Halted is closing

[David Lesher]

I got a sad email earlier this month:


It is with sincere regret that we are announcing the final days for HSC in Silicon Valley.

After 54 years we will be closing our doors for the final time on Saturday, January 12, 2019.

We hope you can stop by or visit our website and stock up on high tech goodies one last time.

The deals will be better than ever!

https://www.halted.com


Halted is one of, if not the last, surplus stores in the
Valley. I've always visited when in the area.

[Rob]

Post by David Lesher
It is with sincere regret that we are announcing the final days for HSC in Silicon Valley.
After 54 years we will be closing our doors for the final time on Saturday, January 12, 2019.
We hope you can stop by or visit our website and stock up on high tech goodies one last time.
The deals will be better than ever!
https://www.halted.com
Halted is one of, if not the last, surplus stores in the
Valley. I've always visited when in the area.

This kind of stores (much smaller of course) have closed decades ago here.
They need supply and demand, and both of them are diminishing.

The last store in my city that sells electronic components (new) has closed
a couple of months ago, even though it had added lots of side business
over the years (like computer cables and parts, electronic gadgets, etc).
It became more like a Radio Shack store. (those have closed here too)

The owner says that he lost the profitable business because people search
the internet before buying something, and the only business left basically
was low-value stuff.

[Scott Dorsey]

Post by Rob

Post by David Lesher
Halted is one of, if not the last, surplus stores in the
Valley. I've always visited when in the area.

This kind of stores (much smaller of course) have closed decades ago here.
They need supply and demand, and both of them are diminishing.

The supply has changed and moved. There are now huge components markets
in China and Korea that sell manufacturing surplus the way Halted and Poly-Paks
used to do.

The military surplus is still coming out of the pipe, though, and I am seeing
lots of people bidding on test equipment and junk at the military auctions,
but I am not seeing where it's going. It's definitely less interesting than
it was when I was a kid... lots of generic computer equipment now.

Post by Rob
The owner says that he lost the profitable business because people search
the internet before buying something, and the only business left basically
was low-value stuff.

Or stuff that people needed urgently. As hardware has become more reliable
and cheap enough that people could keep spares, there is less of that than
there used to be.
--scott

[Rob]

Post by Scott Dorsey

Post by Rob

Post by David Lesher
Halted is one of, if not the last, surplus stores in the
Valley. I've always visited when in the area.

This kind of stores (much smaller of course) have closed decades ago here.
They need supply and demand, and both of them are diminishing.

The supply has changed and moved. There are now huge components markets
in China and Korea that sell manufacturing surplus the way Halted and Poly-Paks
used to do.

But it is probably not worth it to ship it in bulk to the USA or Europe
to sell it there at surplus prices.
Maybe a surplus store could survive in those countries when shipping
individual orders.

Post by Scott Dorsey
The military surplus is still coming out of the pipe, though, and I am seeing
lots of people bidding on test equipment and junk at the military auctions,
but I am not seeing where it's going. It's definitely less interesting than
it was when I was a kid... lots of generic computer equipment now.

We had military and general electronics production companies that sold
surplus in the old days but the manufacturing plants have moved and so
the supply dried up.

Post by Scott Dorsey

Post by Rob
The owner says that he lost the profitable business because people search
the internet before buying something, and the only business left basically
was low-value stuff.

Or stuff that people needed urgently. As hardware has become more reliable
and cheap enough that people could keep spares, there is less of that than
there used to be.
--scott

He said that when people want to buy some more pricey equipment they shop
on internet and order it elsewhere, but when they need batteries or a
USB charging cable for their phone they walk in and buy it in the store.
He could not survive from those transactions alone.

Last time I have been there I "urgently" needed some 74HC123 to use in
a PPS pulse stretcher I intended to install a few days later. When I
got home it turned out they had grabbed 74HC132 from the drawers.
Fortunately I could still use those for the purpose...
But normally I order components and gadgets at Aliexpress, they are
delivered in 10-14 days and cost a fraction of what I was used to paying
in local stores (that were getting impossible to go to except by bicycle).
And when I would require quality stuff and quick delivery there are lots
of options as well.

[Scott Dorsey]

Post by Rob

Post by Scott Dorsey

Post by Rob

Post by David Lesher
Halted is one of, if not the last, surplus stores in the
Valley. I've always visited when in the area.

This kind of stores (much smaller of course) have closed decades ago here.
They need supply and demand, and both of them are diminishing.

The supply has changed and moved. There are now huge components markets
in China and Korea that sell manufacturing surplus the way Halted and Poly-Paks
used to do.

But it is probably not worth it to ship it in bulk to the USA or Europe
to sell it there at surplus prices.
Maybe a surplus store could survive in those countries when shipping
individual orders.

They do! They sell on alibaba and sometimes on ebay! There are all KINDS
of bulk electronics parts on ebay.

Post by Rob
Last time I have been there I "urgently" needed some 74HC123 to use in
a PPS pulse stretcher I intended to install a few days later. When I
got home it turned out they had grabbed 74HC132 from the drawers.
Fortunately I could still use those for the purpose...
But normally I order components and gadgets at Aliexpress, they are
delivered in 10-14 days and cost a fraction of what I was used to paying
in local stores (that were getting impossible to go to except by bicycle).
And when I would require quality stuff and quick delivery there are lots
of options as well.

Welcome to the New Surplus Era.
--scott

[Bill Gunshannon]

Post by Scott Dorsey
Welcome to the New Surplus Era.
--scott

Well, I pretty much gave up on the "surplus" era decades ago
when I watched surplus Army teletype vans come into the local
surplus dealer only to be told they were not available. He
later went out of business. Hard to run that kind of a
business from a Federal Pen. Seems the government surplus
people in the states had learned they could get a lot more
money shipping them to South America and selling them to
drug cartels. I still often wonder how many AN/GRC-26/D
vans are sitting scattered around the South American
jungles now that they do business over sat phones. :-)

bill

[Scott Dorsey]

Post by Bill Gunshannon
Well, I pretty much gave up on the "surplus" era decades ago
when I watched surplus Army teletype vans come into the local
surplus dealer only to be told they were not available. He
later went out of business. Hard to run that kind of a
business from a Federal Pen. Seems the government surplus
people in the states had learned they could get a lot more
money shipping them to South America and selling them to
drug cartels. I still often wonder how many AN/GRC-26/D
vans are sitting scattered around the South American
jungles now that they do business over sat phones. :-)

That's the thing about surplus. It's WAY more profitable to sell something
to someone who is going to use it for the original purpose than to break it
down for something else. If you part it out, people with the original items
needing repair parts will pay WAY more than people just wanting random parts
for projects.

So if you have a military buyer, you're going to make a lot more money than
you will selling to hams. The problem is that the paperwork is a whole lot
worse and the paperwork is kind of crazy. I know I had to sign a form saying
that I would not export my AN/USM-141 oscilloscope to a foreign country.

Today's drug cartel is tomorrow's legitimate government and vice-versa...
--scott