All Electronics in LA is CLOSING - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 01:04:02 am
content: Gone after 56 years. Last day tomorrow.https://www.allelectronics.com/

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 01:21:22 am
content: Wow! I've been buying stuff from them since I was a small child--quite literally--and now that I live in CA I've managed to visit them. I'm sad to see them go, but having seen their operations and knowing the area, the employment situtation and all that, it's a wonder that they've been able to stay open this long. I'll probably have to spend a pile of money now, they actually have a lot of handy stuff. I suspect they will be balls-to-the-wall busy for a bit as customers now need to stock up on all the stuff they won't be able to get anymore.Edit: It looks like I'm a bit late, they're substantially cleaned out already, at least the popular stuff.

author: Brumby
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 01:43:22 am
content: A shame in many ways, but probably inevitable with today's overpowering Chinese sources and the likes of Digikey, Mouser, etc.We have seen some retail electronics stores disappear in Australia over the years, but still have Altronics and Jaycar with shopfronts you can walk into.It is my opinion that Jaycar has been able to keep their head above water by stepping out into gimmick products - such as their Fly Gun - and general consumer gear - like torches and car fridges. I can see it as being a commercial necessity so I don't criticise them for this because they still have components on the shelf.Yes, we have other places such as RS Electronics - but you don't have the ability to browse in person. For example, I have used RS Electronics a few times and all you walk in to is a counter where you can purchase on the spot, if you know the exact item you want and can wait while it's being picked. Easier is you pick up an online order.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 02:11:59 am
content: Quote from: bdunham7 on August 30, 2023, 01:21:22 amWhen I heard LA, I suspected something like that.Hard to know what's worse, LA or San Fran?

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 03:06:36 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on August 30, 2023, 02:11:59 amAll Electronics is actually out in Van Nuys, so I'm not referring to the current issues that you see in the news regarding flash mobs, homeless drug addicts and so on. As far as that goes, SF is worse but LA is hot on its heels. What I meant was the very high cost of real estate, high wages and difficulty finding employees. I don't know why they are folding--whether they own the building and got an offer, rent the building and their rent tripled, a few key employees quit, the owner(s) have health issues. I suspect it was a pretty niche business that didn't have the kind of profits that would make it marketable as a going concern.

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 10:31:20 am
content: Sad news... They join the fate of two similar stores here in the Dallas area that closed in the past three years.

author: SiliconWizard
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 10:03:46 pm
content: Yeah that's kind of sad. If only it affected only electronics stores though. Soon enough there may not be any physical store left, except probably junk food and luxury goods.

author: EEVblog
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 11:43:38 pm
content: Quote from: bdunham7 on August 30, 2023, 03:06:36 amAfter 56 years in the business you'd think they'd own the building?

