Any craftsman that has spent any time in on the east side of the San Francisco bay knows about Mike Quinn Electronics. A great surplus store with tons of electronics, wire, fasteners and parts.
I stopped by yesterday and found that it closed for good last weekend.
The store has been an east bay fixture for 60 years. Mike Quinn died back in the 80's, but a small group of dedicated employees have kept it going up until now.
It will be sorely missed.
Sad, but not a surprise. I went by there a couple times after the move from the airport to the storefront. It was a pretty small place, and just didn't seem to have the incredible variety of neat and wierd stuff that there was in the old, airport location.
Haltek and wierd stuff warehouse also closed up. Halted (or do I have these switched?) is the only one left.
It is amazing that St. Louis may now have a better surplus electronics situation than the entire Silicon Valley! (Glad I live in St. Louis!)
Jon
I will miss Mike Quinn's outfit for sure. Those guys would *trade* as well as sell stuff. That's what I get for not showing up more often.
BTW, I returned from Weirdstuff having bought more "garage filler" yesterday (Saturday 10/18) and they were busy. Great folks!
--Winston
"Garage filler" is a great way of putting it...
i
Make that Saturday 2/18.
--Winston
Thought you might like that. (BG)
--Winston
different, mostly hopelessly obsolete home PC stuff, although I haven't been there in quite a few years. (I live 2000 miles east of the Bay area, so have to catch it when I am there.)
One newer place is Excess Solutions, that has a vast array of overstock bits and pieces.
Jon
I remember Mike Quinn's I used to go there all the time when I lived in the BA (from early seventies to 1991). My other favorites were Bonanza Surplus in Oakland, Electronics Etc. in Berkeley and Al Lasher's in Berkeley (I lived in Berkeley). There were other places around but those were the main ones I remember.
Anyone know if Electronics Etc still around? It was a very good overstock store. I could go in there looking for just about any obscure chip or part and they would ask me how many I wanted... 1 or 100 or more. As a kid in high school (BHS) it was a great resource... one could get really good quality professional parts and hardware for cheap. Not like Radio Shack crap.
-DU-...etc...
Electronics Etc closed down about 11-12 years ago. Another big loss as it was the best organised and best stock for building prototypes. I think Chuck, the owner, still reads rec.crafts.metals and posts every once in a while.
Al Lasher's might still be around, I don't know. It went downhill mightily over the last 10 years and I stopped paying attention to it.
Bonanza is long gone. Boyd's, a great little place in the worst part of West Oakland, closed after Al Boyd died a few years ago.
I'm starting to feel lucky here in Sacramento. We have Ali's Surplus Stuff, run by a great guy. I trade with him regularly. There's a good All Electronics branch, and Sunshine Steel for scrap metal.
Anyone know if AAA Machinery is still in business?
Hey Jon,
Got a URL?
--Winston
Weirdstuff is some place.
I got my E-size and 5si printers there.
Martin Eastburn @ home at Lions' Lair with our computer lionslair at consolidated dot net NRA LOH & Endowment Member NRA Second Amendment Task Force Charter Founder
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