All Electronics in LA is CLOSING

[EEVblog]

Gone after 56 years. Last day tomorrow.

https://www.allelectronics.com/

[bdunham7]

Wow!  I've been buying stuff from them since I was a small child--quite literally--and now that I live in CA I've managed to visit them.  I'm sad to see them go, but having seen their operations and knowing the area, the employment situtation and all that, it's a wonder that they've been able to stay open this long.  I'll probably have to spend a pile of money now, they actually have a lot of handy stuff.  I suspect they will be balls-to-the-wall busy for a bit as customers now need to stock up on all the stuff they won't be able to get anymore.

Edit:  It looks like I'm a bit late, they're substantially cleaned out already, at least the popular stuff.

[Brumby]

A shame in many ways, but probably inevitable with today's overpowering Chinese sources and the likes of Digikey, Mouser, etc.

We have seen some retail electronics stores disappear in Australia over the years, but still have Altronics and Jaycar with shopfronts you can walk into.

It is my opinion that Jaycar has been able to keep their head above water by stepping out into gimmick products - such as their Fly Gun - and general consumer gear - like torches and car fridges.  I can see it as being a commercial necessity so I don't criticise them for this because they still have components on the shelf.

Yes, we have other places such as RS Electronics - but you don't have the ability to browse in person.  For example, I have used RS Electronics a few times and all you walk in to is a counter where you can purchase on the spot, if you know the exact item you want and can wait while it's being picked.  Easier is you pick up an online order.

[EEVblog]

I'm sad to see them go, but having seen their operations and knowing the area, the employment situtation and all that, it's a wonder that they've been able to stay open this long.

When I heard LA, I suspected something like that.
Hard to know what's worse, LA or San Fran?

[bdunham7]

Hard to know what's worse, LA or San Fran?

All Electronics is actually out in Van Nuys, so I'm not referring to the current issues that you see in the news regarding flash mobs, homeless drug addicts and so on.  As far as that goes, SF is worse but LA is hot on its heels.  What I meant was the very high cost of real estate, high wages and difficulty finding employees.  I don't know why they are folding--whether they own the building and got an offer, rent the building and their rent tripled, a few key employees quit, the owner(s) have health issues.  I suspect it was a pretty niche business that didn't have the kind of profits that would make it marketable as a going concern. 

[rsjsouza]

Sad news... They join the fate of two similar stores here in the Dallas area that closed in the past three years.

[SiliconWizard]

Yeah that's kind of sad. If only it affected only electronics stores though. Soon enough there may not be any physical store left, except probably junk food and luxury goods.

[EEVblog]

All Electronics is actually out in Van Nuys, so I'm not referring to the current issues that you see in the news regarding flash mobs, homeless drug addicts and so on.  As far as that goes, SF is worse but LA is hot on its heels.  What I meant was the very high cost of real estate, high wages and difficulty finding employees.  I don't know why they are folding--whether they own the building and got an offer, rent the building and their rent tripled, a few key employees quit, the owner(s) have health issues.  I suspect it was a pretty niche business that didn't have the kind of profits that would make it marketable as a going concern.

After 56 years in the business you'd think they'd own the building?

[schmitt trigger]

Sad news... They join the fate of two similar stores here in the Dallas area that closed in the past three years.

I visited Tanner’s frequently when I lived in the DFW Metroplex.
It broke my heart when they folded.

[nctnico]

Yeah that's kind of sad. If only it affected only electronics stores though. Soon enough there may not be any physical store left, except probably junk food and luxury goods.

When visiting LA last year, I noticed some computer stores also had a whole bunch of electronics parts. I think Micro Center.

[bdunham7]

When visiting LA last year, I noticed some computer stores also had a whole bunch of electronics parts. I think Micro Center.

Micro Center does have a selection of electronic components and tools to support the Arduino/Raspberry Pi/hacker crowd, but it is their huge computer/TV/3D printer/etc business that sustains them.   Fry's had a pretty large inventory of electronics stuff and a large number of huge stores here in CA, but they folded a few years back.  They were the last place that you could go find a transistor, TTL IC, op-amp or random grommet for a project that couldn't wait a day.  Now there are literally none.  I suppose it is tough to support a retail business on $1.29 parts.