author: schmitt trigger
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 30, 2023, 11:53:19 pm
content: Quote from: rsjsouza on August 30, 2023, 10:31:20 amI visited Tanner’s frequently when I lived in the DFW Metroplex.It broke my heart when they folded.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 12:22:07 am
content: Quote from: SiliconWizard on August 30, 2023, 10:03:46 pmWhen visiting LA last year, I noticed some computer stores also had a whole bunch of electronics parts. I think Micro Center.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 03:12:23 am
content: Quote from: nctnico on August 31, 2023, 12:22:07 amMicro Center does have a selection of electronic components and tools to support the Arduino/Raspberry Pi/hacker crowd, but it is their huge computer/TV/3D printer/etc business that sustains them. Fry's had a pretty large inventory of electronics stuff and a large number of huge stores here in CA, but they folded a few years back. They were the last place that you could go find a transistor, TTL IC, op-amp or random grommet for a project that couldn't wait a day. Now there are literally none. I suppose it is tough to support a retail business on $1.29 parts.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 03:22:00 am
content: Quote from: EEVblog on August 30, 2023, 11:43:38 pmIIRC they moved at least once. You'd be surprised at how many businesses rent forever as many landlords simply won't sell--partly because the entire sale price would be taxable as capital gains and partly because they are obstinate curmudgeons.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 03:22:51 am
content: Why doesn't EEVblog have a"Vendors"section like DIYAudio forums?Instead, we read here about these stores closing down, at the funeral.Sad to hear of All Electronics closing down, but it was too expensive to ship to Canada and who is doing electronics in CA anyway, it's all out of Asia nowadays?When they have a sale or new goodies, it would be nice to see it posted in that marketplace.Not sure how to deal with the usual offenders that would post hourly lol like the chinese vendors or the barrage of scammers.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 03:41:13 am
content: Quote from: floobydust on August 31, 2023, 03:22:51 amI have to wonder if at least part of their issue might have been sourcing stuff, since their typical surplus sources were manufacturing leftovers, pulls and stuff. I've noticed the same issue with surplus equipment dealers--their sources have dried up, not their customers.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 04:46:48 am
content: What I see is surplus parts from decades ago for sale, they seem to not sell. Now they are ripe and have turned into "vintage" or "antique" status.But Asia has an entire ecosystem to not waste any parts. Including my Aliexpress SOT-23 parts that appear to have nothing inside lol. Oops forgot the die. Any junk parts get used up.North American surplus has either dried up or it's just too hard to manage. People don't know the old parts, their value, their use. Or little is actually bought/made component-wise.I thought All Electronics and Chaney Electronics were related? Now it'sElectronic GoldmineTheir kits are silly expensive. You can make kits for those surplus parts too, that's what used to drive it.

author: nigelwright7557
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 08:39:23 am
content: Its always sad to see another high street electronics vendor go under.I used to have a Maplin just down the road.Great if I needed a component in a hurry.Sadly their prices were very high and so I tended to buy from RS, Mouser, CPC, Farnell or Digikey.In their early days Maplin did a great mobile disco kit with amplifier, record decks mixer lights etc etc.

author: mendip_discovery
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 05:54:39 pm
content: Quote from: nigelwright7557 on August 31, 2023, 08:39:23 amSadly Maplins died not because of sales but because of the modern legal equivalent of asset stripping. They made 50% on stuff they sold and they were still busy but as they had been bought by investment groups that then took out a loan to pay themselves back for the amount they bought the company for, eventually after a few extra passes on pass-the-parcel it was left with a large debt that it could no longer pay back. Meanwhile the brand, website etc get sold to other companies so that it can be used again. Same happened to Toys' r Us.When I win the lottery I might start a shop/scrap yard for old gear. Stack and stacks of kit with the good old smell of burnt caps and the dreaded Rifa caps. I will hire some of wizard-looking types that will talk for hours about solving the problem that you don't need to worry about.

author: floobydust
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 07:16:04 pm
content: Yes, it's a common happening for financial weasels to run a brick and mortar chain into the ground.Dick Smith, Maplin, Radio Shack - get control of the company, absolutely max out borrowing, blow cash on suspicious things, company can no longer service the massive debt, declare bankruptcy. Profit for all in the know.Publicly-traded retailers have hedge funds playing similar games to profit from taking them down. Manipulate their stock with bad press releases etc.It's a tragedy because these companies took many years to build up.Here we have a very high commercial real estate vacancy rate, so the commercial real estate megacorps need to keep up their cashflow and satisfy investors, so... using their greed algo they are doubling rent.It's 'stupid inflation' but small businesses are weakened after the pandemic and are just closing down instead of moving or trying to find a new lease reasonably priced.I can see a wasteland of commercial vacancies right now, every complex has listings - and nobody is sounding the alarm bell or lowering rent.

author: BILLPOD
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: August 31, 2023, 07:52:05 pm
content: Before the internet I used to get catalogs from All Electronics and several others who's name escape me now, but the one I miss most is the one referred to as 'Crap Shack'. I was at our local store at least once a week and always came home with an arm load of components, some of which I still have in their original packaging with price stickers. The next thing I knew their wall of components was replaced with cell phone accessories,and before long it was closed for good. Ah, the good old days.

