(Sunny) California Swaps and Stores

"Scrounging is the highest form of recycling..." (The Anonymous Technoid)

"It is the customer who ultimately decides when equipment is 'obsolete,' not the manufacturer..." (Walter Shawlee, Sphere Research)

I feel blessed to have grown up in the San Francisco Bay Area (in Berkeley, to be exact), about an hour's drive north of the 'Silicon Valley.' The only other place I've found to date that has a comparable variety of electronic surplus has been the path running from Orlando to Melbourne, Florida (unsurprising, perhaps, thanks to the presence of NASA and military bases).

What follows are listings of electronic-specific swap meets and stores in the SF Bay Area, and a few outside of it. I've decided to, effective with the ending of the Scrounge 2K4 trip, completely redesign the site to include clearer descriptions, a letter grading system, and photos of actual storefronts (where available). Since photos tend to eat up bandwidth, I'm going to institute a separate page for each location, and a 'Back/Forward' link scheme at the bottom of each page. That should help considerably with navigation.

I will continue to award recognition for 'Best Surplus Deal(er) of the Year,' but I'm also going to break it up into two categories: Test equipment and components. I've chosen not to include computers in the category simply because computer parts are so ubiquitous.

In a hurry?

I realize that not everyone can afford to spend a week or more in the Bay Area just to scrounge. With that in mind, I will recommend what I feel are the top five places to hit in alphabetical order:

ACE Component, San Jose.

Correctest, Milpitas.

Crown Computer Recycling, Burlingame.

Excess Solutions, San Jose.

Weird Stuff Warehouse, Sunnyvale

If you need to do them in order of what you're looking for, here's some different breakdowns.

If you're after primarily test gear: Correctest, run by Bill Pollard (formerly of Test Labs Co.) should be your first stop. They're still relatively new to their current location as of Sep. 2009, but I don't see getting anything other than better as time goes on.

Following Correctest, I would suggest hitting Weird Stuff. Pay close attention to the lot sales at Weird Stuff, as that's where most of their test gear shows up.

If it's primarily component parts you're after: Hit ACE first, then Excess Solutions.

If you're a computer parts scrounger: Hit Crown Computer, Weird Stuff and Excess Solutions in that order.

Swap Meets

California has numerous monthly electronic/computer-related swap meets. The ones that I know best are in the Bay Area and in the Los Angeles (Lawndale, near El Segundo) area.

With any electronics swap meet, the best policy is to get there EARLY (at the crack of dawn if you can), as the best deals tend to go very quickly. Here are the two best known in the Bay Area.

Location: Robertson Park just south of downtown Livermore. Be ready for serious dust and rough pavement (or lack thereof). Bring bug repellant and, if you're selling stuff, tarps or tables to keep things off the ground.

To get there from west of Livermore: Find your way to I-580, and go east through the hills. Take the North 1st St. exit, turn south (right) onto N. 1st, and follow it to Concannon. Turn right on Concannon, and watch for the signs.

To get there from east of Livermore: Same thing, but take I-580 west to the N. 1st St. exit. Other directions as above.

Updated Event Site Report, 6-Sep-09

I feel sorry for LARK. I truly do. Las Positas College didn't even have the decency to eventually tell them "We don't want the swap meet here any more," or so I'm told. Apparently, they simply lied about having "construction" going on, and kicked the club out permanently for reasons which remain unclear to this day (I suspect money is at the core of the issue, as well as political correctness).

In short: The Robertson Park venue still sucks worse than outer space. The swap is held in an area of 100% unpaved hard-pack dry dirt and rocks. At least it gets graded periodically, so your car won't be bounced around like an errant Superball.

If you're going to sell there, bring lots of tarps, and be prepared for a severe case of dust contamination when you're done. Also, bring bug repellant. You'll need it. The area has a thick and varied population of flies, mosquitoes, and tiny little green beasties that look like fluorescent gnats with oversize wings.

Don't even get me started on the alleged "restrooms." PortaPotties are still a better idea!

Attendance appears to be in a permanent slump. The entire event, in its current venue, typically attracts about 30 or so sellers. This is a far cry from the hundred-plus numbers they used to see!

If you know of a better venue, preferably a college or industrial building parking lot, which belongs to an owner who would be willing to let LARK hold their monthly swap meet in it, PLEASE GET IN TOUCH WITH THE CLUB RIGHT AWAY! You can do so at this link.

I know nothing about it outside of a few photos of past events from their web site. I will say, given what I saw in those photos, that it most definitely looks worthwhile. If any of the board's readers happen to stop by, please let me know what you think.

GET THERE EARLY! Buyers, you should be onsite no later than 06:00. Sellers, you should be onsite and in line no later than 05:30. Selling space is first-come, first served, no reservations, and competition for a slot has been known to get fierce in times past.

Location: DeAnza College in Cupertino (see the maps on the ASVARO link above). Talk-in is on two local repeaters: W6ASH, on 145.270 RX, negative TX offset, PL of 1Z (100Hz); Or N6NFI, 145.230 RX, also negative TX offset, and the same PL code.

PARKING FEES: DeAnza College charges parking fees, just like the old Foothill College location.

BUYERS will need $2.00 cash in coins or single bills. The parking machines do not accept anything else, and they do not make change.

SELLERS are exempt from this fee (wheee!)

I have it from reliable sources that the move from the Lockheed complex was not, in fact, due to security issues but for other reasons. Specifically, just like what happened at Foothill, some major construction projects got underway which would not permit the swap to continue. DeAnza should be fairly stable for a good long while.

Given LARK's current conditions, and my own degree of success at both buying and selling at both events, I now consider the DeAnza swap to be the Bay Area's premier event in its class.

Bay Area Surplus Stores (Active)

The Bay Area is home to a rich concentration of electronic and computer surplus stores. Not all are a Great Deal All The Time, but there are some real gems among them. The list, in alphabetical order, is as follows:

Advanced Component Electronics (ACE), San Jose

Anchor Electronics, San Jose

Correctest, Milpitas

Crown Computer Recycling, Inc., Burlingame

Excess Solutions, Milpitas

HSC Electronics, Sunnyvale - WARNING! Overpricing, poor value-for-dollar, overall scrounger rip-off. See report...

Lasermotion, Union City

Weird Stuff Warehouse, Sunnyvale

Last Update: 10-Sep-09

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