[bdunham7]

After 56 years in the business you'd think they'd own the building?

IIRC they moved at least once.  You'd be surprised at how many businesses rent forever as many landlords simply won't sell--partly because the entire sale price would be taxable as capital gains and partly because they are obstinate curmudgeons. 

[floobydust]

Why doesn't EEVblog have a "Vendors" section like DIYAudio forums?
Instead, we read here about these stores closing down, at the funeral.

Sad to hear of All Electronics closing down, but it was too expensive to ship to Canada and who is doing electronics in CA anyway, it's all out of Asia nowadays?
When they have a sale or new goodies, it would be nice to see it posted in that marketplace.
Not sure how to deal with the usual offenders that would post hourly lol like the chinese vendors or the barrage of scammers.

[bdunham7]

Sad to hear of All Electronics closing down, but it was too expensive to ship to Canada and who is doing electronics in CA anyway, it's all out of Asia nowadays?

I have to wonder if at least part of their issue might have been sourcing stuff, since their typical surplus sources were manufacturing leftovers, pulls and stuff.  I've noticed the same issue with surplus equipment dealers--their sources have dried up, not their customers. 

[floobydust]

What I see is surplus parts from decades ago for sale, they seem to not sell. Now they are ripe and have turned into "vintage" or "antique" status.

But Asia has an entire ecosystem to not waste any parts. Including my Aliexpress SOT-23 parts that appear to have nothing inside lol. Oops forgot the die. Any junk parts get used up.

North American surplus has either dried up or it's just too hard to manage. People don't know the old parts, their value, their use. Or little is actually bought/made component-wise.

I thought All Electronics and Chaney Electronics were related? Now it's Electronic Goldmine
Their kits are silly expensive. You can make kits for those surplus parts too, that's what used to drive it.

[nigelwright7557]

Its always sad to see another high street electronics vendor go under.
I used to have a Maplin just down the road.
Great if I needed a component in a hurry.
Sadly their prices were very high and so I tended to buy from RS, Mouser, CPC, Farnell or Digikey.
In their early days Maplin did a great mobile disco kit with amplifier, record decks mixer lights etc etc.

[mendip_discovery]

Its always sad to see another high street electronics vendor go under.
I used to have a Maplin just down the road.
Great if I needed a component in a hurry.
Sadly their prices were very high and so I tended to buy from RS, Mouser, CPC, Farnell or Digikey.
In their early days Maplin did a great mobile disco kit with amplifier, record decks mixer lights etc etc.

Sadly Maplins died not because of sales but because of the modern legal equivalent of asset stripping. They made 50% on stuff they sold and they were still busy but as they had been bought by investment groups that then took out a loan to pay themselves back for the amount they bought the company for, eventually after a few extra passes on pass-the-parcel it was left with a large debt that it could no longer pay back. Meanwhile the brand, website etc get sold to other companies so that it can be used again. Same happened to Toys' r Us.

When I win the lottery I might start a shop/scrap yard for old gear. Stack and stacks of kit with the good old smell of burnt caps and the dreaded Rifa caps. I will hire some of wizard-looking types that will talk for hours about solving the problem that you don't need to worry about.

[floobydust]

Yes, it's a common happening for financial weasels to run a brick and mortar chain into the ground.
Dick Smith, Maplin, Radio Shack - get control of the company, absolutely max out borrowing, blow cash on suspicious things, company can no longer service the massive debt, declare bankruptcy. Profit for all in the know.
Publicly-traded retailers have hedge funds playing similar games to profit from taking them down. Manipulate their stock with bad press releases etc.
It's a tragedy because these companies took many years to build up.

Here we have a very high commercial real estate vacancy rate, so the commercial real estate megacorps need to keep up their cashflow and satisfy investors, so... using their greed algo they are doubling rent.
It's 'stupid inflation' but small businesses are weakened after the pandemic and are just closing down instead of moving or trying to find a new lease reasonably priced.
I can see a wasteland of commercial vacancies right now, every complex has listings - and nobody is sounding the alarm bell or lowering rent.

