Gord’s List of Electronic Stores. Current and Past
I have used most of these businesses at one time or another (not including the Montreal ones) except as noted....(See visitor comments below)...
CURRENT
Ottawa
Gervais Electronics http://www.gervaiselectronics.ca/ (Also called Accessotronic https://www.accessotronik.com/)
716 Indusrial Ave. A long time electronic supplier, recently merged with Active123. They have a good selection of resistors, some high voltage electrolytics, basic semiconductors, good selection of hardware. See note in Winter 2019 newsletter. STOREFRONT.
A2D electronics https://a2delectronics.ca/
Their stock is dwindling; but they did have some modern hardware. I have never ordered from them. ON-LINE ONLY.
Crown Assets https://www.gcsurplus.ca/
Search “National Capital Region” under “Electronic and communication equipment and supplies” or “Medical, dental, scientific, lab equipment” (or occasionally under other categories). It is an on-line auction site, and you pick the stuff up on Hawthorne Rd. I have purchased test equipment, but I have seen antique radios and tubes for sale. YOU BID ON-LINE, BUT PICK-UP IN PERSON.
OVRC tube stock email your requirements to ovrctubes@gmail.com
Run by a very friendly and helpful guy. Can’t beat the prices. CONTACT ME ON-LINE
Buy a Pie https://www.buyapi.ca/
Mostly sells stuff related to computers. Low voltage components. I have never ordered from them. CONTACT ON-LINE
Princess Auto https://www.princessauto.com/en/
1111 Ages Dr. Ottawa and 3055 Palladium Dr. Kanata. Sometimes have some surplus electric and electronic things, but it’s not an electronics store! STOREFRONT
Qkits Kingston https://store.qkits.com/
620 Cataraqui Woods Dr., Kingston. I have never used them, but other club members have, and apparently, they have decent quality kits and modern parts, as well as tools and hardware. Worth the drive. STOREFRONT
Next Gen Guitars https://Nextgenguitars.ca/
15 Grenfell Cres., Unit 8, Ottawa (Nepean) They offer parts that would be of interest to radio and guitar amplifier enthusiasts. ONLINE ONLY (pickup can be arranged)
Toronto
A1 Surplus http://www.a1parts.com/
196 North Queen St. Toronto (far west end Near 427 and QEW). The last place I know of in Ontario with overflowing shelves of equipment, where you take your own life into your hands when you visit. Some components, but mostly electronic test equipment and assemblies. Absolutely worth a visit if you are in western Toronto. STOREFRONT.
Sayal Electronics https://secure.sayal.com/STORE2/shop.php
Several locations in Southern Ontario. A good selection of modern components, including some high voltage capacitors. No surplus. Like Active was when Active was good! I frequent their Cambridge location. STOREFRONT.
Electronics Surplus https://electronicsurplus.ca/
Know nothing about them. Never used them.
Creatron https://www.creatroninc.com/
349 College St. Toronto. (also in Scarborough) A range of electronic components, mostly modern. If you are visiting, you are better off going down the street to 290 College St. STOREFRONT.
Supremetronic in basement of Home Hardware, 290 College St. Toronto. (web presence unknown).
This hidden gem has the best selection of self-serve parts in Canada. Some high voltage parts, too. Some surplus and odds and ends. Note that it looks like a Home Hardware from the front. A long wall of thousands of part drawers that you can browse through. STOREFRONT ONLY
Just Radios https://justradios.com/
Dave Cantelon sells a bewildering array of capacitors and other related components mainly for our old radios. Ships from the Toronto area. CONTACT ON-LINE
Electrosonic https://www.e-sonic.com/
The grandfather of Canadian electronics supply. In business since September 1952. Originally at 543 Yonge St., Toronto, and moved to Gordon Baker Rd., Toronto, in 1974. They are an industrial supplier, but had a walk-up parts counter where they would grudgingly find you a 0.01uF capacitor. I used to visit them regularly, but I have not used them in 30 years. They have an immense catalogue, but really do not cater to the small-volume buyer like us anymore.
Toronto Surplus https://www.torontosurplus.com/
High prices, more geared to institutions, not little guys like us. I have browsed on-line for years but have never bought anything.
Montreal (Thanks, Alain!)
Addison Électronique https://www.addison-electronique.com/
Add-Tronique and Maddison were sub-distributors of Addison in the 80s and 90s. Today, those stores are independent from Addison.
