Queen West loses its learned gorilla
September 3, 2015 2:24 AM Subscribe
Active Surplus Electronics — purveyors of much surplus electronics, weird stuff, user of really quite sarcastic labels, home of Professor Banana, and Queen W fixture/oddity — is moving away at the end of the month.
There are still surplus electronics stores in existence on the planet? Now I'll need to get a passport to visit the remaining one.
posted by MikeWarot at 3:48 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by MikeWarot at 3:48 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
They helped me scrounge my way through an engineering degree.
posted by Poldo at 5:08 AM on September 3, 2015
posted by Poldo at 5:08 AM on September 3, 2015
THEY'RE RELOCATING, PEOPLE
IT'S NOT LIKE ZELLERS CLOSING DOWN
PROFESSOR BANANA WILL HAVE MORE
THINGS FOR YOU TO SPEND MONEY ON
and who knows, maybe he can hire
Zeddy to help open up the new place
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:15 AM on September 3, 2015 [4 favorites]
IT'S NOT LIKE ZELLERS CLOSING DOWN
PROFESSOR BANANA WILL HAVE MORE
THINGS FOR YOU TO SPEND MONEY ON
and who knows, maybe he can hire
Zeddy to help open up the new place
posted by Smart Dalek at 5:15 AM on September 3, 2015 [4 favorites]
This is terrible, terrible news. Now where can I go when I need a low-voltage bridge rectifier for a bicycle hub generator? Certainly not somewhere a short bike ride away. And will this same place also have a bucket of assorted dental drill bits for 50¢ each? How about a crazy huge lens taken from some mystery projector with mounting hardware that looks like it was designed to survive nuclear war? ATM keypads? 20A, mains voltage metal toggle switches for a dollar each that make turning on your lights a retro-futuristic delight with each satisfying "thunk"? What about jugs of d-limonene or welding gloves or random hardware like standoffs sold by weight? Tone generators? As-is Tektronics terminals? Ok, that last one would be difficult to take home on my bike or the 501 streetcar. Still, where will I go for random scraps of blank PCB? All the way up to Steeles? No thanks. The internet is closer.
I guess if I'm not working too late today, I'll need to make my way down there and take advantage of this sale before their capacitor selection is devastated. Please don't move too far away, Professor Banana!
posted by [expletive deleted] at 5:21 AM on September 3, 2015 [4 favorites]
I guess if I'm not working too late today, I'll need to make my way down there and take advantage of this sale before their capacitor selection is devastated. Please don't move too far away, Professor Banana!
posted by [expletive deleted] at 5:21 AM on September 3, 2015 [4 favorites]
This place looks like it is very, very much like our beloved Ax-Man, which had better stay right the fuck where it is.
posted by louche mustachio at 5:23 AM on September 3, 2015 [4 favorites]
posted by louche mustachio at 5:23 AM on September 3, 2015 [4 favorites]
Just looking to the left from my desk, I can see in its storage box a bright orange shopping bag from my last visit to Active Surplus 5 years ago. I think this means mostly that I should clean up my room, but also that AS is awesome and I visited it every time I was in Toronto.
Whoa, i opened the box to see what was in that bag, and the first thing I saw was a big roller bearing that I bought at Active Surplus more like 20 years ago, when I was into making industrial-strength kaleidoscopes.
posted by moonmilk at 5:30 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Whoa, i opened the box to see what was in that bag, and the first thing I saw was a big roller bearing that I bought at Active Surplus more like 20 years ago, when I was into making industrial-strength kaleidoscopes.
posted by moonmilk at 5:30 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
There are still surplus electronics stores in existence on the planet?
Chicago has two American Science and Surplus stores. Just as wacky and diverse a selection, and they even have the awesome signs.
