For nearly 90 years, American Science and Surplus has been shipping out weird and wonderful stuff to customers far and wide. In the pre-Internet days, getting their latest catalog in the mail — notable for its hand-drawn illustrations and whimsical style — was always exciting. From Romanian gas masks to odd-ball components, there was no telling what new wonders each issue would bring. In time, the printed catalog gave way to a website, but the eclectic offerings and hand-drawn images remained.
Unfortunately, those days are officially no more. Earlier this week, American Science and Surplus had to make the difficult decision to shutter their entire mail order division. It’s no secret that the company as a whole had been struggling over the last few years. Like many small businesses they were hit hard during the COVID-19 years, and while they made it through that particular storm, they faced skyrocketing operational costs.
Earlier this year, the company turned to crowd funding to help stay afloat. That they were able to raise almost $200,000 speaks to how much support they had from their community of customers, but while it put the company in a better position, the writing was on the wall. The warehouse space required to support their mail order operations was simply too expensive to remain viable.
But it’s not all bad news. At least two of the company’s physical storefronts, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Geneva, Illinois will remain open and operate under the ownership of the employees themselves. The fate of the third store in Park Ridge, Illinois is less clear. They currently don’t have a buyer, but it sounds like they haven’t given up hope of selling it yet.
Anyone in the Illinois area feel like getting some buddies together and buying a turn-key surplus business?
Apropos of this, the Marlin P. Jones company also recently went out of business.
Electronic Goldmine is still operating.
Anyone have a more electronics surplus outfits that do mail order?
And All Electronics the year before. :~(
Former employees of All Electronics have launched Aretronics. Not much offering, though.
https://aretronics.com/
dipmicro was my go-to, but also closed.
I remember wandering around All Electronics in the Koreatown district of LA as a kid, really helped kick start my sense of wonderment and embedded development career, was just a palace of electronic nirvana back in the day staffed by knowledgable and patient electronics nerds. The one in the San Fernando Valley paled in comparison but has been sorely missed.
Well dang. I never heard of this company, but I’ve ordered stuff from MPJ before.
They used to go under the name “Jerryco”.
They rebranded from Jerryco to AmSciSurp about the time things started to drift away from print catalogs, rendering their signature catalog moot and unfortunately inviting the acronym AS&S which they jokingly explained why they were not using in one of their last print JerryCo catalogs.
Also victims of the transition: Loompanics (“first amendment” bookstore, RIP) and House of Onyx (amazing selection of gemstones, still in business but RIP their ditinctive catalog and founder Fred Rowe)
I know of other surplus operations online but probably not actual “mail order”.
Aptly enough: electronicsurplus.com
Oh shoot, I used to work down the street from MPJ and would stop in on my way home. It was like going to a candy store.
Sad to see them go.
I feel so guilty. I haven’t ordered from AS&S for several years.
I remember when All Electronics went out of business. I bought a whole bunch of stuff from them over the years, it was so sad because their prices were absolutely excellent.
They opened up as an employee run deal, but I still miss the old All Electronics.
Wish we had such surplus stores in The Netherlands. Although I do know of one:
https://www.baco-army-goods.nl
I honestly love small surplus stores. Especially after visiting the Am. Sci and Surplus website to see what I’d missed out on, I am really disappointed these sites are failing. One of my favorites was Saturn Surplus. I ordered some parts for a military genset from them (for a very reasonable price) and now they are gone too. They always seem to have good customer service and great prices, but that just can’t seem to compete with Amazon.
After all these years…. I didn’t know they existed out on the web. Sounds like they had interesting stuff. I wonder how many other electronic/science shops exist out there.
Dammit. I’m ashamed to say that as much as I’ve wanted to order something, the lack of physical space and money has prevented me from doing so. It’s sad to see this place finally go under.
I have no idea if they do mail order – I suspect not – but any AS&S enthusiasts who are in the Portland Oregon area should also check out Surplus Gizmos, my neighborhood surplus store (www.surplusgizmos.com) in Hillsboro. A veritable Aladdin’s Cave of electronics and hardware. The fact that it’s within wafer-throwing distance of various Intel and other campuses lends a certain flavor to much of the stock. Standard disclaimer: I’m not affiliated, just a happy customer, etc etc :-)
Don’t know about “mail order”, but they do ship! Just tried placing an item in my cart, and there’s a section to calculate shipping.
Thanks for checking. I’ve always just gone into the store to shop in-person; tbh I’ve never even used their website, Luddite that I am.
Original name was American Lens & Photo. Bought my first mirror grinding kit back in 1955. Made a 6″ telescope. It was a cool place to visit. It is sad to see these places disappear.
This is sad but not surprising, I’ve been going to the Chicago store since the early 1990s, the present owner in Park Ridge used to sweep the floors at the first location in Chicago in the beginning, I remember seeing the original owners often back in the day, but that’s how it works in that big city, eventually the taxes and fees and the changes in the residents(politics) bring an end to a business like that.
My kids and I spend a lot of money in their store. I guess we have to step up our game!
I ordered stuff from them way back in the late 80’s to early 90’s and then in the early 2010’s for stuff when i had kids, sad to see them go.
I grew up right nearby, maybe 20 minutes from the geneva store, still go there every time I visit home!
At one of their summer tent sales, almost twenty years ago now, and bought some fans, wire, alligator clips, and speakers – playing with those (and soon after, trying to make lasers with parts from radioshack, rip :/ ) is how I got into the electronics hobby in the first place!
Made a makeshift scuba/snorkel thing in like fourth grade from some plastic pipes, rubber corks glue, a latex glove and some rubber tubing (and it like, even kind of worked! Kind of want to revisit that, now I think about it … And I even managed not to drown! 🙃) Got my first oscilloscope, first three or four multimeters there, probably filled four or five of their punch cards during high school. My life would certainly look completely different without that little store
What a place
Deeply disappointing to see such an icon going this way :( I really hope the physical stores survive. This was my single favorite place in the world until about high school. Even their catalog was great, it’s the one, single mailer, email or print, that I have ever signed up for