Part science outlet, part Radio Shack, part curio cabinet—American Science & Surplus is unique.
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American Science & Surplus is fighting for its life. Here’s why you should care.
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Ordered mystery box + some selected stuff. Have been a fan from the time before the Internet. Still have a couple bags of random gears, box of 100+ small test tubes and some odd ball glass rods. Probably a bunch of other stuff that mostly got used for something over the years. Hope they are successful in relocating and staying around.
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Never heard of it.
Never been there.
Threw them $10 anyway, 'cause damn that sounds cool.
Never been there.
Threw them $10 anyway, 'cause damn that sounds cool.
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Aw, man, I didn’t know the Jeff Park location closed. I used to go there all the time when I lived there. 
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Used to go a raid the electronics section of their store in Geneva back in college. It was a great source of cheap components to use in the the lab projects. Since it was mostly used equipment, we'd always overbuy incase somethings didn't work.
My favorite was when a friend and I bought the entire box of transformers for something like 50 cents each and spent an hour testing which ones worked and which were shorted out. Next lab class we sold the working ones to the other students that needed one for the lab project for a couple bucks. We could probably gotten more for them, but ended up just giving a few to people that had killed theirs. It was a fun class until someone touched a transistor that was so hot the casing melted onto his finger (he left a fingerprint in the material).
My favorite was when a friend and I bought the entire box of transformers for something like 50 cents each and spent an hour testing which ones worked and which were shorted out. Next lab class we sold the working ones to the other students that needed one for the lab project for a couple bucks. We could probably gotten more for them, but ended up just giving a few to people that had killed theirs. It was a fun class until someone touched a transistor that was so hot the casing melted onto his finger (he left a fingerprint in the material).
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The phrase that leapt out at me was:
A similar point came up in the comments below a recent Ars article about paid-for vs ad-supported online services.
If we want to get all grand about it, it's an example of the ‘categorical imperative’: act as if your behaviour should become the universal law! Or, more demotically, in reproof: '...aaaand what if we all acted that way, eh?’
This sort of behaviour is actively anti-social – people who do this sort of thing make me cross! If something is valuable to you, you sometimes need to act to support it; which support can include discretionary spending, as here, spending money tactically, rather than simply going for the short-term cheapest option. It's a type of micro-activism.
A similar point came up in the comments below a recent Ars article about paid-for vs ad-supported online services.
If we want to get all grand about it, it's an example of the ‘categorical imperative’: act as if your behaviour should become the universal law! Or, more demotically, in reproof: '...aaaand what if we all acted that way, eh?’
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If I lived anywhere near them I'd be in a least once a week. Our local equivalent, Hardwick & Sons https://hardwickandsons.com has moved to Idaho, and now doesn't appear to have quite the selection of esoteric used stuff they once did. I used to stop in and ask "What's new that's used?". You could solve practically any problem with something from Hardwick's.
Not me!
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That was my thought with that photo. Author said his kids liked them when they were younger and I'm like... So 37 is young still? Awesome!
Never seen anything like these in Texas, and I deeply deeply regret that.
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Ax Man is still open, thankfully. They might have closed one store. But there are still 3 others.
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Suggestion: Instead of a GoFundMe, maybe just browse their website (if you aren't near enough to just go in) and buy something that's of interest to you?
I've never heard of this store before, but in the next few days, I think I'll browse their wares.
Sure, a GoFundMe is a way to give them money to survive, but, surely, so is buying something?
I've never heard of this store before, but in the next few days, I think I'll browse their wares.
Sure, a GoFundMe is a way to give them money to survive, but, surely, so is buying something?
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Houston TX has a similar store: https://epohouston.com/
I make a point to support them as often as possible.
I make a point to support them as often as possible.
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Yes, the death of the surplus store - there’s not so much surplus any more and mail order via Amazon from China takes care of a lot of the stuff.
How many thousands of dollars have I spent at places like C&H Sales in Pasadena, Apex Electronics in Sunland, Factor’s in Burbank, and that surplus place in the old bank on Venice Blvd near Motor in Palms. The latter is ironic because mostly what they had was DC and 400 Hz motors and gearboxes (aircraft surplus). My garage is still full of stuff I got at those places - a lot of times because it was part of something I thought I might build one day.
Nothing is like wandering the sagging shelves of such places looking for a combination of things “if I have this motor, and that shaft coupling, and that gearbox, I can drive this lead screw”. One of my early uses of spreadsheets was generating tables trading off stroke and diameter for pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders.
