This place is the absolute best. I guess they now have a few physical locations throughout the greater Chicagoland area. I used to go to the one on the far, far Northwest side every time I realized I had about 6 hours in which to whip up my science fair project for the year, or whenever I desperately needed 600 teddy bear eyes. They never failed to have enough weird shit to come up with something. In someways, I like their website even better. I know that may sound strange, because wandering the vastness of their physical collection is pretty spectacular, but there is something truly special about their online catalog. For one thing, they not only provide photographs of the vast array of transistor switches and rubber dinosaurs, they actually have some schlub that sits around and does line drawings of EVERYTHING. This must be someones full time job and I am so thrilled that a job like that exists.
They also have the most ridiculous tag system imaginable. (I found this image of "tweedlers" while searching the tag "FatNSweaty". Don't ask me why.)
On my last visit to the site, in addition to the array of rubber dinosaurs, periodic table mugs and, of course, teddy bear eyes, I ordered, I decided to risk it and order their mystery box. For $10 bucks you get a bunch of weird stuff. They have two options, the "Consumer" and "Electro-Mechanical" surprise box. I went with the consumer version. Totally worth it. I am sure if you build robots in your spare time, the electro-mechanical option would be better than Christmas.
