Doesn't surprise me at all. Maplin is a terrible store. I haven't been in a while to be honest, but a lot of the stuff they sold there seemed like it was cheap

Doesn't surprise me at all. Maplin is a terrible store. I haven't been in a while to be honest, but a lot of the stuff they sold there seemed like it was cheap Chinese imports. Their music and hardware sections seemed okay, but not very competitive. The staff like in most large retail stores were useless as well. I used to work part time in a small independent computer store while I was studying, we sold a lot of the same stuff as Maplin, but we were 100% about the service. We knew people could get stuff cheaper online, but they couldn't get the service. You might know your WIFI doesn't reach the whole of your house, but you might not know what the best solution is. Do you buy a more expensive router, a different brand, a range extender? These are the kinds of things you'd be unlikely to find answers for in Maplin. You might as well just take a guess and buy something cheaper online. People don't go to stores like Maplin just to buy things anymore. The business model doesn't make sense if you're competing with online retailers. You have to offer the only thing online retailers can't, service and peace of mind.