Dixons disappears as dixons.co.uk website closed

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.