SF Bay Area component store

Sounds like Halted, maybe. Hal and Ted are famous for being offered Apple stock in exchange for some parts, and turning the boys down.

Haltek (similar name, not the same) used to be great, but their real estate was too valuable during the dot.com peak, so they got booted.

And, of course, Fry's. And Alltronics. And Mike Quinn, in the east bay.

John

Hello Kam,

Ask an older ham radio operator or TV repair tech in the area. They would know. But just like TV repair facilities such stores have a habit of vanishing at a fast clip. Here in Sacramento we seem to be down to one store that deals mostly in surplus merchandise. IOW it's pretty much all Mouser and Digikey via mail order now. Even the little Radio Shack here in town is gone. It became, gasp, a cell phone store (went there yesterday to buy a belt holster for my phone).

When I was at a client back east and we needed some ferrite materials for an EMI battle I suggested I could pick up some at a parts store on Long Island because my hotel was close by. The engineer said we'd need a time machine to resurrect those golden days...

Hello John,

That can only happen in America. I love it!

The legendary surplus location would have been Wierd Stuff Warehouse.

Weird stuff has always been in Sunnyvale as far as I know. Haltek was in Mountain View, but has been out of business for years. Halted is still around (Santa Clara and a few other locations).

I think there was a Dick Smith Electronics on the Peninsula, but I've never been to it.

The legendary electronics store in the bay area was Mike Quinn Electronics near the Oakland airport. It was a total dump, but if you needed that Amiga keyboard, Mike had one. It moved to San Leandro, but I don't know if it is still in business.

A good store in the bay area to keep in mind is Excess Solutions. It was in San Jose on Brokaw, but now has moved back to Milpitas.

...

Is this the one on Folsom Blvd, close to the Howe/Power Inn exit on Hwy. 50?

Michael

Try HDB in Redwood City; if it was somewhere here in Portland OR, i could not say.

Mike Quinn is closed.

Hello Michael,

Let me know if there is another one. The store I went to is on 4837 Amber Lane. It is one of the Halted stores. A long drive from here but I needed a few logic chips right away and that sure beats the wait for Fedex overnight. But don't expect much in ESD protection...

Don't know which one you are talking about. The one nearest to me (Say Watt & US 50 area) is still a RS. Just the same i really miss Olson Electronics and Layfayette Radio stores of the '60's.

Hello Joseph,

Our RS further up 50 in Cameron Park became a, gasp, cell phone outlet. But even the next one that is still there at Hwy 50 & Missouri Flat has a limited supply of parts. Basically a little corner in the store. On a consulting trip we needed rather mundane RS232 jacks. It took a scenic tour to four RS store to scramble together seven of them.

However, I won't complain because now we also have Mouser and Digikey.

We have three RSs in the city. I've learned which one to go to when I want parts; they've split the stores into "people" stores (cell phones, radios, etc) and "parts" stores (the stuff they used to sell in every store).