Dixons is shutting up shop for the final time, as the plug is pulled on Dixons.co.uk. The high street electricals shop-turned-online gadget store sells its last bit of kit tomorrow, after 75 years in the technology game.
Aside from branches in airports, Dixons finds itself in new premises on the great high street in the sky, alongside other obsolete gadget shops Rumbelows, Radio Rentals, and the short-lived Best Buy (a couple of doors down from Bejam and Our Price).
The name lives on in a handful of airport shops and the title of parent company Dixons Retail. Formerly known as DSGi, the company also owns Currys and PC World. DSGi replaced all Dixons shops with the Currys brand six years ago, keeping the well-known high street brand name alive only as an online store.
Now the bean-counters have decided there's no space for three competing brands under its umbrella, and is getting rid of the Dixons website too. At the same time, Currys and PC World are getting new websites, which allow you to shop online then collect from a store.
Dixons began life as a photographic studio in Southend in 1937. It quickly grew from a family business into the household name we all know and are ambivalent about.
Today's high street sees electrical retailers like Comet and Maplin battling not just Currys and PC World but also Amazon and the Internet, where prices tend to be cheaper -- and of course you can get top-quality advice from websites like this one 'ere. Still, there's no substitute for actually holding a new piece of kit in your hands.
Is it good riddance to Dixons, or the end of an era? What do you think of electrical shops today? Tell me your thoughts in the comments or on our Facebook page.
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Comments 9
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anonymous 8 October, 2012 14:49
Sad, more jobs lost, our high streets will be a thing of the past in the next 20 years. I would love to open a shop but the crazt costs you would have to be mad now, £30k where i an in rates crazy.
anonymous 8 October, 2012 15:00
is it just me or I've just checked the website and it's still doing business as usual!!!
anonymous 8 October, 2012 15:14
Seems to still be working for me as well.
anonymous 8 October, 2012 16:58
If you read the article properly it says it will close the online store tommorow
anonymous 8 October, 2012 18:33
Good riddance, Dixons. You were a plague on our high streets.
The problem with most electrical shops are the staff, who often know very little and think that the customer knows even less.
anonymous 8 October, 2012 22:23
More overpriced tech shops closing?
Wierd.
anonymous 9 October, 2012 08:13
Who could be surprised? All the stores in this group are staffed with underpaid, under-trained workers who are not treated well, and in return the customer is badly served, is badly advised and generally researches the products better than said staff. It's not just online competition that has closed Dixons, it is the very poor experience we all get shopping there. At John Lewis and other better stores the staff actually know something about what they are selling.
anonymous 19 October, 2012 16:21
I used to work for Dixons as a 19 year old in 1979. We used to be offered commission called 'spivs' to sell particular lines. When those lines ran out, we borrow more stock (faulty stock) from the repairs section, sell is as good stock and when it came back as of course it was bound to, we'd sell it on again. Dixons made no investment in its staff and consequently none in its customers.
anonymous 4 November, 2012 17:20
Ha Ha
John lewis know about what they are selling ha ha ha. Anyway"and in return the customer is badly served, is badly advised and generally researches the products better than said staff" Very untrue.
Losing Dixons is a bad thing, I for one used to love going in a playing with stuff when i was a kid.
Expensive? Compaq AMD E2, 4GB, 500GB 15.6" laptop = £261.91 in currys / pcworld
Asus AMD E2, 4GB, 500GB = 269.99 Ebuyer