A Sad Day in Ann Arbor, MI, Purchase Radio Closing

[dgwojo]

Ann Arbor News

Purchase Radio Supply signs off this weekend Parts store served local customers for 77 years
Thursday, February 15, 2007
BY STEFANIE MURRAY
News Business Reporter
After 77 years of selling ham radios and thousands upon thousands of resistors, transistors and reams of wire and switches, Ann Arbor's Purchase Radio Supply will close this weekend.

Dan McCollough says he and his wife, store owner Ola Jeanne Purchase McCollough, are ready to retire and move to Minnesota to be closer to their children and grandchildren.

"I would have liked to find someone to take over and run the business, but it's hard to find someone who's willing to be here six days a week,'' said McCollough, 71. "That's what it takes to run a small business.''
McCollough is not yet sure what will happen to Purchase Radio's electronic parts and equipment - he's still negotiating the possible sale of it all to a local man who may open a new storefront - but most parts will likely end up on the online auction site eBay.

In the meantime, McCollough is discounting some products and will offer to sell items in bulk. He's hoping to sell as much as he can in the next few days so he has less to pack and move.

Already, McCollough is anticipating it'll take four to five weeks to pack and move. He needs to be out of the building by the end of March, as he and his wife plan to sell it.

The store was originally started by ham radio operator Roy Purchase in 1930, in a space on Main Street in downtown Ann Arbor. The shop moved several times before settling in its current location west of the railroad tracks on Hoover Street, in 1957.

Little has changed since then: Dusty antique radios line a shelf near the tin ceiling, seven rows behind the register are filled top to bottom with worn shelves and drawers housing the tiniest of electronic components and amateur radio magazines are available dating back to the late 1940s.

It used to be a wholesale operation, but today retail sales dominate its business.

"There's not too many stores like this in Michigan,'' McCollough said.

Longtime employee John Ransom - who ran the sister store Purchase Camera Shop for many years until it closed in 1990 - said there used to be several small, locally owned radio and electronic parts stores in Ann Arbor, but all have closed. Competition from Internet-based businesses is especially stiff today.

"That is kind of what ate their lunch,'' said Dan Romanchik, past president of Arrow Communications Association, a local amateur radio club. "These Internet and mail order outfits can carry a huge stock of stuff and now with next day delivery, it's almost no big deal to get stuff.''

Over the years, Purchase Radio's clientele included everyone from amateur radio operators to Boy Scout troops to high-tech spin-off companies out of the University of Michigan.

But slowly, the products that crowded the short aisles inside Purchase Radio are disappearing.

"It's been good knowing you - thanks for all your years of service,'' one customer said on his way out the door earlier this week.

Indeed, longtime customers like Jeff Stevens, 50, of Grass Lake, will miss the shop.

"When I needed something quickly, I could call Dan up and he'd have it,'' said Stevens, a private electronics design consultant who has been visiting Purchase Radio since he was 8 years old. "This place is an institution.''

[Arkay]

This is said. first Radio shack changed all out of recognition and still couldn't "make it". Now the few remaining Mom-and-Pop (or at least Pop ) type shops that are left seem to be disappearing, too.

It's probably not practical, but I wonder if AK collectively could pool resources to buy out this guy's stock, and perhaps the stocks of other, similar stores, then provide/draw parts from those stocks to supply AKers who need them, as needed. People who chipped in would get equivalent credit for purchases, and any profit from sale of extra items (eg, auction of those old radios mentioned in the article) could either be distributed among the AK investors or donated to AK. The magazines could either be sold or gradually have their more interesting parts scanned and posted here. Key to this whole idea would be cheap storage space: anyone near there have a huge empty basement to store the stuff in? This whole idea might be too ambitious and impractical, but it would be one way to ensure greater availability of increasingly-scarce parts in coming years. The more of these places that close, the harder it will be to source the bits and pieces needed to keep our gear going. Just a thought.

THEN AGAIN, if, as the article suggests, the near-immediate availablity of everything via internet is that good, then maybe there is no point in this. Hard for me to assess: we still have such shops in Hong Kong (although fewer than there used to be), so I source everything locally and don't buy via the net.

[Adam]

That is sad to hear, when I was in Ann Arbor, I got lots of stuff from them: my '54 Westinghouse b/w console, my Atwater-Kent 76 radio, about 1000 sams folders, some NOS CRTs, and old test equipment, among other stuff.

But, this place has a lot of old TV stuff, that someone should really pick up. Particularly the couple hundred early NOS flybacks in the attic, and this place is also loaded with vertical output transformers, yokes, and thousands and thousands, probably tens of thousands of tubes. Lots of really cool stuff, for anyone near there it is definetly worth the drive out there to check it out.

[dgwojo]

Originally Posted by Adam

That is sad to hear, when I was in Ann Arbor, I got lots of stuff from them: my '54 Westinghouse b/w console, my Atwater-Kent 76 radio, about 1000 sams folders, some NOS CRTs, and old test equipment, among other stuff.

But, this place has a lot of old TV stuff, that someone should really pick up. Particularly the couple hundred early NOS flybacks in the attic, and this place is also loaded with vertical output transformers, yokes, and thousands and thousands, probably tens of thousands of tubes. Lots of really cool stuff, for anyone near there it is definetly worth the drive out there to check it out.

Too bad today (2/17/2007) is their last day open, I wish I had pictures to post of this time capsule, I always felt funny about asking if I could snap some pics, after 77 years you'd imagine they'd be there forever!! The best part of Purchase was their prices, I always paid the same as the internet suppliers and there was no freight, what a deal!! They will be missed, Dave.

[ashok]

Hi everyone,

The other day, my boss saw the Purchase Radio owners at a local sandwich shop. Knowing my interest in tubes and the fact that I used to go there often, he found out that all of Purchase's stock was bought by Van's Electronics in Ida, MI, about 30 miles from Ann Arbor. So, if you are suffering from withdrawal symptoms due to not to being able to go to Purchase, here is your chance for a fix.

Van's Electronics
2828 Lewis Ave
Ida, MI

Ph: 734-269-6196
FAX: 734-269-2659

[dgwojo]

Originally Posted by ashok

Hi everyone,

The other day, my boss saw the Purchase Radio owners at a local sandwich shop. Knowing my interest in tubes and the fact that I used to go there often, he found out that all of Purchase's stock was bought by Van's Electronics in Ida, MI, about 30 miles from Ann Arbor. So, if you are suffering from withdrawal symptoms due to not to being able to go to Purchase, here is your chance for a fix.

Van's Electronics
2828 Lewis Ave
Ida, MI

Ph: 734-269-6196
FAX: 734-269-2659

Excellent info, I wonder what their prices will be like??

[Thyratron]

It's really unfortunate to hear of the closing. I guess when a large part of the population has little concern past that of the latest silver-plastic "throwaway" junk, it's hard to keep a great business like that around. Hopefully Van's will keep their spirit alive!