Apex Surplus Corporation

Put on your pocket protector, great place to nerd out. My first stop for hard to find electronic parts.

This is a very cool place to visit. One if a kind shop/prop rental/and sort of a museum of old tech. They have all kinds of parts/hardware/tech. Old and vintage that you probably can't find anywhere else. Some stuff they only rent out as props for Movies/Shows. They have big outdoor area with unique items. If you are searching for a part you can't find, they most likely will have it here. If you like tinkering with gadgets and building/repairing old tech, you will enjoy this place. I had some equipment at home from another place I needed to test before return period expired. The first time I came here to find a rca to bnc adapter that no one sells anymore and they had it. Adam, Mike, and Steve are all very polite, friendly, and professional.

If you need the kind of stuff they sell at Apex - then as far as I know - within LA - there's no better place. The magnitude of their collection of wares is second to none, and it's all arranged in a reasonably logical order. I can't go there unless I have quite a bit of time to spare because it's easy to lose track of time exploring the aisles. While this place is incredible it's hard not to feel a little sad looking at all this stuff. Just like Lukeys hardware most of the stock for sale (I believe) comes from the countless long-shuttered businesses that used to be part of the immense SFV aircraft manufacturing supply chain. If you're old enough you might recall a time when we used to build airplanes here.

Such a cool establishment. Wild collection of materials to rent and buy. And the 'live' electronics shipping container is a real treat. Ownership is friendly and helpful.

Mostly operates as RENTAL now. No purchase.
I had to put everything back. I understand the shift in business but still very frustrating to pull something from the bottom of a trash pile, wipe off the dirt -only to hear - "oh no that's for rent."

What an amazing place to check out. I wish I could give it more stars but two issues I have with Apex that prevents me from going there more often is the high prices and trying to find items you're trying to find that you specifically need on your laundry list.
The people at Apex have been very nice to me and us locals really need to support local mom and pop business's like this, we cant let them close down but I've have problem getting help there that know where the inventory specifically is and where things are without having to spend a hour or two just to look through boxes in futile for just one item. They can point you down a aisle but have see the inventory in those aisles? and most things are loosely organized and random inside cardboard boxes with many different times in those boxes. I cant really blame if they don't know where a 120v LED signal light would or a 120v on-off toggle switch would be as they have an incredibly large inventory of many random items in many different voltages and styles. For me to get the most out of Apex and get the most value out of it, I would need to spend weeks (years?) just going through the aisles, peaking in all the boxes to find out what they first have and where it is. There's a lot of potential.

I think I can rationalize the high prices as they get business from film studios, which they prefer and also to be able to offer so many random and esoteric items that are rarely bought that is expensive to warehouse with low turnover. Having said that, most items are badly stored and not organized to the point that its a good chance you won't find it and hope you don't experience an earthquake there :) There's a couple of other similar stores locally (not many) that are sort of similar with same prices but much better organized so its much quicker in & out. Sadly, I often find it easier to just order online or go to another store that has a similar item to save the time going there, spending that long time out of the shop looking for something I need and then leaving empty handed can be problematic. I would very much rather support my local business like Apex but I very often leave empty handed or cant afford the price. I also wished there metal prices per the pound were much better, I see so many scrap pieces that have been there for years because its priced so high, especially the random welded aluminum scrap and metal sheets with many holes in them.

They're are many things that you can only find at Apex and are very unique to the extreme so go check it out and see if something works for you but just be prepared.

Apex Electronics in a nutshell. This place is a real five-star dump.
(that I rate four-stars )

But that is a good thing. Here's where equipment goes to die.

Apex digs body parts out of carcasses. Those parts then create new life.

When you visit Apex you will find endless crap piles, in turn piled on other crap piles.

I have been coming here a long time, so long in fact that I knew the dad of the present owner (the son of course).

The way Apex works is to walk from isle to isle in a pack rat's museum of electronics feeling a little overwhelmed. Then you get the Apex effect: Missing Time. That's right, you walk in here at 10am and before you know it someone announces "We're closing".

I almost got locked-in here once. Be careful. Not a comfortable sleep over.

The pricing system here is unique. No pricing. Just ask as you check out and they will supply a random number. I finally realized that since I am playing a slot machine of price I should just ask all the employees separately and see who is lowest. Then I try to encourage the most price friendly employee to check me out. Works.

Customer service is not the greatest. You are on your own mostly. They are mostly willing to point you in a direction. I get better assistance from other customers.

In my best judgment, if you are just looking for a few common parts don't come here. You will waste time. This is a place for making deals on larger orders, like a small box full or a roll of something. If you are looking for movie props, I think you will do well here. Or just get free admission to a museum full of crap.

Thanks for reading Goose Review.

This place is not taking covid 19 protocol seriously. Employee in counter not wearing mask he gets very close to customers exposing customers with spread. I went upstairs to talk to the owner ( melissa ) she did not care about my complaint. I will report this business to health department these businesses not following protocol for safety or wearing ppe to protect customers should be closed out. I also noticed some other employees in the yard not wearing mask they just don't care including the owner. This is not the first time I had noticed they don't care about spreading this virus.

I have been going here for years looking for electronic parts but also parts that I have used in my art works that I make from found objects. Always an adventure. Some of the large resistors in this piece I got from Apex.

I love this place. I've only been here a few times, but they really care. I had a few oddball items I needed. I mean who takes time out of their day to scramble around scrounging this massive place for a couple small metal pieces I needed for a broken waterfall. This thing is about 50 years old, and the manufacturer is out of business. I went to a machine shop and they wanted about $150.00 to make the parts. The lovely woman at Apex spent 30 minutes looking around and found exactly what I needed. And I was charged about $20.00 for the pieces. They took social distancing very seriously. I wish I needed them for more stuff. It's a cool place just to walk around. You can't go wrong here.