Comet

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

With Comet being the latest company to go into administration, I recall my youth when I was absorbed and fascinated by Comet's mail order adverts for hi-fi equipment. This was long before it became a high street name.

Now we have a local comet store, but it struggles a little. The staff are friendly and want to be helpful, but they can never meet my request to turn the piped music off. It's the unwarranted noise pollution that drives me towards the internet - not the convenience.

[Petrushka]

I bought my Samsung Smart TV from Comet at a very reasonable price. However, I found that staff at the local store from where I purchased it were too pushy, always trying to flog insurance and various unnecessary add ons to your purchase.

[Boilk]

No comet.

[LeMartinPecheur]

Somewhere in the garage I may still have my first and probably only Comet purchase, my very first stereo FM tuner...a Sinclair This was c1972.

Still, it worked, which is more than can be said for some of his later ideas. Worked more or less, with seemingly permanent harmonic distortion. Where is he now??

[mangerton]

Somewhere in the garage I may still have my first and probably only Comet purchase, my very first stereo FM tuner...a Sinclair This was c1972.

Still, it worked, which is more than can be said for some of his later ideas. Worked more or less, with seemingly permanent harmonic distortion. Where is he now??

I think he pedalled off into the sunset on a C5 and hasn't been seen since. I had a number of Sinclair items around that time - they're still in the cupboard - and they involved quite a bit of home construction. I bought them directly from Sinclair via their ads in Practical Wireless

I've bought quite a few things from Comet over the last forty years or so, and provided you ignored the inaccuracies of the sales staff, you could do all right.

[Pabmusic]

...I've bought quite a few things from Comet over the last forty years or so, and provided you ignored the inaccuracies of the sales staff, you could do all right.

True. I think Comet were responsible for my first transistor radio, TV, VHS player, microwave, slow cooker and vacuum cleaner. Ah!...the warm glow of nostalgia...

[scottycelt]

I feel terribly sorry for the shopfloor staff. These retail workers are generally on dreadful wages (minimum wage or just above) and, of course, are (were) instructed by senior management to sell extras like insurance for little or no reward to the shop staff themselves. Now they'll probably have no jobs at all.

Comet itself didn't move with the times and accept the reality of online shopping so its collapse was probably inevitable.

In truth, the lucky British public is spoilt for choice when it comes to the sheer scale and variety of their shopping options now widely available 24 hours, 7 days a week. I fear Comet might not be the last to succumb to more efficient competition and a weak economy, but again that will come as little surprise to those who have some semblance of just what a ruthless, unforgiving and often precarious occupation goods retailing can be in modern Britain.

[Pabmusic]

I feel terribly sorry for the shopfloor staff...In truth, the lucky British public is spoilt for choice when it comes to the sheer scale and variety of their shopping options now widely available 24 hours, 7 days a week. I fear Comet might not be the last to succumb to more efficient competition and a weak economy, but again that will come as little surprise to those who have some semblance of just what a ruthless, unforgiving and often precarious occupation goods retailing can be in modern Britain.

How I agree with all of this. I have experienced (still do) life without everything at your fingertips, and can't believe how we all seem to take it for granted. But it wasn't like that for my parents, when I were but a lad.

[mangerton]

How I agree with all of this. I have experienced (still do) life without everything at your fingertips, and can't believe how we all seem to take it for granted. But it wasn't like that for my parents, when I were but a lad.

No, it certainly wasn't. It's worth remembering too how Comet has changed. Initially they were a warehouse operation with no goods on display. You went in, asked for an Acme 17" TV or whatever, and it was brought to you in a cardboard box.

[Northender]

I think their fate was sealed once the proposed sponsorship deal with a leading Manchester orchestra fell through. More on: www.hallés_comet/tie-up/negotiationsfizzleout.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I think he pedalled off into the sunset on a C5 and hasn't been seen since. I had a number of Sinclair items around that time - they're still in the cupboard - and they involved quite a bit of home construction. I bought them directly from Sinclair via their ads in Practical Wireless

The Sinclair Micro 6 radio was rather good at the time too - 59/6 for the kit. Then you had to assemble it very carefully, using a small soldering iron.

[salymap]

I think their fate was sealed once the proposed sponsorship deal with a leading Manchester orchestra fell through. More on: www.hallés_comet/tie-up/negotiationsfizzleout.

Ohhh, very good Northender

[teamsaint]

The Sinclair Micro 6 radio was rather good at the time too - 59/6 for the kit. Then you had to assemble it very carefully, using a small soldering iron.

sounds like lots of Xmas day fun !

[Resurrection Man]

And don't forget his XZ30 amplifiers. I put two into the door pocket of my first car - a rusting Mini - along with a home-built Quad 33 pre-amp and a cassette player. Two large holes cut in the parcel shelf for a couple of 8" speakers. Rockin'

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

My son had fun with his Sinclair ZX Spectrum +3. I had borrowed a BBC Model B from school during the Easter holiday and he had been using it (aged 8), playing a game called "Kingdom". On acquiring his own Spectrum, he then rewrote the program(me) for his new computer. I don't know how, for he was only just 10 and had no access to the data used for the BBC computer.

(Is there a : proud dad: emoticon?)