Maplin Electronics

I have lived with men, and only men, for the last FOUR years. As a result of this I have spent more time and money in Maplin than I care to mention, but remarkably I don’t hate the place. In fact its quite fun.
I’m not an especially girly girl so maybe that’s why I’m not allergic to anywhere which has a ‘USB Section’, but I do get bored easily if I don’t really understand what the hell anything is. Maplin stock a good range of geeky essentials (multi-​way scart leads, batteries, webcams) as well as having some fun stuff too. They have electronic disco balls and huge remote control cars which are pretty fun. I’ve usually only ever been in here to watch the boys argue about what is and isn’t compatible with the XBOX, I tend to find myself fiddling with gadgets and toys which is pretty fun.
The staff are approachable and the prices are reasonable (you can find most stuff cheaper online), but if you like the face-​to-​face approach, Maplin Electronics is perfect.

Maplin is a bit of a mixed bag; occasionally you’ll find anything you could possibly want in there, sometimes you’ll struggle to find even the most basic of electronics. To be honest though, it usually falls into the ‘find anything’ category, and it’s saved my bacon more times than I’d care to admit. The prices are pretty good as well, although you can get stuff cheaper online, but I hate waiting so often just find it easier to buy from here unless I’m after something expensive.

I haven’t found many of Rebecca’s reviews that I disagree with, but strangely enough I actually find Maplin marginally more endearing than Accessorize.
My other half has been studying electrical engineering, electronics and things I don’t understand which involve trips to Maplin for the past 6 years. He’s usually been able to find his circuit boxes and what-​not here but sometimes has to wait a while to be served, especially at the little counter upstairs where they cut you pieces of wire etc.
Whilst waiting I can usually find something to entertain me or something I want to buy. I’ve been bought a few simple kits to make (as my degree involved dictionaries and essays, I wanted to use a soldering iron too!) which are probably designed for children, but are really good for anyone wanting to get a taste of electronics. The electronic roulette which I spent hours soldering was good for a drinking game we made up too.
OK, so the stock is a bit limited (but there are bigger out of town Maplins), the staff are geeky teenagers (but all the good-​looking electronics graduates are probably earning a fortune at Siemens), and I wouldn’t recommend it for PC bits (go to Micro Direct for your computing needs — a parallel universe to Accessorize, which I shall review seperately).

I am amazed that Maplin still exists as a shop when you can buy almost everything it stocks far cheaper online.
Despite this, the Maplin on Oxford Road is still going strong (ish) and I went in there in my search for a multiple scart lead changer thing. I asked an assistant for help as I’m pretty clueless when it comes to any kind of technology, even the most basic.
The teenage boy serving me simply picked up the item, said something as simple as «yep,» and pointed to the buttons on it. There was no explanation of how it worked, or whether it was a good option for me. I think I’ll just look online.
I’ll probably still use Maplin as it does have an excellent range of odd leads, connectors and chargers that are hard to find elsewhere. Oh, and weird DJ equipment in the form of mini disco balls and flashing disco lights.

The other day I overheard a boy on a bus saying to his friend «she spent 20 minutes in Accessorize! 20 minutes! Ugh, I almost died. How could she DO that to me, man?» As his friend was consoling him and sharing his pain («my housemate made me spend half an hour in Office while she bought shoes, dude») I had to bite my tongue to keep from turning round and shouting «OH YEAH? What about 45 minutes in friggin’ Maplin? Huh? Hmmm? What about that? You know nought of the struggle of women. ESPECIALLY women who have had to stand and try not to DIE as their significant other shops for SCART leads!!!» I kept my cool, just, but the pain still smarts.
Seriously, if Accessorize is the epitome of girl-​shop (that is, a shop where there is nada for boy-​kind to look at, causing what the boyf calls ‘man shop face’; a sad sort of frown worn by all men in shops that don’t sell boy-​shizzle) then Maplin is boy-​shop through and through.
The Oxford Road branch has stolen much more of my time than I would deem necessary or appropriate. It truly is a joyless dominion, staffed by geeky boys who think shining a laser pointer at a girl-customer’s boob is funny and cool (seriously, you guys, I had to pull out my most withering of withering looks, the one I generally only deploy when the boyf has used my Clinique on his hard-​foot-​skin). It sells completely ridiculous items; home security systems (so, a webcam, then), about a million different TV remotes, and disco balls. That’s right, amongst all the geeky-​but-​possibly-​useful crud, are disco balls, blacklights, plasma globes and neon guitar lights. Errrr, why? I don’t know why, nobody knows why. All I know is, when I go past Maplin and see their Magic Disco Mushroom (£29.99) twirling and flashing away, it makes me want to visit violence upon the sexist nerds within.
Giggly nerd-​staff and their laser-​pointers and weird disco lighting aside, this is still a dreadful shop. Sure, there’s a wide range of leads and stuff, but it’s not wide enough. To my mind, if you’re gonna sell electronics, you need to sell everything that people could possibly need. Maplin doesn’t, so the boyf has had about a billion wasted journeys. When we finally got something that was compatible (some kind of TV gewgaw, don’t ask me what) it was faulty, and had to be returned. Maplin is boring, annoying, and frustrating to the last.
And they totally don’t even sell shoes…

This store is directly opposite the BBC on Oxford Rd. Launched in 1972, Maplin Electronics originally began life as a mail order catalogue. With now over 65 stores they continue to specialise in a wide range of electronic components.
This oxford road store has an upper floor and is very popular with Electrical engineering and sound engineering students.
It’s the ultimate big boy’s toyshop cramped with loads of gadgets like miniature cameras, remote controlled toys, night vision systems etc. I used to visit this store just to find out whats new on the gadget market and they have reasonable promotion sales offers.