8018, 20eme Avenue Montreal, Qc H1Z3S7
145, Rue Lafayette Repentigny, Qc J6A8K3
1025, Boulevard Lachapelle Saint-Jerome Qc, J7Z7M4
KGE Électronique (King George Electronics) https://www.kge.ca/
2995 Boulevard Moise-Vincent Saint-Hubert, Qc J3Z1K2
Mastervox https://www.master-vox.com/
Alain's Favorite
2500, Boulevard Taschereau, Longueuil Qc J4R1T7
68, Rue Antonio Barrette, Notre-Dame-des-Prairies Qc J6E1E4
Add-Tronique https://www.add-tronique.com/
11990, Rue Sherbrooke Est, Pointe-aux-Trembles Qc H1B1C5
1750, Chemin Gascon, Terrebonne Qc J6X3A4
Maddison https://www.maddison.ca/
382 Boulevard des Laurentides, Laval Qc H7G2T8
ABRA Électronique https://www.abra-electronics.com/
5465 Chemin de la Cote-de-Liesse, Montreal Qc H4P1A1
Raybel Électronique https://www.raybel.com/
9712, rue Notre-Dame, Montreal Qc H1L3R2
Atvparts Électronique https://www.atvpartselectronique.com/
5824 Rue Jean-Talon Est, Saint-Leonard Qc H1S1M2
Elsewhere in Canada
K-W surplus https://kwsurplus.ca/shop/
666 Victoria St. N., Kitchener. A Kitchener-Waterloo fixture for over 40 years (an in a couple of other south-west Ontario locations), they used to have excellent electronic surplus, old and new, but most of the electronics is gone. Now they mainly have cheap tools, hardware, and housewares, and non electronic surplus. STOREFRONT
Forest City Surplus https://www.fcsurplus.ca/shopping/
1712 Dundas St., London. Brian says that they have surplus of all varieties, some electronics but less than they used to, sounds like it is somewhat like KW surplus. STOREFRONT
Sphere Research Corporation, Kelowna, BC. https://www.sphere.bc.ca/
Closed. Very sad! It specialized in vintage Tek and HP parts, Nixie tubes, slide-rules, and a fascinating variety of eclectic components.
Universal Solder Canada, Windsor, Ontario https://www.universal-solder.ca/
If you are reluctant to buy parts from China, consider this site as an option. Lots of interesting modules and some parts. ON-LINE
US
Antique Electronic Supply https://www.tubesandmore.com/
They have traditionally been my go-to destination for antique parts, but recently they have moved more towards musical instruments. Good tube stock. ON-LINE
Fair radio sales https://fairradio.com/
They HAD an interesting selection of boat anchors and vintage surplus parts. Closed October 2024.
Radio Daze https://www.radiodaze.com/
Rochester, NY. Another member favorite. They feature many custom radio items like dials, decals, knobs, and grill cloth.
Digikey https://www.digikey.ca/
They have an immense catalogue, excellent prices, are happy to deal with “hobbiest” quantities, and ship amazingly quickly to Canada. I’ve had parts in under 48 hours without paying anything extra. $8 shipping flat rate for orders under $100, and they take care of duty and brokerage somehow. I’d rather not spend my money in the US, but Digikey make it irresistible.
Jameco https://www.jameco.com/
Not as seamless as Digikey, and shipping is more expensive, but they have inventory of some older parts that Digikey does not.
There are numerous other Digikey-like distributors like Mauser, TTI, Newark, Richardson (has tubes), Avnet, and Arrow.
Artek manuals http://artekmanuals.com/
A good source of high-quality manuals for test equipment, but you must pay ‘a little’ for the quality. For HP manuals, also check the Keysight web site as they have a good collection of historical manuals. And check the boat anchor manual archive http://bama.edebris.com/manuals/
Circuit boards https://jlcpcb.com/ Very cheap custom circuit boards from China. I was very impressed with their service. 5 double-sided boards for $15 CAD total including shipping and tax.
Historical Ottawa
Ottawa
Active123 (AKA Active Electronics) Formerly on Merivale. Years ago, was well stocked, but over the years they focused less and less on parts. Now merged with Gervais.
Add Electronics Formerly on Armstrong near Parkdale. Had surprising array of surplus parts.
Reset Electronics Formerly on Morrison Drive. Modern parts. Apparently formed by ex-Wackid Radio staff.
Kris Electronics my memory is vague here!
Century 21 Near Lincoln Fields. Had surplus equipment, mostly modern.
Ottawa Surplus Was located just off of Preston. Had limited electronics. Believed to be affiliated with KW Surplus.
Wackid Radio Formerly on Parkdale (and before that, on Bank St. Don Judd saw the Bank St. location burn down!) Had traditional walk-up-to-the-counter service and carried traditional radio parts. Also, at other locations, sold TVs and stereo equipment.
