I was in #Toronto visiting the kid this weekend. Stopped by an #electronics store I had heard about, called "Supremetronic”…

Really, it was a section in the basement of a Home Hardware, directly next to the paint counter.

What a strange little nook of availability that was. Hundreds of bins of discrete components, a few bins of ICs, and some essentials like ribbon cables, perf board, and connectors. A few kits, and some project boxes.

🤯

@sean Damn, wonder how much stuff for 3d printers they have?

@grmpyprogrammer I didn't see much of anything truly 3d-printer related, but if you ever needed a very specific resistor or capacitor, *TODAY*, I bet they have that.

I am a little biased because of it being here in #montreal , but the real gold standard of this kind of store (that I've ever seen, anyway) is Abra Electronics. They have probably 500x as much inventory, it's all just sitting there on the shelves, usually at a reasonable-for-in-stock price.

https://abra-electronics.com/

@sean 😍

@sean I could only dream of having such a well stocked electronics store! Just amazing

@sean
I ❤️ Abra! But it's so hard to get to.

@CleoQc Yep, and open the worst hours for casuals like me.

@sean I reckon U of T research labs & students are the core customer base!

Did you ever witness the chaotic glory of Active Surplus? 🐵 -"you never know what you'll find"

@anthill No; I've never been there, but I'm interested. "Surplus" stores have mostly become Amazon Returns, it seems, and that's sad. This looks fun.

@sean I'm pretty sure it is no more. Twas an improbable mix of machine parts, motors, LEDs and basic hardware. Survived on prime Queen St retail until mid 2010s

@anthill Ah yeah. So many stores like this are gone.

@sean

Thanks. Had them in my Canadian Vendors bookmark folder … where I had forgotten about them!

@sean That is totally someone's passion project.

@sean Valhalla!!!

@sean That's a genuine hidden gem and some place I gotta go if I'm ever in Toronto

@sean Wow. Like an old Radio Shack or even a Lafayette Electronics on crack.

@sean wish I'd known about that when I lived there!

@sean This is what shops aught to look like :)

@sean you visited the magic basement!! 💖

@sean
This is the last of the Queen & College St electronics store scene that was in its heyday during the 80s & 90s.

College & spadina plus Queen St east of spadina were packed with electronics stores like this, now all gone.

Its a little gem for the locals (which I used to be).

It is managing to hang in because of the nearby UofT student population.

Even the electronics tech college RCC that was at the corner of college & spadina has now left too.