[BILLPOD]

Before the internet I used to get catalogs from All Electronics and several others who's name escape me now, but the one I miss most is the one referred to as 'Crap Shack'.   I was at our local store at least once a week and always came home with an arm load of components, some of which I still have in their original packaging with price stickers.  The next thing I knew their wall of components was replaced with cell phone accessories,
and before long it was closed for good.   Ah, the good old days.

[Martian Tech]

Micro Center does have a selection of electronic components and tools to support the Arduino/Raspberry Pi/hacker crowd, but it is their huge computer/TV/3D printer/etc business that sustains them.   Fry's had a pretty large inventory of electronics stuff and a large number of huge stores here in CA, but they folded a few years back.  They were the last place that you could go find a transistor, TTL IC, op-amp or random grommet for a project that couldn't wait a day.  Now there are literally none.  I suppose it is tough to support a retail business on $1.29 parts.

In the LA area, there's still https://apexsurplus.com/shop and in Silicon Valley there's https://anchor-electronics.com/

[nigelwright7557]

Sadly Maplins died not because of sales but because of the modern legal equivalent of asset stripping. They made 50% on stuff they sold and they were still busy but as they had been bought by investment groups that then took out a loan to pay themselves back for the amount they bought the company for, eventually after a few extra passes on pass-the-parcel it was left with a large debt that it could no longer pay back. Meanwhile the brand, website etc get sold to other companies so that it can be used again. Same happened to Toys' r Us.

My local Maplin was mostly dead when I went in. I cant speak for other branches.
Four staff on, lights blazing and just me browsing.
I fell out with them once, I over heard a staff member saying about me that I come in quite often but never buy anything.
In fact, I spent thousands at Maplin over the years. The fact they often didnt have what I wanted in stock didnt help matters or were just too expensive.
A hundred resistors at Maplin were £17 and £3 at RS.
How to piss off customers !

Yes, they sold on the name and the high prices too !

[themadhippy]

and the high prices too

only in there later years,when they were mail order,and even with a handfull of shops they were always comparable to the other consumer suppliers.

A hundred resistors at Maplin were £17 and £3 at RS.

When maplins kicked off joe public wasnt welcome at RS, i seem to remember there was a  separate company under the RS umbrella that was aimed at  the hobbyist

[luudee]

Why is this a big surprise???

They cannot compete with online retailers like Mouser and Digikey, who, unlike Avnet, Farnel, etc, allow the small guy to buy items in small quantities.

I bet we will see this in many more areas besides electronics. I think groceries are next ...

luudee

[themadhippy]

I bet we will see this in many more areas besides electronics. I think groceries are next ...

come to the uk and you can already see it,the town i live in has  6 supermarkets around the outskirts ,we dont have a butchers , bakers,greengrocers  or fish monger any more so supermarket is the only option,the once thriving town centre is a wasteland  of charity shops nail bars ,vape centres or boarded up  stores and the heaving market twice a week now consists of 3 or 4 stalls.

[Zero999]

I bet we will see this in many more areas besides electronics. I think groceries are next ...

come to the uk and you can already see it,the town i live in has  6 supermarkets around the outskirts ,we dont have a butchers , bakers,greengrocers  or fish monger any more so supermarket is the only option,the once thriving town centre is a wasteland  of charity shops nail bars ,vape centres or boarded up  stores and the heaving market twice a week now consists of 3 or 4 stalls.

High taxes, rents and car parking charges have made this inevitable. It's being going on for over 25 years now.

I've heard California has effectively decriminalised low value shoplifting, which is partly responsible for the decline in retail.

[themadhippy]

High taxes, rents and car parking charges have made this inevitable. It's being going on for over 25 years now.

Thats certainly aided the decline ,and it almost appears a catch 22 situation,income from town centre  goes down so council  increases parking charges and rates to try and maintain there previous income levels.Also it dosnt help when the supermarket eases  the path through planning by bundling a much needed school/relief road/community centre that the council cant afford ,into the plans.

