Tandy is Back - Internet Only!

[Old Sparky]

Almost all the radio/electronics component shops have vanished from this area, too. At one time there were two in Banbury, two in Witney, at least two in Oxford, and one in Cheltenham. AFAIK only the Cheltenham one (Hardings in the High Street) still survives. Tandy used to have branches in most major towns including Oxford. Maplin still have 4 branches within 30 miles of my hometown, at Oxford, Banbury, Cheltenham & Stratford upon Avon, but,like their Irish division, the stock of components is limited.
I haven't been to london for years, but no doubt that great centre for such shops, the Edgeware Road, once home to the likes of Henry's, Lasky's, RTVC, and quite a few other firms is now an 'electronic components desert'

[Mike Watterson]

The "Irish" division of Maplins? It's identical to UK and regularly sells products that don't even work in Ireland, or are illegal here. Despite maybe six shops.
You can validly describe Tesco, Lidl and Aldii as having "Irish" operations. Even Argos takes account of differences.

[Mike Watterson]

I haven't been to london for years, but no doubt that  great centre for such shops, the Edgeware Road, once home to the likes of Henry's, Lasky's, RTVC, and quite a few other firms is now an 'electronic components desert'

I think even by the late 1970s when I was last in London most of them were gone

[ppppenguin]

I think Henrys in the Edgware Road was still around in the late 1970s. Pretty sure that Stern-Clyne, Z&I, Proops, HL Smith etc had gone by then. Odeon Radio in Harrow was around in the late 1970s when I was living in that area. I remember needing an EL81 (I was fixing a TV monitor) and being amazed that they had it in stock. Not exactly a commonplace valve in the UK unless you're working on older professional video monitors.

[Crackle]

Even the long established RS components has adopted free next day delivery now for small inexpensive items. It must be hard to stay competitive when you are selling items for less than a pound.
What's Farnell doing now, I have not used them for a little while. Just checked and it looks like free delivery for orders over £20.

Mike

[Terry]

I remember needing an EL81 (I was fixing a TV monitor) and being amazed that they had it in stock. 

You probably did them a favour for helping them get rid of it! 

[Valvebloke]

What's Farnell doing now, I have not used them for a little while. Just checked and it looks like free delivery for orders over £20.

Yup, they're generally pretty good. I use them all the time. The only problems can be a) if you use their CPC arm which went through a phase of carelessness with the orders (I'd order one thing and they'd send another) and b) if, for a lightweight order, they send it out by Royal Mail. I ordered a batch of stuff last Saturday and they broke this down into two packages. Both seem to have been dropped into Royal Mail on Monday (first working day). One arrived here on Tuesday (very good !). Heaven knows where the other one is - it didn't come today (Thursday) :-(.

Occasionally I use Mouser for harder-to-find stuff, although I imagine the depressed £/$ ratio will make them less attractive now. They ship from Texas but still seem to get stuff here in under a week and their shipping is free on orders over £33.

VB

[Murphyv310]

I think Henrys in the Edgware Road was still around in the late 1970s. Pretty sure that Stern-Clyne, Z&I, Proops, HL Smith etc had gone by then. Odeon Radio in Harrow was around in the late 1970s when I was living in that area. I remember needing an EL81 (I was fixing a TV monitor) and being amazed that they had it in stock. Not exactly a commonplace valve in the UK unless you're working on older professional video monitors.

Hi.
The EL81 is used in the Ekco TMB272 Jeffrey.

[ppppenguin]

The TMB272 must be the only UK made TV that used the EL81. The BBC modified them to use as outside broadcast monitors. A lot cheaper than the professional monitors of the period, readily adapted due to earthed chassis plus 12V capability if needed.

[ed731pdh]

The demise of Maplin to me started around 15 years or so back, and coincided with the sale by the founders to what amounted to a vulture capitalist group. Once they started charging stupid prices like 20p per resistor etc, that was the end of it for me.

Nowadays I get better service from ebay vendors rather than big chains that sell tat. Proper prices for parts rather than inflated rates. I suspect that Maplin's componant price structure is based on the premise that hobbiests are seen as a pain in the arse rather than a customer, and most Maplin stores parts range consists of a couple of items on the shelf and a referral to order online from HQ if you want more than five of any one item. Not a great way to do business, I don't see a long term high street life span for Maplin the way they are going.