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

[David Thornton]

Last time I was in Sayal ( Vic Park ) the lone staff members was slow and
surly. Shame, they had tuns on net stuff.

David

On Sun, Dec 15, 2019 at 8:07 PM Don Tai via talk <talk at gtalug.org> wrote:

> 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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-- 
David Thornton
https://wiki.quadratic.net
https://github.com/drthornt/
https://twitter.com/northdot9/
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