Reply With QuoteOh dear looks like it's going to be " Toys were us ".
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Not so Hi Di Hi for the electrical retailers as they are about to go under along with Toys R Us.
5,500 jobs at risk.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43219651
Oh dear looks like it's going to be " Toys were us ".
And Matalan
When i go to maplins pre match, their stuff seems quite expensive
That's what happens when austerity sucks cash out of the economy. I don't think they will be the last to go under either.
Shockingly so.Originally Posted by Armitage Shanks
I've never seen many people in there the times I've been down that end, Costco normally, and surprised it lasted this long.
Sad but a sign of the times I'm afraid.
you can buy it all online cheaper, told my daughter about toys'r'us and she was amazed as its a " big chain " in her eyes, but i said to her, look at the board games we purchased for christmas, all from amazon
And Prezzo, Chimichanga, Byron and Jamie’s Italian - to a degree.
In all seriousness it’s extremely sad to see and with online shopping killing highstreets, the age of highly complex tax dodging structures and the majority of people burying their head in the sand about the impending doom to save 50p on their Amazon order.
Where Trump is lambasted for his america first policy - a shake of that could do well here.
its not just to save 50p though, its just far too easy to click a few orders and amazon prime will have it with you the next day, its just far too easy
Won't be long before they've got 30 self serves and only about 5 tills in Tesco etc.
One spotty kid on a low wage running up and down fixing all the "please ask for assistance" messages and a load of shelf stackers.
Agreed and perhaps both the retail/entertainment etc sector need to improve their offering but as consumers we need to make that conscious decision between the ease and offerings of the tax dodging elite such as amazon, Starbucks and the like or go to the local independents that pay back into the local community.
I see the affluent or older generation making a stand but the masses go for the cheapest or most convenient option the majority of the time.
Unless something is on offer, rarely seen in somewhere like Maplins, the common comsumer won't buy it but look elsewhere.
Very easy to price check online nowadays whilst you browse.
With places like Starbucks, it's mostly down to convenience.
Personally I hate the place, the coffee is swill.
Indeed. I rarely buy things from the high street anymore. Why make the effort to go out, pay for parking/bus fare to find out that a store doesn't sell what you want or hasn't got it in stock when it can be delivered and you know you're getting exactly what you were after.
Remember going to the toys r us in town when I was younger was a magical place to just go inside to look but they can't compete now as they're overpriced and lived off their name for far to long especially when you think how much the market is growing online that is cheaper and comes straight to the door
Maplins have never competed on price but I've noticed recently that they have been ripping people off. I tried to buy a Snes Classic which has an RRP of £69. Maplins wanted £119. I emailed them about this discrepancy but they didn't bother to respond.
What goes around comes around. Toys r us put many toy shops to the sword, and then upped their prices, now they’ve had their comeuppance. Feel sorry for their staff.
That isn't the main reason here. As far as I can see, the main reasons are:
1. Failure to use the online growing market, allowing Amazon and many others to take their share. The old adage "adapt or die" applies here
2. Private equity ownership. Private equity in the case of Maplins and Toys R Us both used LBO methods. The way that works is say you target a company that has great cashflow. You buy the company for £100m with your own cash. You then borrow £80 or £90m from a lender and effectively mortgage the companh to the hilt, paying yourself £80m or £90m back in cash. Company is saddled with £80m/£90m debt but your private equity company only now has £10m-£20m left invested. If you can pay off that remaining £10m-£20m stake with 3-5 years of cash profits then you own the company for free and all future profits are at zero risk. If you can hold on longer and pay off that £80m-£90m then for a £10m risk you could get a £80-£90m return on equity over the long term. If it goes bust then you de-risked most of your bet by the time you got that initial £80m-£90m money back after the LBO. The sad thing is that Maplins is actually a cash generative business which, operationally at least, is a sound company. The LBO debt is what has killed it. The debt interest payments typically bring the death knell in two forms; 1/ the business dies due to lack of investment, as the cashflow from profits is chewed up in debt payments 2/ the slender cash profits left after debt payments are insufficient to cover those debt interest payments when competition takes away the revenue, or the credit cycle downturns and people spend less.
3. We are now at where we were at the last credit crunch, with record low savings and record levels of personal or corporate debt. Cashflow is squeezed more by the interest payments on people's increasing debt and increasing interest payments on that debt, more than austerity, although it is a partial factor.
Matalan are also private equity owned. Another asset-stripped company destined for the bin. Back a few years ago their bonds could be bought, paying 10-12% a year on them. Lovely payback over five years, but that was half a decade ago. It's a shame about Toys R Us. My first part time job was with Toys R Us near The Hayes, and I have fond memories of working there. I feel sorry for those that will lose their jobs.
Wasn’t the weak pound blamed too? They won’t be the last by a long stretch, expect lots to go under and more working class people out of work.
Its simply a shop not keeping with the times, there was a time when they were the market leader on high street toys. I think i got all my childhood bikes from the Cardiff store. Now if i go to a toy shop with my kids its usually Smyths, if not The Entertainer. Add to that you have all the supermarkets selling toys, and Argos on most high streets also being a competitor for Amazon.
Last Christmas i dont think i even visited the toys r us website.
I simply dont understand how WH Smiths keeps going as well.
It's a good shop, nice to look around, then go home and buy it cheaper from Amazon.
We won't have a High Street in 40 years.
We will but it will be full of cheap shops selling tat.
It's already started.
Oh plus fast food outlets and coffee shops.
WH Smith have lots of concessions at airports and railway stations, otherwise as you say I don't know how they keep going.
Yes, I can see it's really austerities fault.
I'm sure people are more than happy to pay far more in store rather than buy goods online for cheaper.
Yup, definitely auterities fault.
Toys R Us put many small independent toy stores out of business. Online has put them out of business.
About 25 years ago - before the internet - I fancied a camcorder seen in an Argos catalogue for £820. I couldn't make my mind up whether to get it or not. Then I happened to be in W H Smith's one day searching for some mag when I happened upon one wholly dedicated to camcorders. It was packed with adverts from mail order firms, and of the dozen or so who had the model I was pondering its price ranged from £450 to £650 for the exact same thing Argos sold.
I doubt whether they can price gouge to that extent nowadays, but with purely online competitors who have no rents for premises and business rates to pay then I continue to be surprised that any of their stores still exist. Ditto for Currys, Boots, etc.
Will Maplin have a " fire sale " now ? ? ?
as i have my eye on something online with them but its a little over priced for what i want to pay
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