Electronics parts in Manhattan and Northern NJ?

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Electronics parts in Manhattan and Northern NJ?

Post by tomp »

Hi,

Are there any stores (besides Radio Shack) in Manhattan or Northern New Jersey where you can buy electronic components and supplies? Radio Shack doesn't seem to have much in the way of components to begin with, and what they do have is marked up pretty steeply, compared to the mail-order houses like elexp.com and digikey.

What got me looking around was that I wanted to pick up an RGB LED, a thermistor and a piezo buzzer, so that I could work through the first part of todbot's BionicArduino tutorial using my new Arduino protoshield. (Hope that doesn't make this off-topic for this forum.) These few parts aren't a big enough purchase to make the minimum order cutoff at elexp.com.

Thanks,

Tom

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Post by Superworms »

well, if their is a fry's their, i would go their.Their generly a good last minuet resort

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Post by tomp »

Unfortunately, Fry's doesn't have any locations in the Northeast, at all.

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Post by Superworms »

then that sucks

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Post by big93 »

did you try google, maybe call 411, or the phonebook? i'm from your "area" but probably not that close to where you are, and to be honest, radioshack is charging WAY too much for every little thing, but in the end, it pays to go around the corner and get components, rather then to drive 20 miles out of your way to pick up 3.00 $ worth of stuff, especially since gas prices are crazy ( ofcourse assuming you pay for gas ) so either way you get screwed over, unless you have 20.00$ worth of stuff to get off elexp. But i get what ur sayin about how they dont have enough small electronic parts, they usually dont have half the stuff i'm looking for.

oh yea, and spark fun HAS NO MINIMUM ORDER PRICE, so you can buy one dollar worth of whatever you need, and if you can kick them the shipping, theylle send it to you. but then again, dont go paying 10$ worth of shipping for 3$ worth of stuff lol

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Post by tomp »

big93 wrote:did you try google, maybe call 411, or the phonebook
Sure, but what do you search for? It's hard to search for a store that sells electronics components for hobbyists without getting the hundreds of consumer electronics stores that are out there. Maybe Radio Shack is really all there is around here? I was under the impression that Limor's based in Manhattan, and so I was hoping she'd chime in and either tell me the where the local hobby electronics stores are, or that there really aren't any.

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Post by adafruit »

TomP wrote:
big93 wrote:did you try google, maybe call 411, or the phonebook
Sure, but what do you search for? It's hard to search for a store that sells electronics components for hobbyists without getting the hundreds of consumer electronics stores that are out there. Maybe Radio Shack is really all there is around here? I was under the impression that Limor's based in Manhattan, and so I was hoping she'd chime in and either tell me the where the local hobby electronics stores are, or that there really aren't any.
i dont know of any which is why i didnt respond (even when you posted it a second time)

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Post by tomp »

ladyada wrote:i dont know of any which is why i didnt respond (even when you posted it a second time)
Sorry - I wasn't trying to be a nag. But, thanks for responding.

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Post by tomp »

fwiw, I was up at robot village on friday and they also told me they didn't know of any hobby electronics stores in manhattan. (They order all of their parts mail-order.) Mail order it is...

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Post by Entropy »

It's a little far away, and there HAS to be something closer, but there is Green Brook Electronics on Route 22 in Green Brook, NJ. Electronics parts stores aren't that rare...

Their prices are a little expensive if I recall correctly though. Not THAT much better than Rat Shack.

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Post by tomp »

Is this a real brick-and-morter retail store? The website that Google maps has for them looks kind of cheesy and suspicious - it's all links to shopping sites, and contains no mention that they have a physical presence, themselves. When is the last time you were there?

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Post by Entropy »

TomP wrote:Is this a real brick-and-morter retail store? The website that Google maps has for them looks kind of cheesy and suspicious - it's all links to shopping sites, and contains no mention that they have a physical presence, themselves. When is the last time you were there?
Definately not the correct URL, if one even exists. That's a classic domain squatter/search engine abuser site...

GBE has had a B&M presence for many years, the last time I was there was 3-4 years ago (I live in upstate NY now), but I haven't heard anything about them going out of business.

I would not be surprised if they had a B&M presence only but no website.

They are located on Route 22 Eastbound in Green Brook, NJ. I used to go there all the time, as it's 15 minutes from where I lived when I grew up.

Edit: I've noticed that most independent B&M electronics stores I have been to carry NTE parts, so their distributor list MIGHT be a good way to find such stores:
http://www.nteinc.com/NET_St_lst/NJ.shtml

If you look at their list for NYS and do some Googling, there is apparently a store called 269 Electronics in NYC at 269 Canal Street. No idea if they're B&M or not, no apparent website either. It seems pretty rare for the independent B&M's to have websites. Unicorn Electronics in Johnson City seems to be one of the few that does.

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Post by tomp »

Ok, thanks. I'll check them out one of these weekends. (They're probably only about a half-hour away from my house by car.)

About the place on Canal Street, it's funny you mention it, because I just heard about it for the first time earlier today in a thread called "Local Sources", on the NYCResistor:Microcontrollers Google group. Small world...

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Post by tomp »

In case any else is interested, the wiki page that grew out of that NYCResistor thread is at Local Resources/Parts

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Re: Electronics parts in Manhattan and Northern NJ?

Post by resistorsister »

The link above is broken. Here's the working link: http://wiki.nycresistor.com/wiki/Local_ ... es_/_Parts

The first one on the list, Tinkersphere, I highly recommend. They are a physical store in Manhattan! Way easier than shopping online and waiting for shipping when I've got electronics on the brain. It's a robot store so it's got lots of robot kits, electronic components, tools, and common stuff like Breadboards, LEDs, jumper wires, etc for pretty decent right in NYC.

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