author: Martian Tech
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2023, 03:08:55 am
content: Quote from: bdunham7 on August 31, 2023, 03:12:23 amIn the LA area, there's stillhttps://apexsurplus.com/shopand in Silicon Valley there'shttps://anchor-electronics.com/

author: nigelwright7557
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2023, 07:08:34 am
content: Quote from: mendip_discovery on August 31, 2023, 05:54:39 pmMy local Maplin was mostly dead when I went in. I cant speak for other branches.Four staff on, lights blazing and just me browsing.I fell out with them once, I over heard a staff member saying about me that I come in quite often but never buy anything.In fact, I spent thousands at Maplin over the years. The fact they often didnt have what I wanted in stock didnt help matters or were just too expensive.A hundred resistors at Maplin were £17 and £3 at RS.How to piss off customers !Yes, they sold on the name and the high prices too !

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 01, 2023, 08:11:02 am
content: Quoteonly in there later years,when they were mail order,and even with a handfull of shops they were always comparable to the other consumer suppliers.QuoteWhen maplins kicked off joe public wasnt welcome at RS, i seem to remember there was a separate company under the RS umbrella that was aimed at the hobbyist

author: luudee
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 07:14:40 am
content: Why is this a big surprise???They cannot compete with online retailers like Mouser and Digikey, who, unlike Avnet, Farnel, etc, allow the small guy to buy items in small quantities.I bet we will see this in many more areas besides electronics. I think groceries are next ...luudee

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 12:57:11 pm
content: Quotecome to the uk and you can already see it,the town i live in has 6 supermarkets around the outskirts ,we dont have a butchers , bakers,greengrocers or fish monger any more so supermarket is the only option,the once thriving town centre is a wasteland of charity shops nail bars ,vape centres or boarded up stores and the heaving market twice a week now consists of 3 or 4 stalls.

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 01:25:39 pm
content: Quote from: themadhippy on September 02, 2023, 12:57:11 pmHigh taxes, rents and car parking charges have made this inevitable. It's being going on for over 25 years now.I've heard California has effectively decriminalised low value shoplifting, which is partly responsible for the decline in retail.

author: themadhippy
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 07:02:04 pm
content: QuoteThats certainly aided the decline ,and it almost appears a catch 22 situation,income from town centre goes down so council increases parking charges and rates to try and maintain there previous income levels.Also it dosnt help when the supermarket eases the path through planning by bundling a much needed school/relief road/community centre that the council cant afford ,into the plans.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 07:19:59 pm
content: Quote from: themadhippy on September 02, 2023, 12:57:11 pmPardon my ignorance as I don't get to the UK often enough--but I thought by now that all shops are Tesco?

author: dobsonr741
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 07:31:30 pm
content: QuoteSomething is different in Stockholm. Plenty of small shops still doing great.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 08:56:31 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on September 02, 2023, 01:25:39 pmThe shoplifting is a definite issue in CA andother Statesthat adopted this "forgiving" approach. Anything under (around) $950 is a civil offense like a parking ticket. Police would not even come when you call them for such crime occurring in your store. Adding to the "leakage", it attracts the wrong kinds. They just camp out by the store, go in to grab what they need, and go back out to their tents. No too many real paying shoppers want to walk around homeless tents so as to get into a store to do proper shopping.CNN was make a news story about that:"CNN witnesses 3 alleged thefts in 30 minutes while reporting on shoplifting"Not just small businesses, even high-end chains are closing:"...The Westfield San Francisco Centre, previously a downtown San Francisco shopping mecca that once housed over70 top-tier retail brands, is pulling the plug and turning the keys back over to its lenders after defaulting on its $558 million loan..."https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2023/06/14/westfield-mall-joins-the-mass-retail-exodus-out-of-san-francisco/I have relatives in CA. I was told Oakland is worst! Even Santa Barbara (where rich and famous live, folks like Harry and Megan in Montecito which is an area within Santa Barbara), Palm Springs (retirement place of choice for many Hollywood stars), and other cities are having problems and increasing in magnitude and frequency.With or without on-line commerce, I can't imagine how an Electronics store stay open in such "forgiving" environment. A tiny package can easily worth over $100 or even $900. A shoplifter can walk out the store with his/her pockets hardly full or heavy, and the store is out almost a thousand dollars...

