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

[Don Tai]

I'm uptown, so don't know many downtown stores. Sayal , Vic Park/Mcnichol,
is where I go for everything. For arduino stuff I used to go to Creatron,
on Dundas, but they moved to Birchmount/Sheppard.

Long, long ago I recall Active Surplus, with the gorilla outside the store?

On Sun, 15 Dec 2019 at 19:25, Evan Leibovitch via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
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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