I thought the surplus electronics market in Dallas was a byproduct of local manufacturing, after all we have some heavy hitters in our back yard: Texas Instruments, Maxim (Dallas Semiconductor), ST Micro (at one time), Diodes Incorporated. If we widen our radius to include Austin (3 hours down the road) we can make a much more impressive list by including: National Instruments, Freescale Semiconductor, better yet I’ll just insert the graphic I’m pulling data from right here:
Granted, not all of these are companies that manufacture silicon, or even have manufacturing facilities here in Texas. That doesn’t necessarily matter for surplus to exist. Back to my point of where surplus originated. While I wasn’t completely wrong (these companies certainly have helped contribute to the surplus electronics market) the beginnings of surplus storefronts date back to World War II. Did anyone see that coming? Neither did I. However it does make sense, the US government would have had a large stock of “stuff” to get rid of at the end of the war.
Enter the sale of government surplus all over the nation, usually near air force bases. So this is how the more generalized concept of a surplus shop came to be in existence; mix in the domestic manufacturing of electronics in the 1970’s and we have electronics surplus shops aplenty.
My First Hand Experience
I didn’t really appreciate how valuable my local electronics shop was until watching Beers in Bunnie’s Workshop – Workshop Video #36. If you haven’t seen the video you only need to know that [Ian] of Dangerous Prototypes and [bunnie] of Andrew [bunnie] Huang are standing in [bunnie]s work-space in Singapore drinking beer and talking about the lab that is [bunnie]s life. You with me now? Okay, there is a point in the video where the two discuss the ability to run down the street and buy a connector as something only available in Singapore or Shenzhen. Let me briefly pause here to clarify that I’m not comparing my local electronics shop to the Shenzhen market or Sim Lim Tower in Singapore, only stating that I too can hold parts in-hand before purchasing them. I’m also not [brandon] of Dangerous Prototypes or Andrew [brandon] Huang, clearly.
I do however have an electronics selection at my disposal that is unmatched until you get to the west coast shops. I went on a bit of an adventure with the owner [Jim Tanner] of my local shop [Tanner Electronics] to take some pictures of the retail floor and a few behind the scenes (warehouse) shots that you can check out after the break.
One of the Last Remaining
Tanner Electronics is one of only 3 surplus electronics shops that are still operating in Dallas. However, in the mid to late ’70s there were quite a few:
- Off the shelf components
- EPO (Houston location still in business)
- Electronic Discount Sales (recently closed)
- Rondure’s
- Electrotex
- BG Micro (still in business: online surplus)
- Banner TV
- Olson Electronics
- Rockwell Outlet
- Tucker Electronics (still in business: online sales of test equipment and manuals)
- Crabtrees
- Wilkinson Brothers
- Wholesale Electronics
- R&R Electronics
- Tanner Electronics (still in business: retail storefront).
Another one that was quite popular was Charlie Wilson’s 15¢/lb surplus pile. I wasn’t aware that this type of thing was going on in Dallas, but it was exactly as it sounds. Charlie Wilson would rent a big truck, load it up with surplus electronics and dump it in a parking lot for customers to sift thru and pay by the pound.
There is also a sidewalk sale that still exists in Dallas and has been around since the early 70s. Every 1st Saturday of the month vendors meet in Downtown Dallas to sell what started out as ham gear in the early days but has devolved to a wide variety of items that you might see at a flea market. The majority of the vendors are selling electronics, but the errant perfume stand or name brand knock-off clothing peddler can be seen as well. The vendors start to set up their booths as early as 9pm the Friday before and will remain open until 2pm Saturday. I’ve made more than one trip downtown in the middle of the night. The most memorable was the time I went for a backup server and it started raining as I was carrying it to the car. So now it’s 4am and I’m running thru downtown Dallas with a 2U Dell PowerEdge (okay maybe it wasn’t a stride that was visually pleasing, but it was all the effort I could make with a machine that size in-tow). Yeah, you can buy a server at 4am under a bridge in Dallas no problem, given it’s the 1st Saturday of the month and you have cash money.
Shopping Surplus
However, this system creates an advantage of equal magnitude. Surplus shops get parts and assemblies for extremely reduced prices which means we can buy them from the shop for orders of magnitude less than others are asking for the same item.
Texas Instruments also had regular auctions where you could pick up anything from components to motor assemblies to test equipment. The only thing you couldn’t find at these auctions was anything branded “Texas Instruments”.
Adapting to Survive
Obviously the domestic manufacturing of electronics has moved from continent to continent a few times since the ’70s. This puts shops that mainly dealt with surplus suppliers in grave danger of closing the doors. Things had to change as the surplus well dried up. Where you could previously only purchase values of resistors that had been sold to the shop as surplus, now you can buy any common value of resistor in a variety of power ratings as well as capacitors of common value in a variety of materials.
