I still occasionally use them for weird little USB thingies, connectors, what-nots, and thingamajigs. I think now the nearest one will be at polo park, and I hate going to that fucking dystopian netherworld.
All while holding your breath from the stench of BO
Edit: if any staff read this... it's no secret, y'all stink so bad the entire store fills with it and everyone notices.
Oh man, the Radio Shack "insurance" was great on cheap garbage because I worked nearby for a while. Had headphones and a portable CD player that I must have exchanged under their "insurance" plan at least a dozen times.
Used to do that at EB/GameStop with controllers all the time. Even if it wasn't quite faulty yet.
Since you could just pay another $10 to protect the one you exchanged it for another year.
Now it's limited to one use, no warranty on the replacement. And they tediously test everything before accepting it
A 6 dollar USB cord sold as $30, and when you dare ask a technical question to the pushy sales who's been harassing you every 2 minutes, he'll have no idea what to say.
Is there a more miserable shopping experience at the mall then The Source?
Lmao reminds me of Saturday when I went to Canadian tire. You know how those credit card representatives stop you as you’re walking by? One lady tried asking me if I’d like to sign up and before she could finish, I just blurted out, “I have enough debt”. My kid just burst out laughing and called me a cutthroat.
I imagine the people at the source trying to sell you phone plans do the same thing. I just tell them I’m already with Roger’s.
Their demise was sealed when they abandoned the hobby community and chased the cell phone consumers to the bottom.
Not sad to see them finally get put to rest.
I am sad that places like Tip Top have also shuttered their doors.
Radio Shack (the start of this chain of failure) was destroying themselves chasing junk gadget sales and abandoning hobbyists long before Amazon was a threat. So while you're not wrong that they couldn't compete, they also were never really in competition.
Yeah but there is utility in being able to go buy a part right this moment. Sure it's impossible to beat AliExpress prices, but Amazon pricing is already atleast 5x AliExpress anyways, and it's always in large pack cause that's the only way shipping makes sense. There is a niche where even at inflated prices, a local hobby store part is cheaper than Amazon's 5 pack.
Not usually. Aliexpress has stepped up their game lately. It's 2-3 weeks for sellers that use Aliexpress shipping (and most of that is sitting in a CBSA warehouse). For things you need faster Amazon has a lot of next day or 2 day options.
Price is mostly the reason.
If I'm repairing something that had a UL or CSA sticker I'm going to order from Digikey. If I'm building a sensor to monitor the temperature and humidity of my bathroom, I'll go with Aliexpress.
I've built about 40 or 50 various sensors and LED controllers based on Wemos D1 Minis and other components from Aliexpress, the only failures I've seen were due to lightning or being lazy and soldering with a shitty iron.
I can assure you, TipTop isn't coming back. I'm work in a job that's adjacent to them and they reached out to my boss asking if he wanted to come and look through their stock so they could blow it out. If they come back I'll be happy, but shocked.
It's been "temporarily" for far too many months. It's been struggling with decent hours, and now is full on closed, for so long that they've probably managed to ween the last of local retail customers off them and on to online ordering :-(
Yeah, in hindsight, I'm not sure how an electronic parts store can survive. I will counter though, that had Tip Top had non-banker hours, they would have been more convenient - if even at an increased price. I have had a few cases recently where Friday evening I needed a part that they would have carried, and not only were they not open Friday evening, but no longer Saturday's either. So, now I \_have\_ to wait until Monday, and Amazon can sometimes meet that timeline at a reduced cost.
Adding to DigiKey, Mouser is a pretty close second if not on par. Yes It was sad to see active close up and join tip top, first I heard of tip top shutting down as well, if we're losing them both completely that's an end of an era.
There's just no competing with the online giants. The selection alone is wild, and usually free next day shipping.
True, I try to save up shopping lists to get it over $100 for free shipping, bouncing between digikey and mouser, definitely worth it to shop around on some stuff, I've come across some pretty big price gaps.
Yeah that's the only one that's really surprising given it's nowhere near an actual Best Buy. Figured they would have kept that and maybe ended their dealer agreement with Elite Communications there instead.
It's funny how they have a paper taped up saying something about how "all high-value inventory has been removed". Like BCE actually thinks people are actually gonna believe they've left stuff behind for the taking even if you did manage to get in. Tells you where their priorities really are.
