San Diego Electronic Supply has gone the way of the Dodo . For the last year I have spent some quality time there picking through bins of carbon comp resistors, PEC Pots, random caps and all manner of cool and sometimes even useful stuff for my projects. A messy disheveled and wonderful place. So I popped over to find some resistors and a locking pot that I was pretty sure they would have and .... it had vanished without a trace, the storefront converted to offices and no sign indicating a move.
There are some industrial surplus places in SD but none like this. AFIAK there isn't any store left in town has a serious selection of electronic components new or surplus - and no Radio Shack and Fry's do not count.
So what's my point? No point. And BTW, get the &#& off my lawn!
OH NO!!! i was just at my local small business Electronic Component store picking up an enclosure, heat shrink, and a organizer box. i try to spend as much monies there as i am able to... their HV stuff is pretty limited, but they do sell switch-craft jacks for a reasonable price. the only other alternative here in Sac is Fry's electronics, and all they carry is NTE brand components at a substantial markup.
sorry to hear you are losing your source, i am hoping the day never comes that Metro Electronics closes their doors
Yeah, I've ordered a lot of stuff from Steve. And I haven't been that big on carbon comps anyway, but it the process was so satisfying. Rummaging through bins, sticking all my finds in a box and bringing it to the front counter where the owner would eyeball the lot and name a price having nothing to do with (and much lower than) the shelf tags.
I called Manny the other day and got the "We are no longer in Business message" - man was I bummed. He left a phone number you can call for repairs etc. You might give him a call and see where all the parts went. There are a couple places they could show up in El Cajon if he was able/had time to sell his stock.
I will miss that place - I have been dealing with him for years - I have run into the most incredible electronic addicts there. Joe Walsh used to frequent the previous location but I never ran into him in the final location.
Willy's (above link) doesn't have bins of resistors and caps. If you want to buy Neutrik plugs and jacks, Bob's your uncle, but not the 68pF/300V cap I wanted.
Across the street? General neighborhood, unless they've moved recently.
Last edited by jaysg on Thu Jun 26, 2014 6:59 pm, edited 2 times in total.
That's a bummer. The internet is impacting businesses like this all over the country. The homogination of businesses is really distasteful for me. Everything is increasingly corporate owned and very little is local.
We have a local place like that in my town. It is still in business. Prices can be anything from "take it, it's yours" to looking up the price in Newark's catalog and charging their price for a device that is 30 yrs old and was desoldered and put in a bin.
My biggest frustration is all the 'good' tubes were pilfered long ago. I asked the owner about tubes and he tells me he has a semi-trailer full of tubes out back, but he has no time to move the inventory and he won't let me rummage because it's just too dangerous. So, the tubes sit there inaccesssible...
vibratoking wrote: I asked the owner about tubes and he tells me he has a semi-trailer full of tubes out back, but he has no time to move the inventory and he won't let me rummage because it's just too dangerous. So, the tubes sit there inaccesssible...
Up here in the Portland OR area there's Surplusgizmos.com as kind of the last outpost of electronic bin searching. There used to be Wacky Willies, which was an adventure and possible bodily injury from random unstably stacked piles.
I used to work for Critical Parts which specialized in obsolete ICs, but had a lot of resistors and caps. They went out of business, and I'd give a pretty penny to still have access to all that inventory. When I worked there, I hadn't started amp building. Per Joni Mitchell, "you don't know what you got 'till it's gone."
. For the last year I have spent some quality time there picking through bins of carbon comp resistors, PEC Pots, random caps and all manner of cool and sometimes even useful stuff for my projects. A messy disheveled and wonderful place. So I popped over to find some resistors and a locking pot that I was pretty sure they would have and .... it had vanished without a trace, the storefront converted to offices and no sign indicating a move.
at a substantial markup.