author: Zero999
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 09:18:25 pm
content: Quote from: bdunham7 on September 02, 2023, 07:19:59 pmFar from it. Tesco might be the most popular supermarket, but most shops are run by other companies. The nearest shop to me is Sainsbury's and my parents' nearest shop is a co-op.Quote from: Rick Law on September 02, 2023, 08:56:31 pmWhat's the reasoning behind such an absurd idea? Is police funding an issue? I would have thought all the shops closing would result in less tax revenue for public services such as the police.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 10:19:42 pm
content: Quote from: Zero999 on September 02, 2023, 09:18:25 pmDismantling the carceral state, of course!

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 02, 2023, 10:37:23 pm
content: Quote from: dobsonr741 on September 02, 2023, 07:31:30 pmFrom what I've seen this varies from country to country. In France and Italy you can find lots of small stores. I think it mainly depends on what people are willing to pay, how much shop owners need to pay for rent and whether shops can keep people coming in.I buy most stuff online because local shops typically don't have what I want to buy. And if they have, it is way more expensive compared to buying something online. The only two shops I visit in the city center are the icecream shop and a shop that has all kinds of DIY stuff (but they close due to the owners retiring). The rest of the shops in the city center is just clothes and shoes which I buy online because the choice in the shops in minimal.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 03, 2023, 02:46:11 am
content: Quote from: Zero999 on September 02, 2023, 09:18:25 pmLaws are made by politicians and politicians are typically not elected base on their ability to reason. Deeper discussion on that would not be appropriate in this forum.

author: MarginallyStable
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 04:26:15 pm
content: QuoteWealth re-distribution, equity, bla bla bla.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 04:36:34 pm
content: Quote from: themadhippy on September 02, 2023, 07:02:04 pmCar parking is contentious. Free car parking is generally a bad thing to have because everyone who could commute by bike/walking/bus/etc has no incentive to do so. What might work better is some 'parking validation' system where the first two hours of parking are discounted/free if you shop there, and thereafter you pay the normal rate. Car parks aren't free to build or maintain either, a typical cost is around £10,000 per car parking space (including manoeuvring room, you typically need 15m^2 per car) and a typical surface level car park has about a 15-20 year lifespan. So either it is subsidised by all council rate payers or you pay a fee to park.A bigger issue is that rent for a lot of these city centre units is unreasonably high and cannot be lowered usually because mortgages on these properties define a rent that must be charged. This leads to unlet units, which then leads to less people visiting the town centre, which leads to more decline... And I can tell you, I live in a town where it is free to park in the centre: the town centre is still pretty run down despite the car parks being bustling. It might help a little bit, but without places people want to actually visit, it's limited.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 06:47:38 pm
content: Quote from: tom66 on September 05, 2023, 04:36:34 pmYou are wrong about that for two reasons.1) For some types of shops that sell big items, you'll need free parking. There is a shopping mall in the city I live in. Until about a decade ago, parking was free and shops where doing OK. When paid parking was introduced 90% of the shops closed due to people staying away. I used to go there regulary with my wife and we would have lunch there as well. But not since the city introduced paid parking. Nowadays some of the shoppingspace is filled with low budget shops but the mall never recovered.2) People like their comforts so forget about trying to make people come by car. Today I read an interesting article in the paper about sharing cars. The authors compared sharing cars with not having a bathroom in your own home and wash yourself from the sink with cold water and going to a central bath house once a week. Would you want to go back to such a system? Just as sharing a car, going to a central bath house would save a lot of resources. Try to get people to give up their own bathrooms first before trying to get people to give up their cars...If you want to make people go to shops by bike or on foot, get the shops closer to the people.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 05, 2023, 09:42:20 pm
content: People didn't stop going to the malls because of paid parking:https://www.retailcouncil.org/province/national/how-mall-foot-traffic-shifted-post-pandemic-and-what-it-means-for-long-term-success/and no all electronics didn't close due to shoplifting lolAssessed value of the property is $2.3 mil, current property tax is $30k, which seems high (~50% higher than a local electronics store here in Vancouver). But wouldn't expect it to be an issue for a viable business? Don't know what the lease rate is.https://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Property/15915807/14928-Oxnard-St-Van-Nuys-CA-91411/

author: rsjsouza
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 06, 2023, 12:15:21 pm
content: Online orders are still open. I just received a package from them. Quite interesting prices at the moment and I took the opportunity to restock some of the more obscure items.It is their swan song.

