So Jim used to work at CompRenew, and they made some chages to their policy, so he retired. He has grandkids now, and thought it was a good time. But he still had lots of contacts with people getting rid of old stuff, and a friend at Valley City Environmental Cleanup said he could have some space in the warehouse, so he started V. C. Tech Source.
I went over there today to see what he has to offer. It’s very much a warehouse. There was some kind of mechanic work going on behind the fiber board walls, and had the feel of a body shop. The floor was kind of dirty, and stuff was piled in boxes. The monitors were all on a nice rack though, and he’s almost done with the power array so they can all be on at the same time.
I bought a 17" Dell Trinitron monitor and 4 port 3com hub for a total of $21.00. I got a discount because my girls are cute. Seriously. Normally the monitor would be $25 and the hub $5.
He doesn’t have a phone there, he thinks it would be rude to the customers that come in to be on the phone all the time. He doesn’t use email because he doesn’t feel like it.
In addition to "modern" stuff, he has some really sweet old stuff. A VERY old radio, an Atari 2600, Apple II, and some REALLY old laptops. He had a bunch of old stereo equipment, some old video cameras, and other stuff.
All in all, it’s a cool place, Jim’s a really nice guy, and the prices are unbeatable. It’s at 1040 Market street, which is down by the water treatment plant south of town. Take Monroe south and it turns into Market.
UPDATE: They have a website now.
I bought speakers there for $5. I know I can buy new ones for not much more, but I pick out some Cambridge soundworks ones that I like.
I have purchased a compaq Dual Xeon 550 (512K cache) server with a gig of ram, an old (silver knobby) style FM tuner (works awesome), an iMac 333 (got OS-X running already), and a parts laptop (10.2″ touchscreen LCD anyone?) and have spent less than 80 bucks. Just test what you buy, the place is awesome. Dont be afraid to haggle, thats a whole part of the ‘ambiance’