[GTALUG] another unique store gone: Above All Electronic Surplus

[D. Joe]

OK, sorry, I must not have been very clear before, but this is exactly the sort of talk about retailers I was hoping to see around my August visit.

So it goes. Hopefully some of it will still be relevant when next I'm able to make the trip.

-- 
Joe

On Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 07:24:48PM -0500, Evan Leibovitch via talk wrote:
> On the positive side of things...
> 
> One of my personal favourite places for obscure gear, Sayal Electronics, is not
> only doing well but has been quietly expanding.
> 
> Unknown to inner city types, the original opened next to Active's  Mississauga
> store. Frequently frustrated by Active's not having what I wanted, I'd go to
> Sayal which always had what I needed and eventually became my first stop in
> that plaza.
> 
> That location is still doing well, obviously having outlasted Active. Their
> main location and head office remains on Victoria Park north of Finch (very
> close to where Electrosonic used to be)  but they also have locations in
> Markham and near Vaughan Mills. And they've also expanded to Barrie, Cambridge
> and Burlington. Their stores tend to be very large, which might be the reason
> they prefer industrial zones to city storefronts.
> 
> Also: Canada Computers just did a move of its North York location, from a strip
> mall to Centrepoint Mall (Yonge & Steeles) where it occupies the ENTIRE space
> formerly used by the Target store. It's immense and when I went there a few
> weeks ago (though the "official" opening was yesterday) there was plenty of
> unused area, they could easily fit all of their other Toronto locations into
> this one spot.
> 
> - Evan
> 
> 
> On Sun, 15 Dec 2019 at 16:30, James Knott via talk <talk at gtalug.org> wrote:
> 
>     I remember when there were a lot of stores that sold electronic and
>     computer stuff.  Besides Active Surplus, there were several stores along
>     Queen, including Arkon, first near Church and later towards Spadina. 
>     There were also several stores on College around Spadina/Bathhurst. 
>     Then there was Active Electronics, on Lombard St. and when needed I
>     could hop the subway up to Electrosonic at 555 Yonge St., before they
>     moved to Gordon Baker Rd.  IIRC, there were a couple of other stores in
>     the same vicinity.  There was also City Surplus, on Dixie Rd. north of
>     the 401, which had a lot of electronic gear.  Of course, back in those
>     days, there were a lot of shops that catered to the TV repair business,
>     such as Atwater Electronics, not far from Heathkit, in Mississauga. 
>     Going way back, I remember Radio Essentials and Pat's Electronics, in
>     Oakville.  The Oakville Amateur Radio club used to meet in Pat's basement.
> 
> 
> 
>     On 2019-12-15 02:59 PM, Karen Lewellen via talk wrote:
>     > Oh I am crushed.
>     > Steve had, and understood some of the most  creative things about
>     > connecting electronics.
>     > I have cables in my home and production studio that I simply could not
>     > find  in town anywhere, especially after Radio shack went away.
>     > Above all was a  computer maintenance dream as well.
>     > *sniff!*
>     > Kare
>     >
>     >
>     >
>     > On Sat, 14 Dec 2019, Stewart C. Russell via talk wrote:
>     >
>     >> Losing Active Surplus a few years back was bad, but this one seems
>     >> worse: long-established electronic surplus/weird stuff/junk store
>     >> Above All Electronic Surplus (635 Bloor W, at Euclid) is closed. I
>     >> went by today and the windows were papered over and a For Lease sign
>     >> was on the front. Steve, the owner, was inside tidying up, but the
>     >> door was locked. Above All was where I went for the off-the-wall
>     >> retro stuff I knew no-one else would carry. Appletalk cables? Bulk PC
>     >> reset buttons (some still marked Turbo XT)? SCSI interfaces? Mac
>     >> Classic RAM? These are all things I found at Above All.
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> Above All has moved before. Let's hope this is the case again.
>     >>
>     >>
>     >> cheers,
>     >>
>     >>  Stewart
>     >>
>     >>
>     >>
>     >
>     >
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> 
> 
> --
> Evan Leibovitch, Toronto Canada
> @evanleibovitch or @el56

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-- 
-- 
Joe   On ceding power to tech companies: http://xkcd.com/1118/
man screen | grep -A2 weird
  A weird imagination is most useful to gain full advantage of
  all the features.