Active Surplus is one of the oldest stores still in business in my neighbourhood, the increasingly swanky-boutique-y Queen Street West. It’s an Accordion City institution. It’s a William Gibsonesque
junk shop, selling overstock electronics, components cannibalized from
junked machines, obsolete gear and excess stuff that would otherwise be
gathering dust in a warehouse. It’s a haven for techies
looking for cheap gear to soup up their computers or give their old
gear a new lease on life, nostalgic gamers looking for old Atari and Colecovision
cartidges, hardware hackers who need switches, LEDs and solder, robot
olympics competitors looking for parts, art students who need magnets,
hipsters who like serving cocktails in test tubes and Erlenmeyer flasks, riceboxers and DJs looking for audio gear and bargain hunters looking for a cheap phone, power strip or television set.
I took The Redhead here and she loved the place.
The store has moved to a temporary location next door as renovations
take place. We’re talking serious renovations. How serious? Check out this photo album.
Active Surplus on Queen Street West. Click on the photo to see the album.
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I did love it! Can we go back?? :)
temporary location?
can you imagine moving that place?
that'd be crazy.
it's looked the same as long as I can remember.. and I remember going there with my step-father's friends as a child .. and eating at Barney's... I ate at Barney's last time I was in Accordion City, it was run by a middle aged chinese couple now -- I think they must've bought it from Barney.
So the floor won't creak by looking at it funny anymore? That was the best part...
Do they really sell erlenmeyers??!?!!
(I figure, if I ask this too eagerly, people are only going to be surprised that I don't already OWN erlenmeyers for daily use)