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:35 AM on September 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
Chicago has two American Science and Surplus stores. Just as wacky and diverse a selection, and they even have the awesome signs.
posted by JoeZydeco at 5:35 AM on September 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is a shame. I hope they find another location that's similarly accessible. If you're the kind of person who needs to buy the odd resistor, potentiometer, diode, etc, try the basement of the Home Hardware at College and Spadina. There's also a little shop called Creatron at the corner of Augusta and College.
posted by Evstar at 5:57 AM on September 3, 2015
posted by Evstar at 5:57 AM on September 3, 2015
Chicago has two American Science and Surplus stores. Just as wacky and diverse a selection, and they even have the awesome signs.
The big difference is that Professor Banana was standing right in the liver of Downtown Toronto and had been a fixture all the way back before the corporatization of that part of Queen Street. In the early eighties Queen Street West was everything people nowadays dream about when they think about authenticity and sigh at the impossibility of it.
It'd be like if American Science Surplus was in the loop rather than halfway to O'Hare.
I'm pretty surprised they were still there. Everything else from that era around there is pretty much long gone.
posted by srboisvert at 6:13 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
The big difference is that Professor Banana was standing right in the liver of Downtown Toronto and had been a fixture all the way back before the corporatization of that part of Queen Street. In the early eighties Queen Street West was everything people nowadays dream about when they think about authenticity and sigh at the impossibility of it.
It'd be like if American Science Surplus was in the loop rather than halfway to O'Hare.
I'm pretty surprised they were still there. Everything else from that era around there is pretty much long gone.
posted by srboisvert at 6:13 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Damn. My record shop is across the street from there in Black Market and it seems every day or two someone comes in because they can't find Professor Banana and therefore can't find Active Surplus. I tell them it's still there and they say they've walked up and down and can't find it.
It's amazing how iconic that gorilla is.
"It's still there!"
"No, it's not.'
"It's there!"
Alas, no more.
.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 6:23 AM on September 3, 2015 [4 favorites]
It's amazing how iconic that gorilla is.
"It's still there!"
"No, it's not.'
"It's there!"
Alas, no more.
.
posted by You Should See the Other Guy at 6:23 AM on September 3, 2015 [4 favorites]
Chicago has two American Science and Surplus stores. Just as wacky and diverse a selection, and they even have the awesome signs.
They also have a store in Milwaukee (69th & Oklahoma). I don't even know how describe the selection at AS&S. Eclectic?
posted by MikeMc at 6:36 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
They also have a store in Milwaukee (69th & Oklahoma). I don't even know how describe the selection at AS&S. Eclectic?
posted by MikeMc at 6:36 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
I've been to AS&S, and Active Surplus is similarly eclectic. There does seem to be crossover between surplus stock in North America (for a while, AS in Toronto, AS&S in Chicago and Gateway Surplus in St Louis were all drowning in those Sankyo music box mechanisms).
There's much less military surplus in Active Surplus, because well, Canada tends to use its military gear until it falls apart. But Active Surplus has had deeply odd stuff, like all the ceramic balloon moulds they got from the Alton Mills factory. They had them for years, but may finally have sold out.
They still had plenty CueCats, though ...
posted by scruss at 7:25 AM on September 3, 2015 [3 favorites]
There's much less military surplus in Active Surplus, because well, Canada tends to use its military gear until it falls apart. But Active Surplus has had deeply odd stuff, like all the ceramic balloon moulds they got from the Alton Mills factory. They had them for years, but may finally have sold out.
They still had plenty CueCats, though ...
posted by scruss at 7:25 AM on September 3, 2015 [3 favorites]
The kicker is going to be what replaces it. One of my favorite live music bars in Vancouver is now a sushi shop. Just wrong.
posted by mantecol at 8:15 AM on September 3, 2015
posted by mantecol at 8:15 AM on September 3, 2015
sad
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:18 AM on September 3, 2015
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:18 AM on September 3, 2015
Given what that stretch of Queen has become, my guess is it will be extensively renovated and replaced by a Joey or Earl's with a rooftop patio. Either that or an overpriced yoga studio that folds after 6 months.