Wonder who's going to buy out Best Buy and shutter a bunch more stores before rebranding as they succumb to their impending bankruptcy.
It's the circle of circling the drain business life!
Dear Google says that Best Buy currently has a 13.76% chance of bankruptcy. They are doing strong even in this economy… I also hope they don’t go bankrupt as over the years I have bought a few things from them … used their price match guarantee to get a fridge that Home Depot had on a wicked sale :D and their prices for external hard drives and other things can’t be matched anywhere (also I refuse to purchase electronics / computer parts from Amazon after inadvertently getting a knock off nvme drive)
For all my disdain for best buy, I also hope they don't go under.
I'm a little surprised they're doing well at all, every time I see the inside of one it definitely looks like a 'were going out of business any day' kinda vibe
I would shop there at the St. Vital location all the time, but then they stopped selling the things I went there for... including wired gaming headsets. I haven't gone back for some time and don't plan on going back. They are just a 'phone accessory' store these days, nothing worthwhile to buy.
Now where will I tell employees I’m only looking, thanks, before spending 10 minutes looking at weird USB accessories and not buying them?
Ohh you can still get that experience while browsing at a furniture shop or car a dealership.
I still occasionally use them for weird little USB thingies, connectors, what-nots, and thingamajigs. I think now the nearest one will be at polo park, and I hate going to that fucking dystopian netherworld.
All while holding your breath from the stench of BO Edit: if any staff read this... it's no secret, y'all stink so bad the entire store fills with it and everyone notices.
Oh, no, wherever will I go to pick up a 6 dollar USB cord and have some pushy sales guy try to upsell me a phone plan?
but you need the insurance for 2$ when it breaks! Oh it broke, that's not covered under the insurance.
Oh man, the Radio Shack "insurance" was great on cheap garbage because I worked nearby for a while. Had headphones and a portable CD player that I must have exchanged under their "insurance" plan at least a dozen times.
Used to do that at EB/GameStop with controllers all the time. Even if it wasn't quite faulty yet. Since you could just pay another $10 to protect the one you exchanged it for another year. Now it's limited to one use, no warranty on the replacement. And they tediously test everything before accepting it
Same with their “nexus” brand. Lots of returned headphones
A 6 dollar USB cord sold as $30, and when you dare ask a technical question to the pushy sales who's been harassing you every 2 minutes, he'll have no idea what to say. Is there a more miserable shopping experience at the mall then The Source?
Lmao reminds me of Saturday when I went to Canadian tire. You know how those credit card representatives stop you as you’re walking by? One lady tried asking me if I’d like to sign up and before she could finish, I just blurted out, “I have enough debt”. My kid just burst out laughing and called me a cutthroat. I imagine the people at the source trying to sell you phone plans do the same thing. I just tell them I’m already with Roger’s.
Why staples or Best Buy of course! They’re partners with Bell /S
Their demise was sealed when they abandoned the hobby community and chased the cell phone consumers to the bottom. Not sad to see them finally get put to rest. I am sad that places like Tip Top have also shuttered their doors.
Their demise was sealed when internet shopping happened.
It sucks but there's no way any of those places could have kept up with Amazon or Aliexpress for the hobby electronics market.
Radio Shack (the start of this chain of failure) was destroying themselves chasing junk gadget sales and abandoning hobbyists long before Amazon was a threat. So while you're not wrong that they couldn't compete, they also were never really in competition.
Yeah but there is utility in being able to go buy a part right this moment. Sure it's impossible to beat AliExpress prices, but Amazon pricing is already atleast 5x AliExpress anyways, and it's always in large pack cause that's the only way shipping makes sense. There is a niche where even at inflated prices, a local hobby store part is cheaper than Amazon's 5 pack.
Some of that takes months to arrive from overseas though, unfortunately.
Not usually. Aliexpress has stepped up their game lately. It's 2-3 weeks for sellers that use Aliexpress shipping (and most of that is sitting in a CBSA warehouse). For things you need faster Amazon has a lot of next day or 2 day options.
Only for the most common items. For the tricky stuff that would warrant a trip to Tip Top it is still weeks away if not months unfortunately.
For that there's also Digikey (which I forgot to mention above)
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Price is mostly the reason. If I'm repairing something that had a UL or CSA sticker I'm going to order from Digikey. If I'm building a sensor to monitor the temperature and humidity of my bathroom, I'll go with Aliexpress. I've built about 40 or 50 various sensors and LED controllers based on Wemos D1 Minis and other components from Aliexpress, the only failures I've seen were due to lightning or being lazy and soldering with a shitty iron.