[bdunham7]

we dont have a butchers , bakers,greengrocers  or fish monger any more

Pardon my ignorance as I don't get to the UK often enough--but I thought by now that all shops are Tesco?

[dobsonr741]

come to the uk and you can already see it,the town i live in has  6 supermarkets around the outskirts ,we dont have a butchers , bakers,greengrocers  or fish monger any more

Something is different in Stockholm. Plenty of small shops still doing great.

[Rick Law]

I bet we will see this in many more areas besides electronics. I think groceries are next ...

come to the uk and you can already see it,the town i live in has  6 supermarkets around the outskirts ,we dont have a butchers , bakers,greengrocers  or fish monger any more so supermarket is the only option,the once thriving town centre is a wasteland  of charity shops nail bars ,vape centres or boarded up  stores and the heaving market twice a week now consists of 3 or 4 stalls.

High taxes, rents and car parking charges have made this inevitable. It's being going on for over 25 years now.

I've heard California has effectively decriminalised low value shoplifting, which is partly responsible for the decline in retail.

The shoplifting is a definite issue in CA and other States that adopted this "forgiving" approach.  Anything under (around) $950 is a civil offense like a parking ticket.  Police would not even come when you call them for such crime occurring in your store.  Adding to the "leakage", it attracts the wrong kinds.  They just camp out by the store, go in to grab what they need, and go back out to their tents.  No too many real paying shoppers want to walk around homeless tents so as to get into a store to do proper shopping.

CNN was make a news story about that:
"CNN witnesses 3 alleged thefts in 30 minutes while reporting on shoplifting"


Not just small businesses, even high-end chains are closing:
"...The Westfield San Francisco Centre, previously a downtown San Francisco shopping mecca that once housed over 70 top-tier retail brands, is pulling the plug and turning the keys back over to its lenders after defaulting on its $558 million loan..."
https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2023/06/14/westfield-mall-joins-the-mass-retail-exodus-out-of-san-francisco/

I have relatives in CA.  I was told Oakland is worst!  Even Santa Barbara (where rich and famous live, folks like Harry and Megan in Montecito which is an area within Santa Barbara), Palm Springs (retirement place of choice for many Hollywood stars), and other cities are having problems and increasing in magnitude and frequency.

With or without on-line commerce, I can't imagine how an Electronics store stay open in such "forgiving" environment.  A tiny package can easily worth over $100 or even $900.  A shoplifter can walk out the store with his/her pockets hardly full or heavy, and the store is out almost a thousand dollars...

[Zero999]

we dont have a butchers , bakers,greengrocers  or fish monger any more

Pardon my ignorance as I don't get to the UK often enough--but I thought by now that all shops are Tesco?

Far from it. Tesco might be the most popular supermarket, but most shops are run by other companies. The nearest shop to me is Sainsbury's and my parents' nearest shop is a co-op.

I bet we will see this in many more areas besides electronics. I think groceries are next ...

come to the uk and you can already see it,the town i live in has  6 supermarkets around the outskirts ,we dont have a butchers , bakers,greengrocers  or fish monger any more so supermarket is the only option,the once thriving town centre is a wasteland  of charity shops nail bars ,vape centres or boarded up  stores and the heaving market twice a week now consists of 3 or 4 stalls.

High taxes, rents and car parking charges have made this inevitable. It's being going on for over 25 years now.

I've heard California has effectively decriminalised low value shoplifting, which is partly responsible for the decline in retail.

The shoplifting is a definite issue in CA and other States that adopted this "forgiving" approach.  Anything under (around) $950 is a civil offense like a parking ticket.  Police would not even come when you call them for such crime occurring in your store.  Adding to the "leakage", it attracts the wrong kinds.  They just camp out by the store, go in to grab what they need, and go back out to their tents.  No too many real paying shoppers want to walk around homeless tents so as to get into a store to do proper shopping.

What's the reasoning behind such an absurd idea? Is police funding an issue? I would have thought all the shops closing would result in less tax revenue for public services such as the police.

