Where to find local stores that sell resistors/caps/transistors/etc in GTA area?

This place is in Burlington but they sell audiophile quality stuff.

https://www.partsconnexion.com/

Sayal?

1. Near Sherway Gardens is A1Parts: LINK

My last visit was a few years ago, but it recalled Active Surplus in its 90s heyday. Dusty, everything in handwritten cardboard boxes, etc. I've bought a capacitor for my A/C and various battery adapters there. Their website shows they sell resistors and other small parts.

2. Of course, there's Sayal: LINK, but they're more expensive than A1parts and online stores like digikey.


Anyone remember the store on the north-west corner of Victoria Park and Gordon Baker Road? "Addronics" or something like that? Of course, it's gone now and there's a Sayal across the street now.

jm1 wrote: ↑ ..
Anyone remember the store on the north-west corner of Victoria Park and Gordon Baker Road? "Addronics" or something like that? Of course, it's gone now and there's a Sayal across the street now.

Electrosonic ?

I think they moved to markham

Basement of the Home Hardware on Queen St in downtown Toronto. You pick the parts out of bins, record them on piece of paper and bring upstairs to the HH cashier.

GTA is a big area. Can you narrow it down?

The Sayal on Matheson Boulevard in Mississauga has a small group of electronic stores there such as AA Electronics. Prices should be a bit cheaper if they have the parts you need

Knighter wrote: ↑I mean where we can find some local stores to pick up a few resistors/capacitors/transistors/etc just in need.

In addition to the places already mentioned, Creatron (on College, west of Spadina; there is another location at Birchmount and Sheppard) is good for this kind of thing. You pay for the convenience, though.

cba123 wrote: ↑Basement of the Home Hardware on Queen St in downtown Toronto. You pick the parts out of bins, record them on piece of paper and bring upstairs to the HH cashier.

Are you sure you're not referring to the Home Hardware on College west of Spadina? That's the one with the basement full of parts. I didn't know there was one like that on Queen.

Sayal can be handy if you live close to one -- same goes for A1.

jm1 wrote: ↑ 1. Near Sherway Gardens is A1Parts: LINK

My last visit was a few years ago, but it recalled Active Surplus in its 90s heyday. Dusty, everything in handwritten cardboard boxes, etc. I've bought a capacitor for my A/C and various battery adapters there. Their website shows they sell resistors and other small parts.

2. Of course, there's Sayal: LINK, but they're more expensive than A1parts and online stores like digikey.


Anyone remember the store on the north-west corner of Victoria Park and Gordon Baker Road? "Addronics" or something like that? Of course, it's gone now and there's a Sayal across the street now.

A1 brings back my childhood memories My last visit was an year ago and they did not allow me to go inside because of Covid restrictions. I can't trust their web site

JHW wrote: ↑ In addition to the places already mentioned, Creatron (on College, west of Spadina; there is another location at Birchmount and Sheppard) is good for this kind of thing. You pay for the convenience, though.



Are you sure you're not referring to the Home Hardware on College west of Spadina? That's the one with the basement full of parts. I didn't know there was one like that on Queen.0

Sayal can be handy if you live close to one -- same goes for A1.

yes, you are right.
The HH is on College St. It was on Queen when they had their own store called Supremetronics. Had the streets mixed up.

thriftshopper wrote: ↑ This place is in Burlington but they sell audiophile quality stuff.

https://www.partsconnexion.com/

3 grand vacuum tubes you don't say

Bought from Creatron before... Kind of overpriced in my opinion but if you are in desperation mode, at least there is an option

https://www.creatroninc.com/contact-us/

DOWNTOWN LOCATION
349 College Street
Toronto ON M5T 1S5
Canada
647 349 9258
[email protected]

Mon to Fri: 11am-6pm
Sat: 11am to 5pm
Sun: Closed

SCARBOROUGH LOCATION
3575 Sheppard Avenue East
Scarborough ON M1T 3K8
Canada
416 977 9258
[email protected]

Mon to Thu: 11am-6pm
Fri to Sat: 11am to 5pm
Sun: Closed

Didn't the Home Hardware next to Canada Computers near the North West corner of College and Spadina buy out the stock of a popular electronics company (It's been many years now and I can't remember the name) that was close to Active Surplus on Queen St?

In Mississauga, the plaza at 1350 Matheson Blvd E, Mississauga, ON L4W 4M1 has a number of electronics shops that I use from time to time.
Sayal is also located there but I'd check with the other stores as they may be cheaper.

Canuck_TO wrote: ↑ Didn't the Home Hardware next to Canada Computers near the North West corner of College and Spadina buy out the stock of a popular electronics company (It's been many years now and I can't remember the name) that was close to Active Surplus on Queen St?

Yes, this is what @cba123 and I were referring to.

Another place worth checking out for those interested in this stuff -- not a parts supplier, but a weird and interesting place nonetheless, is Electronic Surplus Industries. They don't have a website (AFAIK) but are at 53 Sheffield Road, near the Caledonia / Castlefield furniture stores.

They basically sell surplus lab equipment and electronics -- think old electronic test equipment, power supplies, labware, pumps, some radio equipment, microscopes, etc. -- bought out from labs going out of business.

It's an interesting place, jam packed, lots of very old junk piled high but interesting stuff nestled in. I think they are open afternoons Mon-Sat. It's one of those "the odds are good, but the goods are odd" places. Worth checking out if you are in the area and like the old-timey stuff.

JHW wrote: ↑ Yes, this is what @cba123 and I were referring to.

It's no longer a Home Hardware?

Canuck_TO wrote: ↑ It's no longer a Home Hardware?

It's still a home hardware. The electronics parts operation is the remains of the former Supermetronics (sp?) which was on Queen Street.

JHW wrote: ↑ It's still a home hardware. The electronics parts operation is the remains of the former Supermetronics (sp?) which was on Queen Street.

That's the name, Supremetronics.
The name was stuck in the cobwebs of my memory.

I'm not a hardware person. I go decades between needing parts. So the available local stores change way more quickly than my observations.

Online shopping is a lot easier. Especially in a pandemic. And the centre for parts has moved to Shenzen.

Having said that, all folks' postings bring back fond memories.

I miss Active Surplus. I still have things that I bought from them.

I think that Above All Electronics (near Honest Ed's) is gone.

Near Sayal on Woodbine used to be a nexus. Electrosonic (with their enormous paper catalogue that many EEs had) (known as Electro-ripoff) was probably the nucleus. Future/Advanced Electronics was great for a while. I bought my most recent VOM from a store there whose name I no longer remember and is surely gone (~1990), replacing my Radio Shack Micronta analogue VOM (from about 1976).

To hack on hardware these days, you probably want Arduinos, ESP32s, and Raspberry Pis. Quite a different scale from resistors. There are a few stores for that. For example https://elmwoodelectronics.ca/ , Creatron, and https://www.canadarobotix.com/pages/contact-us .