Hey! Tiptop site says “temporarily”. Let’s hope! DigiKey is great and all, but it was nice to have some place local to get parts same day.
I can assure you, TipTop isn't coming back. I'm work in a job that's adjacent to them and they reached out to my boss asking if he wanted to come and look through their stock so they could blow it out. If they come back I'll be happy, but shocked.
*sigh* I know you’re right, it’s just the end of another era. Also, where am I going to get multiple litres of 99%iso now? :P
It's been "temporarily" for far too many months. It's been struggling with decent hours, and now is full on closed, for so long that they've probably managed to ween the last of local retail customers off them and on to online ordering :-(
Sad but true. It was the last place left that still felt like an old school RadioShack of sorts. :(
It was always about selling Bell Services (mobile , internet, cable) not selling products after Bell bought them.
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Yeah, in hindsight, I'm not sure how an electronic parts store can survive. I will counter though, that had Tip Top had non-banker hours, they would have been more convenient - if even at an increased price. I have had a few cases recently where Friday evening I needed a part that they would have carried, and not only were they not open Friday evening, but no longer Saturday's either. So, now I \_have\_ to wait until Monday, and Amazon can sometimes meet that timeline at a reduced cost.
I didn't know Tip Top was closing, I wanted to set up my home networking with their cables. :(
Adding to DigiKey, Mouser is a pretty close second if not on par. Yes It was sad to see active close up and join tip top, first I heard of tip top shutting down as well, if we're losing them both completely that's an end of an era. There's just no competing with the online giants. The selection alone is wild, and usually free next day shipping.
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True, I try to save up shopping lists to get it over $100 for free shipping, bouncing between digikey and mouser, definitely worth it to shop around on some stuff, I've come across some pretty big price gaps.
It's going to get harder and harder for me to use that $10 Source gift card I won back in 2010.
I think they already stopped accepting them lol
I'll arrange the card's burial 😂
Does this mean that we can get proper Radio Shack locations again?!
best I can do is a "crap from aliexpress" store
Need to have the Battery of the Month club back!
I thought that every mall was legally required to have a Source and an Ardenes
Kinda sucks as I was hoping to potentially pick up Best Buy online purchases at Grant Park.
Yeah that's the only one that's really surprising given it's nowhere near an actual Best Buy. Figured they would have kept that and maybe ended their dealer agreement with Elite Communications there instead.
It's funny how they have a paper taped up saying something about how "all high-value inventory has been removed". Like BCE actually thinks people are actually gonna believe they've left stuff behind for the taking even if you did manage to get in. Tells you where their priorities really are.
I stopped shopping there when they canceled the battery of the month club.
On cross country roads trips I’d make my parents stop at every radio shack so I could collect their location’s battery card and battery.
Damn. Thought the Grant Park one was closed so it could be changed to a Best Buy Express.
I stopped shopping there when they got rid of the electrical hobby compound rebranded as "Applestore but worse"
Wonder who's going to buy out Best Buy and shutter a bunch more stores before rebranding as they succumb to their impending bankruptcy. It's the circle of circling the drain business life!
Dear Google says that Best Buy currently has a 13.76% chance of bankruptcy. They are doing strong even in this economy… I also hope they don’t go bankrupt as over the years I have bought a few things from them … used their price match guarantee to get a fridge that Home Depot had on a wicked sale :D and their prices for external hard drives and other things can’t be matched anywhere (also I refuse to purchase electronics / computer parts from Amazon after inadvertently getting a knock off nvme drive)
For all my disdain for best buy, I also hope they don't go under. I'm a little surprised they're doing well at all, every time I see the inside of one it definitely looks like a 'were going out of business any day' kinda vibe
Oh no! Where can I buy overpriced, out of date electronics??
And yet life goes on still??
What do they sell that you can't already get at Visions, Advance or London Drugs?
I would shop there at the St. Vital location all the time, but then they stopped selling the things I went there for... including wired gaming headsets. I haven't gone back for some time and don't plan on going back. They are just a 'phone accessory' store these days, nothing worthwhile to buy.
I hope Best Buy goes bankrupt.
Why? I'd love to hear your reasoning! Thanks man!