author: dobsonr741
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 10, 2023, 05:24:31 am
content: The final day to place an online or phone order is Tuesday, September 12th (5PM PDT), says the front page now.

author: RJSV
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 24, 2023, 01:07:58 am
content: Reminds me of older store; Quinntronics, 1978, parts store run by Mike Quinn, in Berkeley, California.Building was a little more old, there in the west side industrial area, and Mr. Quinn would, personally, tease and 'insult' the customer, (playfully). He would often use a saying like:'Latvians and Lesbians Welcome, step up to counter, please.'It was one of the better places to obtain unusual 7400 series IC's and other items then.

author: chmedly
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: November 27, 2023, 11:01:46 pm
content: Didn't All Electronics have two locations at one point?I used to order several times a year from them. I even had an intercom project I wanted to do and started an order (apparently) just before they announced the closing but never completed it. I really wish I would have gotten an email about the shutdown! They had several unique unobtanium kind of items I would have stocked up on.

author: T3sl4co1l
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2024, 03:13:34 am
content: The phoenix rises:https://aretronics.com/I suppose that means they'll be a fraction of their former selves, both in terms of catalog size and number of employees; effectively a downsizing occurred, I suppose. Maybe "downsizing" is putting it lightly; "storefront" looks to be just some guy's house!Tim

author: Smokey
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2024, 03:17:55 am
content: Their business contact info address is a house in a residential cul-de-sac.

author: bdunham7
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 05, 2024, 03:35:36 am
content: Quote from: Smokey on January 05, 2024, 03:17:55 amI would have left that address off if I was setting up their website. People start showing up, neighbors complain and call the zoning department, no bueno.But I'm not shocked that they would go for the lowest cost footprint and just use one their houses as the office. The rest of that business could be run out of a couple of large self-storage lockers or a more remote, non-retail commercial building.Here's the original building listed--I don't think you'd want to try to restart that business with a $5M property.https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/14928-Oxnard-St-Van-Nuys-CA/29489606/

author: ogdento
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2024, 04:29:28 am
content: oh man I've been under a rock... I just tried to log in to check my order history, didn't realize they'd shut! bummer, I loved looking through their catalogs and probably placed my first order 35-40 years ago.

author: DiodeDipShit
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: March 21, 2024, 05:50:08 am
content: Quote from: ogdento on March 21, 2024, 04:29:28 amNo Surprise. The middle man with the better idea, sold us out. Most everything seems to be all off shore now.In the North East, Back in the day, I could get anything from Cramer Electronics or most common components from Radio Shack.Cramers history:http://books.google.com/books?id=GU-_LnIOwWUC&pg=PA31And theBeatgoes on............

author: catcat
author_rank: Newbie
timestamp: March 21, 2024, 06:14:16 am
content: Sorry to hear that. Everything hopes for the best!

author: charliex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2024, 04:01:49 am
content: anyone ordered from aretronics yet? curious to see if they still do surplus?as a local to all electronics it is interesting reading what people say about it. northridge fix is a stones throw away from me too and they're doing gangbusters, alex upgraded his small repair front location to a larger office warehouse style place and bought a new house behind us. he's mostly just reselling chinese stuff for a markup but all electronics kinda tried it too.the all electronics van nuys location was kinda stagnant and prices were pretty high, it became more and more the place to get stuff in an emergency, or wierd surplus. there are still other places like AE around here, (not electronics surplus as such but others) the old DTLA location closed years ago too. they didn't really change a lot.i co ran a big hackerspace in los angeles for years, as well as still running a yearly hacker conference here, so we would often pick up stuff there but it'd be mostly whatever was wierd or came in on surplus that was interesting for hebocons, we've bought a lot of electronics gear over the years but all never really had stuff we'd really use, occasionally i'd pop into pick up flux cleaner and iso and see if they had much new.its a shame its gone, but the store just seemed to be stuck in time