How many thousands of dollars have I spent at places like C&H Sales in Pasadena, Apex Electronics in Sunland, Factor’s in Burbank, and that surplus place in the old bank on Venice Blvd near Motor in Palms. The latter is ironic because mostly what they had was DC and 400 Hz motors and gearboxes (aircraft surplus). My garage is still full of stuff I got at those places - a lot of times because it was part of something I thought I might build one day.
Nothing is like wandering the sagging shelves of such places looking for a combination of things “if I have this motor, and that shaft coupling, and that gearbox, I can drive this lead screw”. One of my early uses of spreadsheets was generating tables trading off stroke and diameter for pneumatic or hydraulic cylinders.
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That is like the ultimate geek photograph.
In my youth there were a few places around Dublin that sold random, hobbyist-style things. They died a death over the years. Even second-hand bookshops have mostly died off now. Everything old or not configured to work automatically in the current mode just gets thrown in the trash.
If there is one thing to look forward to in the current run of economic crises, it is the return of the second-hand. Hopefully this store will find a way. (I know it is surplus tech rather than pre-owned items, but they have things in common.)
In my youth there were a few places around Dublin that sold random, hobbyist-style things. They died a death over the years. Even second-hand bookshops have mostly died off now. Everything old or not configured to work automatically in the current mode just gets thrown in the trash.
If there is one thing to look forward to in the current run of economic crises, it is the return of the second-hand. Hopefully this store will find a way. (I know it is surplus tech rather than pre-owned items, but they have things in common.)
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The pictures remind me of Wacky Willy's, a surplus store that used to exist in Portland, OR. They had the same types of items with similar hand-written signage, including the art and quippy captions. I wonder if there was a connection!
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I don't disagree. For quite a while, Best Buy was known as "Amazon's Showroom" because people need to fondle large electronics before ordering them online.
BB finally figured out they could leverage this behavior, and started renting shelf/floor space to companies, much like grocery stores rent shelves to food suppliers, with price based on things like placement and amount of work done by the supplier (reducing store costs). BB has whole sections rented out to companies like Apple and Verizon, for example, and you actually deal with employees from that company, not Best Buy employees. This obviously won't work for surplus merchandise, but it could well work for direct retail merchandise like 'scopes, although I'm not sure the volume is there to support it.
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One of the things that makes this place so much fun is their advertising; their catalog.
I'll never forget an ad for am ultraviolet lamp, along with a list of things which fluoresce: petroleum jelly; lots of different minerals (rocks); scorpions(!)...
The end of the ad read, "...$xx.95. You have to supply your own scorpions."
I'll never forget an ad for am ultraviolet lamp, along with a list of things which fluoresce: petroleum jelly; lots of different minerals (rocks); scorpions(!)...
The end of the ad read, "...$xx.95. You have to supply your own scorpions."
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There are still some government surplus sites, usually online auctions now. For instance (searching the Sacramento area in California): Sacramento County, State Surplus Auctions
There are (possibly only for a short time) real military surplus places (this one in Sacramento is for sale, according to their web site, so it's probably a step beyond the place in Chicago on the road to demise): Action Military Surplus
There are quite a few "surplus" places returned by a general search for the area, but none resemble the place in this article. Most are resellers of used electronics or clothes, a few actual military surplus, and a bunch that are just metal and other recyclers. A place like the one in Chicago is a real find, and should be preserved if possible.
There are (possibly only for a short time) real military surplus places (this one in Sacramento is for sale, according to their web site, so it's probably a step beyond the place in Chicago on the road to demise): Action Military Surplus
There are quite a few "surplus" places returned by a general search for the area, but none resemble the place in this article. Most are resellers of used electronics or clothes, a few actual military surplus, and a bunch that are just metal and other recyclers. A place like the one in Chicago is a real find, and should be preserved if possible.
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Interesting store. Hm, no international shipping. There might be their problem. (And using mail forwarding/proxy adds costs)
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Same for me in the UK. I have seen this a lot over the years, scumbags going to pick the brains of experts in a local camera shop for example, even trying the product, then buying the recommended item from amazon or such. I do hope those tight fuckers are the ones that lose their jobs next.
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That was a full day out, Edmunds in NJ somewhere. My aunt would take my under 13 year old self there as a yearly treat, which only stopped because she moved out of state. I could spend hours there, looking, examining, deciding what I could buy with the 20-30 dollars I had (this was 1979 and earlier). It's still the only times I ever went on the Commodore Barry Bridge. Even now, when I drove down 95 earlier this year and saw signs for the bridge, I wistfully remembered Edmund and just how...how....joyfully science-y it was, without any of the negative connotations of 70s era geeks or nerds or whatever. My kids think I'm crazy for waxing nostalgic about a science supply store, but if you'd ever been there, or similar places, you know what I mean.
