much in terms of DVDs/CDs etc as they are quite a bit more expensive than online equivalents. Plus from a book point of view, Waterstones comprehensively beats WHS in terms of range/stock. The only thing WHS is any good for is its magazine selection which always susprises me.
Their smaller stores at train stations and the like are always packed ime and act more as convenience stores selling lots of sandwiches, drinks etc. Probably what's keeping them going.
Wacky Racer said:
Adrian W said:
Thorntons
Mothercare
WH Smith
DSG
Doubt it, with their biggest rival Comet gone......Mothercare
WH Smith
DSG
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21055640
I do wonder about Maplins as well, which would be a real shame as I love the shop being a bit of an old semi-nerd electronics geek in my earlier days.
I was sorting my boy's PC out this weekend, it was shutting down randomly. First thing I did was replace the fans in the power supply, which I got from PCworld/Currys megastore. They had a very sparse selection of components but also had some good deals on them. So for example I bought myself a couple of SSD drives for my laptops whilst I was there.
Then on Sunday , it was still shutting down so I had a closer look and found the boy had accidentally loosened the CPU heatsink. So needed to go get some heat paste from Maplins which was nearer. Maplins had a fine selection of heatpastes, ranging from 2.99 to 9.99. Whilst in there we had a look at the SSDs and they were charging almost double what I'd paid in PCworld the previous day.
Maplins problem , as I see it, will be that although they do stock a fantastic range of everything, their pricing for the commonly sold components is not competitive meaning it will hang around on shelves whilst the likes of PCworld, sell then restock with ever cheaper kit.
Maplins may well find themselves only being able to sell £2.99 tubes of heatsink paste. Not enough profit or volume in that to support a fully staffed shop.
I was sorting my boy's PC out this weekend, it was shutting down randomly. First thing I did was replace the fans in the power supply, which I got from PCworld/Currys megastore. They had a very sparse selection of components but also had some good deals on them. So for example I bought myself a couple of SSD drives for my laptops whilst I was there.
Then on Sunday , it was still shutting down so I had a closer look and found the boy had accidentally loosened the CPU heatsink. So needed to go get some heat paste from Maplins which was nearer. Maplins had a fine selection of heatpastes, ranging from 2.99 to 9.99. Whilst in there we had a look at the SSDs and they were charging almost double what I'd paid in PCworld the previous day.
Maplins problem , as I see it, will be that although they do stock a fantastic range of everything, their pricing for the commonly sold components is not competitive meaning it will hang around on shelves whilst the likes of PCworld, sell then restock with ever cheaper kit.
Maplins may well find themselves only being able to sell £2.99 tubes of heatsink paste. Not enough profit or volume in that to support a fully staffed shop.
Edited by Piersman2 on Thursday 17th January 10:41
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