I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop, which will probably be news that the block that Atlas Tool and Kops Records is on will be redeveloped into condos marketed as investments with a Structube, Urban Behavior and Starbucks at street level.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 8:40 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
I'm just waiting for the other shoe to drop, which will probably be news that the block that Atlas Tool and Kops Records is on will be redeveloped into condos marketed as investments with a Structube, Urban Behavior and Starbucks at street level.
posted by [expletive deleted] at 8:40 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
That is some weak sauce bullshit, my friends.
It's so gross how things that are actually cool and amazing are being replaced by "urban hip cool" bullshit, filling the spaces they once occupied with worthless shiny toys for the soulless.
posted by louche mustachio at 10:04 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
It's so gross how things that are actually cool and amazing are being replaced by "urban hip cool" bullshit, filling the spaces they once occupied with worthless shiny toys for the soulless.
posted by louche mustachio at 10:04 AM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Another place that may be similar is Delaney's Surplus.
IIRC, it was heavier on military surplus and creepy clown paintings. We also got a Melvins CD and an Oxbow CD for a dollar each from one of their bins.
It is also right next to the Forevertron, so that whole area is just unstoppably magical.
posted by louche mustachio at 10:14 AM on September 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
IIRC, it was heavier on military surplus and creepy clown paintings. We also got a Melvins CD and an Oxbow CD for a dollar each from one of their bins.
It is also right next to the Forevertron, so that whole area is just unstoppably magical.
posted by louche mustachio at 10:14 AM on September 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
I want to clutch my (possibly metaphorical) pearls and keen disconsolately over the loss…but I have to admit that I'm surprised it's lasted this long. I was back in T.O. a few weeks ago and was well and truly gobsmacked that New York Subs (with the jumbo satay burritos) was still on Queen Street West.
posted by LMGM at 2:09 PM on September 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
posted by LMGM at 2:09 PM on September 3, 2015 [2 favorites]
This is the worst.
posted by captaincrouton at 2:59 PM on September 3, 2015
posted by captaincrouton at 2:59 PM on September 3, 2015
This is bumming me out.
Silver lining is, now I'll have absolutely no reason to venture into the blasted sterile wasteland that is Queen West.
posted by rodlymight at 6:44 PM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Silver lining is, now I'll have absolutely no reason to venture into the blasted sterile wasteland that is Queen West.
posted by rodlymight at 6:44 PM on September 3, 2015 [1 favorite]
Happy to report that here in the Los Angeles sprawl, Apex Electronics and Norton Sales are still going strong.
posted by quartzcity at 11:37 PM on September 3, 2015
posted by quartzcity at 11:37 PM on September 3, 2015
→ THEY'RE RELOCATING, PEOPLE …
Maybe not. Heard a rumour today that the whole company is being shut down, all staff laid off, all assets sold.
Damn.
posted by scruss at 7:06 PM on September 16, 2015
Maybe not. Heard a rumour today that the whole company is being shut down, all staff laid off, all assets sold.
Damn.
posted by scruss at 7:06 PM on September 16, 2015
To our Friends and Valued Customers.
9/18/2015
The last two weeks have been a flurry of activity. You've shown us overwhelming support online and in person. Thanks to our sale, we've seen the backs of shelves that have been covered for years. Unfortunately, there have been some setbacks. We have been unable to find a suitable space in a timeline that we can accommodate. After many long discussions with our accountant, we've decided to go into a period of hibernation.
Effective immediately, 5601 Steeles Avenue West will be closed, and all staff and sales will be at 347 Queen St W. We are working to, at least temporarily, stay open through part of October. We will start further discounting goods to clean off the shelves.
When this has concluded, Active Surplus will be closed for an indefinite time as we consolidate our remaining assets and figure out what our next step is.
We understand that this is sad news, and we assure you we're working hard to find a solution, as well as placements for all of our staff during the period we are closed. We are also talking to several of our friends in the industry to take on some of our product lines, so there will still be a place to get some, if not all, of the things you love.
If you have any messages for us, or want to share any memories about the store, please use the comment section below.
Thank you,
The Staff of Active Surplus
Your Friends.
posted by scruss at 1:15 PM on September 18, 2015
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posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 2:29 AM on September 3, 2015 [3 favorites]