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Eh. The reason they are failing is because they are no longer a place to go to get interesting science and engineering related stuff. There's some of it still there, but most of what AS&S carries these days is the same plastic imported crap that you can get for a lower price at OrientalTrading.com.
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Places like this are obsolete now that we have the innovative and super sleek Apple Vision Pro. AR is the future. And it belongs to small innovative companies like Apple, not resellers like this
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This place is super fun, and a sort of candy store for nerds. I try to visit in person any time I'm in the area. I've also ordered a decent handful of things from their website, like hobby hand tools or small containers for projects. The comparison to Radio Shack of yore is apt.
It seems strange to have a GoFundMe for a business, but as I don't really need anything from them at the moment, I may just do that.
It seems strange to have a GoFundMe for a business, but as I don't really need anything from them at the moment, I may just do that.
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Have shopped there for ages; I cannot count the number of things I've bought there including a 2 ½ foot long aluminum caliper which has proven surprisingly useful.
The best thing I've found is they sell a cleaner for battery contacts that has rescued a bunch of things from Kirkland battery leaks (never buy the Kirkland brand!)
The best thing I've found is they sell a cleaner for battery contacts that has rescued a bunch of things from Kirkland battery leaks (never buy the Kirkland brand!)
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Shout out for the Australian mail order equivalent, Oatley Electronics
https://www.oatleyelectronics.com
You know it's good because the web site is so 90s
https://www.oatleyelectronics.com
You know it's good because the web site is so 90s
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Having grown up in Milwaukee, I would regularly see commercials for the Milwaukee location on TV. I never managed to get there until a visit back home a couple years ago when I was looking for some rocks for my kid. This year, since the kid's coming with, I think a trip to the store together is in order.
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Little harsh but not entirely wrong.
The Park Ridge store definitely leans heavier into the Surplus than the Science.
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It was off E Gloucester Pike in Barrington. I looked through the periscope as a kid (could ride my bike there, but it was a long haul) I still have some parts and prisms from the place. Read this article and was thinking they got the wrong place (and time) 8^). It is now Edmund Optics and more of an industrial supply than a surplus store. I stopped by some years ago and while it was nice to look at the $$$$$$$ you need for industrial optics.... Not a place to play science any more.
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Will contribute to the gofundme. I luckily somehow came across them a couple decades ago, and have always found them a charming, unique source, and have occasionally bought from them, though I've never been to the physical store in person. Always enjoyed the catalog touches of the quirky descriptions and hand-drawn illustrations.
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Thanks. It's nice to know it's still there, in some way. I have a gyroscope from there, but everything else was lost or broken more years ago than I want to think about.
Barrington, huh. I just looked where that is, and now I'm wondering why we crossed the Commodore Barry. We lived in North Philly, so it wasn't the most direct route. My aunt's birthday is later this week, coincidentally enough, so I'm going to ask her why she used to drive the long way around.
See, you get an answer to one question, and it just brings up more questions...like a scientific method...and now I want to go to a science surplus store again...
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They made a lot of progress soon after the article went live, but recently they've stalled out at about 85% of their funding goal.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-american-science-surplus-alive
Personally, I've taken the opportunity to bulk up my collection of magnets and also picked up a few other useful items that have been on my "nice to have" list. They have some neat tools for hobbyists, like this miniature four-way screwdriver or this set of watch tools, stuff a lot of makers could find a place for.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/keep-american-science-surplus-alive
Personally, I've taken the opportunity to bulk up my collection of magnets and also picked up a few other useful items that have been on my "nice to have" list. They have some neat tools for hobbyists, like this miniature four-way screwdriver or this set of watch tools, stuff a lot of makers could find a place for.
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They will be closing as you know it online by September 14th, having given two weeks notice: https://sciplus.com/important-information/
The Wisconsin stores might be able to be run as local-only operations by the existing employees, but online/phone ordering and at least one store will be gone for good.
The Wisconsin stores might be able to be run as local-only operations by the existing employees, but online/phone ordering and at least one store will be gone for good.
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That place (stores in both IL and WI) was such a great part of my childhood. I feel like the kids growing up now are being cheated. I know there are different ways to get stuff now.
But not like that. Not in that awesome environment, with everything from telescopes to labware to empty military shell casings and all the weird stuff you could spend all day looking through. That's sad.
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