Heathkit Very small store on Merivale S. of Carling.
W J Ford Surplus, Smiths Falls. Bill Ford and his son ran this sprawling warehouse full of ancient electronic and lab equipment. I remember wandering around for an hour, only to discover that I had missed an entire building. His prices were, at best, erratic. I certainly purchased stuff there, especially near the end, but often I was dissuaded by high prices on obsolete and potentially inoperative equipment. Still, it was a great place to explore.
Historical Southern Ontario
Dominion Radio and Electronics 535 Yonge St., Toronto. Excellent source of surplus electronics of all types. One of my favorite places. Bought my first IC and LED there. Right next to the old Electrosonic building. Closed in 1990’s?
Radio City (Radio Trade Supply?) Yonge St., Toronto. Visitor comments below
Active Surplus Queen St. Toronto. (No relation to Active Electronics or Active123) Always had a stuffed ape in front of the store. Had a good selection of new and surplus electronics. However, it closed in 2015. There may be an echo of this store in the form of “The Gorilla Store” http://thegorillastore.com/ located at the Ontario Science Centre and 609 College St., but this store seems to be aimed at the educational market.
Heathkit 1478 Dundas St., Mississauga. This was their Canadian head office. They also sold some parts and occasionally had surplus sales.
City Surplus Dixie Road, north of the 401, in Mississauga. True military surplus, including tanks. Closed in 1970’s.
Gladstone Electronics 1736 Avenue Road, Toronto. Mostly for audiophiles
Saynor Electronics Was like Electrosonic.
Orion Electronics Kitchener. Surplus modern parts.
Waterloo Electronics Waterloo, Ont. A traditional radio repair supplier.
Atwater Electronics 886 Dundas St., Mississauga. A small place mainly supplying the radio/TV repair trade, but it had almost everything I needed at a price, and was only a 10 minute bike ride from my childhood home. Closed in 1980’s.
Arkon Electronics 333 Queen St. W, Toronto
Visitor Comments
From Greg, VA3VFO
I would like to [update your] info For the Historical Toronto Listing for “Radio City” - Radio Trade Supply...It don’t recall any Radio City parts store, but there may have been a Radio City home-entertainment retail store across and up the street from Radio Trade Supply.
If you never lived in Toronto, you may not be familiar with this very well known company. It operated on Yonge Street consecutively from the mid 1920’s to the early 1990’s.
They were actually Distributers (wholesalers) but also had the retail store best known later at 490 Yonge. The counter was manned by Frank White Sr., a much-loved character who would “roll his own” cigarettes and entertaining in his love for giving you a deal between retail and wholesale pricing.(my grandfather). But it was actually Frank White Jr who got into the industry very early on in Toronto’s TV age. The original Radio Trade was owned by Herold Weir in the 1930s and later purchased by Frank Jr.
He used RTS and the old Toronto De Forest radio assembly building in Toronto (which he rented) to build and market the first UHF -vhf tv tuner converter. (Patent later purchased by General Instruments )
RTS has one of the best receiving and power tube stocks in the Province. They later purchased GE and Westinghouse receiving tube stocks when those manufactures left that part of the industry. They also stocked transmitting tubes, but not as much-or by special order. They sold ham equipment for many years too.
RTS later relocated to Rexdale and expanded into industrial electronics as “Electronic Supplies Inc”
You can read more on my QRZ page at VA3VFO and see 3 photos of all 3 stores on Yonge St through history.
There was also Abbey Electronics that pre-dated ESI in the same building. They also sold electronic parts and Tubes and were the official parts supplier for some TV manufacturers..I can’t recall which. ..They were more “Mail-Order” oriented but had a pick-up / retail counter as well.
I always wanted to do a website on Toronto’s “radio row” on Yonge St., but never seemed to have the time.
From Michael, W1RC, VE2XL
The number one surplus electronic electronics store in Montreal (if not in all of Canada) in the 1960s and 1970s (right into the 90s) was Electronic Tube Corporation better knows as ETCO.
Their first store was on McGill Street and in the 80s they moved to Pointe Claire. They also had a huge mailorder business and also expanded into the United States with a store in Plattsburgh NY and a PO box in Alburgh VT.
ETCO had both government and industrial surplus. I don’t know if anything is left today (2023) although the owner, Marvin Birnbom VE2ANN is still alive in Montreal.
In the 60s he even had some BC-611 WWII walkie talkies and I persuaded him to sell me one. He told me he would give it to me if i could get it on the air. It had a 3.885 crystal in it and I did get it on the air.
I still have it.