It seems a bit of a mixed bag as to the level of electronic/technical knowledge of the various staff at the two Jaycar stores here in Canberra. (Sadly there is no Altronics store.) I am a regular customer at the smaller of the two and the staff there particularly the manager, seem to to very knowledgeable. However on a visit to the larger store I was asked, "what do you use that for?", when I brought a soldering iron. The younger people seem to know a fair bit about anything computer or audio related but are clueless about anything that involves assembly more than just plugging one bit into another. This reminds me of the last couple of years of Dick Smith stores. (I also recall speaking to one of the new senior managers at DSE who told me that they were doing away with all the old rubbish that Dick Smith used to sell and would be marketing real electronics properly; ie computers, TVs MP3 players etc. He assured me that DSE would put Harvey Norman out of business in five years and was most offended when I laughed at him. Five years on Harvey was still in business but DSE was gone.)

On a trip to London a few years ago I was able to go into a Maplin store and was delighted to see a huge range of all sorts of parts. On a return visit two years later Maplin and all the goodies were gone just like the late Dick Smith/DSE and for the same reason. As others have said the new style of business management does not seem capable of understanding that selling to technically minded customers in not the same as flogging cornflakes, milk and bread to the masses.

The comments about using the catalogue as the basis of marketing was spot on and I like most others found it very useful to determine what I needed to get on my next visit (plus a few extras). Also the catalogues had useful technical info so I kept them for reference. Now I note that a lot of what was in previous catalogues is not stocked/available; a worrying sign of things (not) to come. This is like the 'old days' of reading American electronics magazines and wanting to make something described in an article but then finding that the kit and/or key components were not available locally.

He assured me that DSE would put Harvey Norman out of business in five years and was most offended when I laughed at him.

Having read this, I recall a similar scenario at the Gore Hill Dick Smith store, which was a few doors up from where Jaycar is at the moment. I went in to Dick Smith at the time they were in the middle of shafting their traditional customer base and I asked the salesman why I couldn't buy tools, components, kits, etc, whilst looking at a row of rebadged televisions and his reply was "Dick Smith is changing". He said it in a pretty cocky tone of voice too, as if there was some sort of mission for the company to complete.

About a year later, Dick Smith changed again - they hit the wall and Woolies conducted fire sales at every store before shutting the doors for good and refusing to honour warranties or deliver pre-purchased goods, which also landed them in hot water. The brand was then sold to Kogan and Dick Smith is a mere website these days.

To rub salt into the very deep wounds, Jaycar painted their own logo on the big glass doors to the Dick Smith store at Gore Hill and pretty much sent the message that hobbyists still had somewhere to go for their very existence.

This is basically what happens when a company poisons its brand by alienating its customers and treating them with contempt.

Yes I visited a Dick Smith in its last year and asked about buying a meter (I think it was). The shop assistant said "what's that?". He had no idea. Also, he'd never heard of capacitors etc. I left empty-handed. No surprise they went under not long after.

He was probably too busy selling clock radios and mobile phone cases.

I recall a similar scenario at the Gore Hill Dick Smith store, which was a few doors up from where Jaycar is at the moment.

Me too. I was after a particular relay and went in there first as it had parking just out the back and saved a walk up the road to Jaycar.

I asked where to look for relays and the kid behind the counter said "What's a relay?" When I looked astonished he said, "Sorry, we don't get any training". I did feel sorry for the kid.

I looked around and didn't find it and was also concerned at the amount of empty shelf space. I could see that the writing was on the wall for that store.

The kid actually said "Try Jaycar" and up the road to Jaycar I went (and got the relay).

In about 1985 I went up to Sydney to buy the Jaycar Playmaster 200 amplifier kit, and the Hurstville store must have been the place. The amplifier is still in service and apart from failed mains power switches which went off with a bang, and failed volume control (scratchy), no problems that can be blamed on the parts supplied. Changes made have been gold plated output terminals and a remote motorised volume control with 0-100 digital indicator.

The latest Silicon Chip has an article on the history of SI, with photos of the prototype amp and a cartoon from an Electronics Australia article, apologising for delays in the final article for the amp brought about by difficulties in the phono preamp. The cartoon is one of Brendan Arkhurst's earliest works; he went on to feature in Silicon Chip, for example "stoking up the cro" with the Serviceman shovelling coal into his steam powered cro.

If you had a hand in this amp Fred, thanks.

Hi STC.
The PM200 amp was a beauty but I had no hand in the design.
Leo and the gang were way over on the northern beaches and I was centered in the west doing other things.

I did put one together and was amazed I got the whole thing to work.
Yep mine hung around for decades until the output transistors ceased to function on one channel.
I cannot find it now, its in the workshop somewhere under a bench.

Fred.

I was amazed that I got to work first up too. Much simpler projects have had me stumped at times.