author: Sal Ammoniac
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2024, 06:32:10 pm
content: Quote from: EEVblog on August 30, 2023, 02:11:59 amThese days Silicon Valley is a wasteland as far as retail electronics and surplus stores go.At one time the Bay Area had six Fry's Electronics stores, Microcenter, Halted Specialties, R&D Electronics, several Computer Literacy bookshops, Digital Guru, Ham Radio outlet, Weird Stuff Warehouse, Anchor Electronics, and a few others. All of these, with the exception of Anchor Electronics, are gone.

author: Rick Law
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 18, 2024, 08:28:13 pm
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on May 18, 2024, 06:32:10 pmNot just Silicon Valley or LA or San Fran, in NJ also.There was a "Green Brook Electronics" in Green Brook, NJ. That is about 30-40 miles south-west of NYC, or less than 10 miles north-west of Edison or New Brunswick NJ.They used to have a small but adequate selection of electronics. When I have random small items with time sensitive needs, I would take a drive to get it from them. From small electronic items (comparable to Radio Shack but with larger selection) and electrical items like HVAC motor capacitor... Even odd items like "washer set" for de-soldering pump that revived my (circa 1973) de-soldering pump (surprise to see it on display while I was there for something else).I stopped by a little over a month ago. The retail part of the store front is closed. Looking from outside the locked front entrance, the retail space looks like it is being use for storage (of stuff needing/being repaired). Even if they were unlocked, the storage shelves would have blocked access.I think electronics stores went the way of Radio Shack -- where the dinosaurs were. They are missed.

author: charliex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 20, 2024, 08:43:14 pm
content: i really miss (or at least did before mass internets) the computer literacy bookstore, when i visited from the UK for the first time i was blown away , also wierd stuff was great too.we still have places a bit like wierd stuff in LA, but not quite. i often wonder how much the prop industry keeps them up, they're pretty much all in the same areas ( but that's also because it's a cheap warehouse space)i needed some solder paste this morning since i forgot to order early enough for SMT supplies to send me a fresh batch and all mine are a tad out of date. i can walk from my house to a place that carries it, so there are still places around ( coincidence it is so close), but i can also overnight it from amazon and get it around 4AM and take the risk on the date code, hard to beat that. I went out and picked up 5 gallons of vasco 7000 this morning as well, its nice to live next to an industrial area. took me a week + high shipping costs to get 5 gallons of cimcool last time via the internets and i'm waiting on a mouser order that had batteries so it shipped ground, got delayed at the depot so its been a week to get it. we ordered reels of leds from aliexpress at the same time and they got here faster than mouser. its such a mixed bag lately.

author: nctnico
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 20, 2024, 10:35:39 pm
content: Quote from: Sal Ammoniac on May 18, 2024, 06:32:10 pmOnline simply offers a better selection. Last month I visited an electronics shop in Taipei called 'Jin Hua' which seemed to be the last one of its kind over there. They have a lot of stuff (including 0402 sized resistors and capacitors) and a reasonable selection of test equipment as well. But realistically most of the parts they sold can also be bought from Aliexpress for 60% less if you can wait.

author: charliex
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2024, 01:43:11 am
content: yeah even akihabara isn't what it was.

author: Sal Ammoniac
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 22, 2024, 04:02:46 pm
content: Quote from: nctnico on May 20, 2024, 10:35:39 pmRight, but it was a lot of fun to spend a Saturday visiting these stores with my son browsing the aisles, especially the surplus places, which always had a different mix of stuff. I miss that.Every generation seems to have similar experiences. In my dad's day, it was Radio Row in NYC on Cortlandt Street with all of its radio and electronics stores, now all gone.