I  WAS SORRY to hear about Dublin retailer Peats World of Electronics closing all its stores.

The Sony Centre in Dublin’s O’Connell Street was a superb example of the way a Sony Centre should be and the multi-branded Peats World of Electronics were great shops, where you could buy anything from a top-of-the-range 3D TV to something as simple as a 50p resistor.

In fact, I can remember being in Dublin with a musician friend, who had turned his amplifier up to ‘11’ too many times and blown a capacitor. It was near closing time when I phoned to make sure Peats World of Electronics had the item. “Yes,” said a friendly voice, “we were just going to close, but we will wait until you get here.” This was typical of the service on offer at Peats World of Electronics.

Three generations of the family have worked in the business that was established 78 years ago. Now all 75 staff, some of whom had been with Peats for 30 years, have been made redundant.

Turnover was £19.8 million in 2007, but recently it had fallen to less than half of that figure. The firm posted a £618,000 loss in 2010.

It is hard to think what Peats World of Electronics could have done differently. It not only had excellent TV and hi-fi areas, but it also specialised in Apple products, mobile phones, photography, computers, PA equipment and it stocked thousands of components.

The Peat family definitely changed with the times and I am saddened by this closure of a shop that has served Dublin well for many years.

[Editor’s note: The Peats store on Parnell Street reopened on April 28 and ERT Ireland understands the Lower Rathmines Road is also set to reopen]

This past month has also seen the closure of Inmans, the Sheffield wholesaler, which has been in business for more than 50 years.

Comet, too, has closed its support centre in Hull, the town where Comet was founded, with the loss of 240 jobs.

Our industry is shrinking at an alarming rate. Let us hope this is the end of the bad news and that the long-promised upturn actually begins soon.

A  COUPLE OF months ago, Howard Saycell rang and said a friend of his called Andrew Dawson was sending me a new product that rescued phones that had been dropped in water.

The package arrived and it consisted of a sealable plastic bag that contained two huge packs of desiccant. I put it to one side, meaning to try it out later.
Inevitably, weeks went by, until our Spikey dropped his flashy Samsung phone down the shop toilet just before we were closing on a Saturday night. After much cursing, he retrieved it. It was a perfect opportunity to try the Save-A-Phone recovery system.

Following the instructions on the bag, Spikey removed the back, battery and SIM card and let the water drip out. He dried as much as he could with the provided blotting paper and placed it in the bag with the desiccant tablets. A blue moisture indicator on the front of the bag turned bright pink when the wet phone was sealed in.

By Monday morning, the moisture indicator had changed to a pale blue. Spikey resisted the temptation to switch on and left it in the bag for another day. Then the moisture indicator was back to its original blue and, once assembled, the phone worked perfectly and has done ever since.

As a further test, I deliberately left a phone in a basin of water overnight and again the Save-A-Phone treatment recovered it perfectly.

I would like a bigger version, as lots of customers spill all kinds of liquids over their laptops. As some phones are quite expensive, and the data stored on them is often irreplaceable, the suggested £14.95 retail price seems attractive. It should be an easy “essential” add-on to the sale of a phone.