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| - For those of you just tuning in, technology - and this thing called the Internet - have changed things. Sometime between the beginning of time and about fifteen years ago, geeks of all stripes delighted in fooling around with electronics, building Ham radios and blinking lights and all sorts of other wonderfulness. They had their own special place where they could go, be with other geeks, and contribute to the burgeoning geek economy. This place was called "Radio Shack" (note the space).
Then computers went mainstream, and it all went to hell. People were more interested in playing computer games or writing their own software than building things with blinking lights, so Radio Shack changed from a geek's paradise into just another consumer electronics store, stopped selling their own high-quality reasonably priced brands in favour of the same national brands everyone else sold, dropped the space, and (eventually) became The Source. The last vestiges of its former glory are seen in the small selection of vastly overpriced switches and lights inexplicably still in nearly every store.
(Yes, I'm still bitter.)
In the meantime, electronics geeks (remember them?) gathered around a small number of remaining retailers. Some larger stores remained, largely in the suburbs and catering more to corporate clients than hobbyists. Major distributors got bigger, and went online, where some of them had hobbyist-friendly policies (like small or no minimum order requirements). The problem with these places is you needed to know what you're looking for - once you knew that, it was just a matter of finding it.
As of late, there's been a resurgence of hobby electronics. We've got projects like the Arduino and places like Spark Fun Electronics bringing cool new stuff to do, but the need to know what you're looking for still persists to some degree, despite the new online communities. What we need is a place where the geekier set can congregate, see what's new, and potentially meet other geeks such that new, geekier ideas can arise.
This is (finally!) where we come to Creatron Inc. It's a rather small store at the intersection of College and Spadina, relatively close to two major Universities (U of T and Ryerson), one hacker space (Hacklab.to) and at least one college (OCAD). This means that the steady flow of geeky foot traffic is damn near guaranteed. Inside is the familiar selection of resistors, capacitors, connectors and transistors. But it's what else is there that's perhaps most impressive - the new stuff. Specialty ICs and sensors, Arduino boards and accessories, locally-designed robotics boards and test equipment, all behind the counter for your perusal, with a few units set out to see firsthand.
It's this that sets Creatron apart from the remnants of Radio Shack, from the parts dealers we've had to put up with in its absence, and from the disappearing old-school electronics stores - the new stuff. Previously the domain of, well, domains on the Internet (ha!), seeing it firsthand means a far better experience than just ordering from a webpage. Being able to walk in with some cash and walk out with the part you need - and something else you didn't, but looked too cool to pass up - beats waiting for a courier to screw up the shipment any day. Add to that the knowledgeable people who both work there and frequent the shop, and you've got a rather potent combination.
Am I saying the store represents some sort of revolutionary concept? Far from it - it's just an incredibly useful mixture of what's evidently an old idea - a well-stocked electronics store - with the new technology we all crave so much. Other stores in the area are starting to pick up on the trend - Sayal Electronics out in the suburbs and places further distant has a new selection of educational kits, and the Home Hardware / Supremetronic down the street sells a few Arduino bits now - but their stock still tends towards parts older than I am.
That's not to say that Creatron doesn't have a few faults. Though the passive components are generally cheap (10 resistors for 10 cents!) and the transistors and basic ICs are quite reasonable, expect to pay a good bit more than you would online for the newer and more exciting stuff. This is not surprising - taxes, duties, shipping, and retail overhead all need to be paid somehow. But for me, the instant gratification of walking out of the store with the part I need on the same day I found out I needed it, trumps all that.
Bottom line: if you're into Electronics, you MUST check them out. I guarantee you'll be back.
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