[bdunham7]

What's the reasoning behind such an absurd idea?

Dismantling the carceral state, of course!

[nctnico]

come to the uk and you can already see it,the town i live in has  6 supermarkets around the outskirts ,we dont have a butchers , bakers,greengrocers  or fish monger any more

Something is different in Stockholm. Plenty of small shops still doing great.

From what I've seen this varies from country to country. In France and Italy you can find lots of small stores. I think it mainly depends on what people are willing to pay, how much shop owners need to pay for rent and whether shops can keep people coming in.

I buy most stuff online because local shops typically don't have what I want to buy. And if they have, it is way more expensive compared to buying something online. The only two shops I visit in the city center are the icecream shop and a shop that has all kinds of DIY stuff (but they close due to the owners retiring). The rest of the shops in the city center is just clothes and shoes which I buy online because the choice in the shops in minimal.

[Rick Law]

...
What's the reasoning behind such an absurd idea? Is police funding an issue? I would have thought all the shops closing would result in less tax revenue for public services such as the police.

Laws are made by politicians and politicians are typically not elected base on their ability to reason.  Deeper discussion on that would not be appropriate in this forum.

[MarginallyStable]

What's the reasoning behind such an absurd idea?

Wealth re-distribution, equity, bla bla bla.

[tom66]

High taxes, rents and car parking charges have made this inevitable. It's being going on for over 25 years now.

Thats certainly aided the decline ,and it almost appears a catch 22 situation,income from town centre  goes down so council  increases parking charges and rates to try and maintain there previous income levels.Also it dosnt help when the supermarket eases  the path through planning by bundling a much needed school/relief road/community centre that the council cant afford ,into the plans.

Car parking is contentious.  Free car parking is generally a bad thing to have because everyone who could commute by bike/walking/bus/etc has no incentive to do so.  What might work better is some 'parking validation' system where the first two hours of parking are discounted/free if you shop there, and thereafter you pay the normal rate.  Car parks aren't free to build or maintain either, a typical cost is around £10,000 per car parking space (including manoeuvring room, you typically need 15m^2 per car) and a typical surface level car park has about a 15-20 year lifespan.  So either it is subsidised by all council rate payers or you pay a fee to park.

A bigger issue is that rent for a lot of these city centre units is unreasonably high and cannot be lowered usually because mortgages on these properties define a rent that must be charged.  This leads to unlet units, which then leads to less people visiting the town centre, which leads to more decline... And I can tell you, I live in a town where it is free to park in the centre: the town centre is still pretty run down despite the car parks being bustling.  It might help a little bit, but without places people want to actually visit, it's limited.

[nctnico]

High taxes, rents and car parking charges have made this inevitable. It's being going on for over 25 years now.

Thats certainly aided the decline ,and it almost appears a catch 22 situation,income from town centre  goes down so council  increases parking charges and rates to try and maintain there previous income levels.Also it dosnt help when the supermarket eases  the path through planning by bundling a much needed school/relief road/community centre that the council cant afford ,into the plans.

Car parking is contentious.  Free car parking is generally a bad thing to have because everyone who could commute by bike/walking/bus/etc has no incentive to do so.  What might work better is some 'parking validation' system where the first two hours of parking are discounted/free if you shop there, and thereafter you pay the normal rate.  Car parks aren't free to build or maintain either, a typical cost is around £10,000 per car parking space (including manoeuvring room, you typically need 15m^2 per car) and a typical surface level car park has about a 15-20 year lifespan.  So either it is subsidised by all council rate payers or you pay a fee to park.

A bigger issue is that rent for a lot of these city centre units is unreasonably high and cannot be lowered usually because mortgages on these properties define a rent that must be charged.  This leads to unlet units, which then leads to less people visiting the town centre, which leads to more decline... And I can tell you, I live in a town where it is free to park in the centre: the town centre is still pretty run down despite the car parks being bustling.  It might help a little bit, but without places people want to actually visit, it's limited.

You are wrong about that for two reasons.