What started with filling in the resistor values to meet customer needs is now display cabinets and shelving dedicated to the hobbyists. Arduino and Raspberry Pi compatible bits and pieces can be found along with current issues of Makezine without looking too hard. However a keen eye will spot a row of boxes behind the microcontroller display marked “Z80A”, “Z80B”, “Z80 DMA”, “Z80 PIO”, “1 Meg D-RAM”. Which is but a few rows before original 7400 series can be found, not to be confused with 74LS, or 74HC, or 74HCT, or ALS or 4000 series CMOS which can all be found behind the counter in through hole packages and sold by the each.
Talkin’ Shop with the Old Timers
There is a reason the two aforementioned men have a nerd-cult following, they were around when you still had dataBOOKS and you couldn’t answer obscure questions with a quick “Okay Google…”. I only mention them because you’re sure to know who they are, but rest assured there are people of similar caliber near you. These veterans have committed an enormous amount of information to memory and its a resource we lost when the storefronts closed.
Surplus stores are fading away. But the biggest loss isn’t the availability of inventory, it’s the loss of culture. If you don’t know already where to find them in your area, start by looking for the local ham radio or retro computing club. If you can stoke the local talent in you area, sit them down and explore their cache memory after asking them: “Hey, what’s a curve tracer?”. Believe me, you’re in for a conversation you won’t soon forget.
They go to even achieve their requirement time; people race in order to really WIN! Like your can’t happen to eat past 8 o’clock by going to night. You contain to become physical.
I just got of the phone with Jimmy Tanner. Whenever I am in the Metroplex, I stop in as often as I can. The Tanners are wonderful, and I tend to find what I need for my last-minute client projects.. I’m lucky to live in Los Angeles and just a 10-minute drive from All Electronics, another great surplus store.
Jon, fellow Angeleno! Do stop by Apex electronics, the weirdest surplus place by far. Lots of Hollywood props for sci fi films outside.
If you are lucky to have a surplus store near you SUPPORT IT! These places are treasures for builders like myself. These stores and local hamfests were my source of parts since I was 16.. Once they are gone, they are gone for good…
This weekend, 4/8/2018, the legendary Weirdstuff Warehouse in Sunnyvale, CA is closing. The death march continues.
Owner is the rudest person I have ever met. He threw his calculator at me and then walked away. Another employee had to finish up the order. Other people have reported his rude behavior elsewhere on line. I would not recommend this place to anyone.
Assault charges if it had hit anyone.
“Death of Surplus” or “Dearth or Surplus”?
B^)
Tanner has been my go to for electronics components for over 50 years. I knew his Dad when they were on Harry Hines, and Jim when they moved to Carrollton. Great family! Great Prices! Great Stock!
Tanner Electronics is still there – what a great go-to hobby store for many, many years. Thanks to Jim Tanner for his knowledge and helpfulness. He’s a great guy and it’s still a great place to go for parts for your projects and to get hooked on all the other odds and ends you’ll find there.
OOOOOKKKK YELLING VERY LOUDLY I was just in tanners and they may have to move or shut down. I do not care what you do support this guys business. Its the last of a breed. Please pass this to everyone
Well, I have some bad news – Tanners will be closing June 1, 2020.
Not because of online competition (Mouser and Digikey have been ’round for years, Mouser is in a nearby suburb and BGMicro.com is also nearby) but the property owner is ending their lease.
Tanner Electronics is closing, per Facebook post:
“With heavy hearts we must announce that we will be closing the store permanently effective June 1st🙁. This was a very hard decision for our family but unfortunately it was our only choice. We have been truly blessed to have been in business for over 33 years in Carrollton and had the opportunity to serve such amazing customers. Stop in and shop we are still ordering and restocking inventory daily and Jim is finding unusual deals in the warehouse that is he selling for low prices.”
Alas, Tanner’s has announced they will close for good on June 1st, 2020. And it isn’t just the electronics stores – twenty years ago I worked in the hobby shop industry, and even then we were seeing people who were NOT interested in building it themselves – they wanted to buy something ready-to-run, and if it crashed, they’d either want someone else to fix it, or they’d dimply replace it and throw it away. Call it the “instant-gratification” generation – they want what they want, and they don’t want to have to spend time building it. I dare you to go into a hobby shop (if you can find one), and find a currently-made R/C airplane that has to be built up (you know, a box of sticks and planks that have to be glued together). You won’t find anything other than the Guillows tissue paper-covered models (and a lot of those aren’t meant to fly anymore). Not only do the planes come pre-built and almost-ready-to-fly, they have radio control systems already installed, and are sold “Ready To Bind” (that is, to digitally connect them to your R/C transmitter).
It’s that way throughout society – nobody builds things anymore, nobody fixes things anymore. In a few years, being a capable mechanic is going to be a gold mine …….
Thank you HAD and Brandon for this article. Without it, I never would have known of the existence of this wonderful shop, and would not have met Jim Tanner and his family. None of my projects from the last five years would have been possible.
Every trip resulted in hours lost poring over every inch of the dusty shelves. I came home with metal can transistors; entire Z80, 8088, and 6800 chipsets; wirewrap sockets; a workable collection of 74-series logic; and all of the assorted odds-and-ends I may have needed to complete that weekend’s project.
