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

Mon Dec 16 15:19:37 EST 2019

Sadly with the days of the internet it's getting easier to buy all those
weird and cool stuff online. Plus younger people are just not into
the tinkering, it's the mind set of "why build, when I can build"

I can't count the days and hours I spent at Active . I'm pretty sure I
still have some things I bought there with the idea of building something
with it, and never got to it.

I wish that Canada Computers would possibly would fill in the gap in a
small way to the makers(or the old Radio Shake). I'm in Brampton and
our local CC has a few aisle that are just totally empty or just have
dozens and dozens of the same product as a filler.
Maybe if you are luck you may see one or two boxes of a 3D printer, or
filament.
Sucks when you want to buy a Raspberry Pi and it costs $11 for shipping.

When I jump down to the US to visit family I'm always going into micro
center
which I look at as a US version of CC with a good selection of a maker
area.
I can buy a raspberry pi zero ( 1 per visit) for $5(US), I make sure to
stop in a few times :)
and not only get the pi but stock up on my maker needs.

On Mon, Dec 16, 2019 at 8:04 AM David Thornton via talk <talk at gtalug.org>
wrote:

> 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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