1) For some types of shops that sell big items, you'll need free parking. There is a shopping mall in the city I live in. Until about a decade ago, parking was free and shops where doing OK. When paid parking was introduced 90% of the shops closed due to people staying away. I used to go there regulary with my wife and we would have lunch there as well. But not since the city introduced paid parking. Nowadays some of the shoppingspace is filled with low budget shops but the mall never recovered.

2) People like their comforts so forget about trying to make people come by car. Today I read an interesting article in the paper about sharing cars. The authors compared sharing cars with not having a bathroom in your own home and wash yourself from the sink with cold water and going to a central bath house once a week. Would you want to go back to such a system? Just as sharing a car, going to a central bath house would save a lot of resources. Try to get people to give up their own bathrooms first before trying to get people to give up their cars...

If you want to make people go to shops by bike or on foot, get the shops closer to the people.

[thm_w]

People didn't stop going to the malls because of paid parking: https://www.retailcouncil.org/province/national/how-mall-foot-traffic-shifted-post-pandemic-and-what-it-means-for-long-term-success/

and no all electronics didn't close due to shoplifting lol


Assessed value of the property is $2.3 mil, current property tax is $30k, which seems high (~50% higher than a local electronics store here in Vancouver). But wouldn't expect it to be an  issue for a viable business? Don't know what the lease rate is.

https://www.propertyshark.com/mason/Property/15915807/14928-Oxnard-St-Van-Nuys-CA-91411/

[rsjsouza]

Online orders are still open. I just received a package from them. Quite interesting prices at the moment and I took the opportunity to restock some of the more obscure items.

It is their swan song.

[dobsonr741]

The final day to place an online or phone order is Tuesday, September 12th (5PM PDT), says the front page now.

[RJSV]

 Reminds me of older store;  Quinntronics, 1978, parts store run by Mike Quinn, in Berkeley, California.
Building was a little more old, there in the west side industrial area, and Mr. Quinn would, personally, tease and 'insult' the customer, (playfully).   He would often use a saying like:
   'Latvians and Lesbians Welcome, step up to counter, please.'

   It was one of the better places to obtain unusual 7400 series IC's and other items then.

[chmedly]

Didn't All Electronics have two locations at one point?

I used to order several times a year from them. I even had an intercom project I wanted to do and started an order (apparently) just before they announced the closing but never completed it. I really wish I would have gotten an email about the shutdown! They had several unique unobtanium kind of items I would have stocked up on.

[T3sl4co1l]

The phoenix rises: https://aretronics.com/

I suppose that means they'll be a fraction of their former selves, both in terms of catalog size and number of employees; effectively a downsizing occurred, I suppose.  Maybe "downsizing" is putting it lightly; "storefront" looks to be just some guy's house!

Tim

[Smokey]

Their business contact info address is a house in a residential cul-de-sac. 

[bdunham7]

Their business contact info address is a house in a residential cul-de-sac.

I would have left that address off if I was setting up their website.  People start showing up, neighbors complain and call the zoning department, no bueno.

But I'm not shocked that they would go for the lowest cost footprint and just use one their houses as the office.  The rest of that business could be run out of a couple of large self-storage lockers or a more remote, non-retail commercial building.

Here's the original building listed--I don't think you'd want to try to restart that business with a $5M property.

https://www.loopnet.com/Listing/14928-Oxnard-St-Van-Nuys-CA/29489606/

[ogdento]

oh man I've been under a rock... I just tried to log in to check my order history, didn't realize they'd shut!  bummer, I loved looking through their catalogs and probably placed my first order 35-40 years ago.

[DiodeDipShit]

oh man I've been under a rock... I just tried to log in to check my order history, didn't realize they'd shut!  bummer, I loved looking through their catalogs and probably placed my first order 35-40 years ago.

No Surprise. The middle man with the better idea, sold us out. Most everything seems to be all off shore now.
In the North East, Back in the day, I could get anything from Cramer Electronics or most common components from Radio Shack.
Cramers history:       http://books.google.com/books?id=GU-_LnIOwWUC&pg=PA31
And the Beat goes on............

[catcat]

Sorry to hear that. Everything hopes for the best!