I got the same email sent to each of my several Zoro accounts.

I’d suspected this outcome for some time, not least because of the unusual number of items on their site marked as “currently unavailable”.

I got some amazing deals from Zoro UK over the years and numerous 15% voucher codes into the bargain, but perhaps the best feature of the operation was their quotation system, which no other supplier I’m aware of offers or has ever offered.

The worst part was the IT. In the early days this was relatively problem free but I think they must have left it in the hands of school leavers eventually because it became disastrously bad. Customer service was excellent if the Zoro Care Team got involved, but otherwise rather unreliable.

One of the main things most people seemed to complain about was the long lead times on some items, particularly those in the drop-shipped category. This rarely bothered me because I knew that if I wanted something urgently I could just go elsewhere for it, as long as I was prepared to pay more for it. I think the record between ordering something and having it delivered was 18 months.

The IT problems notwithstanding, I’m sorry to see them go.

I should add that at the same time Zoro is disappearing Cromwell is being sold to a private equity company called Aurelius.

I have bought items from Zoro, but have had a Cromwell account for 25 years.

Oddly, I got a 50% off code from MSC/J&L (Sorry, MSCDirect) yesterday. Haven’t decided if it’s close enough to Christmas to use it yet!

Aurelius Group….

From its own website illustrations it appears to like mountaineering, but has fingers in many pies including “real estate” (American for buildings and land), and debts among other things, including buying companies for no clear reason.

I’ve never understood why a debt can be considered an asset, but apart from that none of the web-site’s typical “management-ese” waffle and pretty pictures convinces me the Group has any interest in or knowledge of the engineering trade.

In any case, private-equity groups exist for one reason only: making money for themselves. Not serving customers. Once they have recouped their capital cost – which will be a gamble anyway – what happens later does not matter. Indeed, a PE compnay whose interests include land and development would likely see any premises-owning business it buys as no more than reserving a potentially more valuable building-site.

Worrying… but was Cromwell in fact in trouble anyway, and saw Aurelius as a possible saviour? Was the closure of Zoro part of the deal?

Given the number of quite valuable items they’ve had mis-priced at a fraction of their value I’m surprised it’s taken this long to pull the plug. Whomever was responsible for their web store didn’t do the best job for them (but it sure made for some decent bargains).