Today, Tanner Electronics closed its doors for the last time. I will certainly miss having that go-to shop within close range, but I’ll also miss talking to Jim and listening to his stories about building computers in the 1980s.
The death of surplus indeed. This hobby suffered a great loss today.
Sadly, Tanner Electronics is no more, after almost 40 years. Last day open to public was may 2nd, 2020. I’m not sure what happened, they were going to have to move, plus the disruption in China, plus the WuVID-19 pandemic, I would guess. Bye guys, there’s a tear in my eye and I will miss you.
I grew up in Oklahoma City, there was a surplus store call World Wide Electronics (Smitty’s) with an old guy that didn’t say much sitting behind the counter. The store however was loaded with just the type of parts that a young kid in the 70s needed to build on a budget. I miss those types of discoveries now.
Tanner Electronics has closed.
https://www.facebook.com/OddballElectronics/
RIP Tanner electronics, just found out they closed in June 2020 after 40 years.
RIP Tanner electronics, just found out they closed in June 2020 after 40 years.
Tanner Electronics closed May 2020. :(
I still remember the first time I’ve of my hand radio buddies took me to Tanners, whew!! My eyes got big and round, my jaw probably dropped and I couldn’t get over the amazing, crazy selection of goodies they had!
I know they had cameras, but with all the loose components, unpackaged, it kind of gave you a weird feeling of the honor system and the trust they placed in their customers, made you feel warm inside!
I loved talking to Jim and Jimmy, always helpful with projects and ideas to help you out if you just asked.
Besides projects, I made a lot of spare side money there too! I once went in looking for some panel mount female RCA jacks, bemoaning the highway robbery prices they got at regular stores for them, just as bad on Feebay too!
I found the box that carried them on the shelf and it didn’t have enough so one of the guys told me there was some in a bucket on the bottom shelf in that area to the right, when you first walk in the store. It was, if memory serves, a five gallon bucket loaded with them! I bought several hundred of them, some for myself and a friend out of state building radio kits to sell, then decided to package them up on Feebay. They were a huge hit!! I went back and asked Jim if I could get a discount if I bought a lot of them, I think they were originally like 5 cents each.
He asked me how many I wanted to buy, I told him I wanted ALL of them! He told me he would let them go for 3 cents each, but to leave them some too!! Hehe, I left a few hundred and took home, I think, over three thousand connectors!!
I started selling packs of 100 for $20., Then realized that even though they were selling, most folks don’t need that many, so 50 and 25 packs sold really well!
Even though I almost felt guilty at how much profit I was making off them, even after eBay and PayPal fees, I realized that in those quantities they were still a huge discount compared to what everyone else was charging. It was lots of fun!! I was heart-broken when they never got another huge load of them in like that again :(
Even though they are closed, I get a warm feeling every time I walk back into my hamshack and see the ten heavy steel project boxes with seeing doors that were probably meant to mount on the wall and house some control device. (I was originally going to make a combination dummy load with a noise bridge with coax switches so you could tune your antenna tuner (ok, matchbox, hehe) then your amp at low power, all without doing any of it on the air. They were going to be too sell at hamfests! Still on my ‘to do’ list, twelve years later, lol. (We all have those!)
I look around and see a pile of big momentary switches. A pile of those little micro flip switches. A box full of clarostats. About twenty of those little black and silver project boxes that have the air vents in the sides that they had for years. Gawd I sold a lot of those at hamfests!! I’ve built Soo many projects in those!!
Then there was all the stuff they had, that you JUST had to buy, even if you didn’t need it! Hehe :) I could go in there in a rush to get five things to finish my project, then wind up spending two hours looking around to see what stuff they had that I just didn’t know i needed!! ;)
It’s horribly sad to see them gone… Sigh. My health was bad when they closed and I didn’t hear about it till way later, or I would have ran over and blew a few hundred dollars on stuff I didn’t need, and stock up on stuff I know I’ll need over the next twenty years, hehe.
Thanks to all the Tanners for the great stuff, great help, great friendship and great memories!
Tanner Electronics is gone. Jim retired after the rent was going to skyrocket. He did try to find a new location in a few preferred areas but found nothing. Jim sold off a lot of the inventory and donated much of the materials on the shelves out front to Dallas Makerspace.
BG Micro is gone. After the founder died, his son Jerry took it over and ran it for a couple of years out of the Garland, TX, warehouse. He sold off a lot of the inventory and took what he wanted to sell on eBay back to his home in Florida.
Tucker Electronics is closed, but I don’t have any details behind that closure.
Altex Electronics over by Addison Airport still stocks capacitors, resistors, switches, and connectors. They sold off their semiconductor stock over 15 years ago.
Micro Center has a great maker area and stocks some limited components.
That just leaves Allied and Mouser as new electronic component distributors as parts sources in the D/FW metroplex.
RIP Tanners Electronics. They are closed for good, leaving DFW without a makers electronics space. Gotta go order stuff online :(