Some months back I was at lunch with our lab guy and we started talking about places to buy "stuff", where "stuff" is broadly defined as off-the-beaten-path things that are useful in our professional or personal lives. Stuff that you can't get at Home Depot, Lowes, Tractor Supply, etc. Here's the list. Suggestions and additions on the back channel (you know how to get in touch with me) appreciated.

Material for building things

• 8020 - strut and channel, tinkertoys for grown-ups. http://www.8020.net
• Kee Klamp - pipe fittings (held together with big allen set screws) - marketed as being for building railings, but useful for much more. http://www.keeklamp.com
• Grainger - the big box store of industrial supply houses. Near you. http://www.grainger.com
• Fastenal - Used to just be bolts. Wants to be Grainger when they grow up. http://www.fastenal.com/
• MSC Industrial Supply (no bricks and mortar) - http://www.mscdirect.com
• McMaster-Carr - all the bits and such that you need - http://www.mcmaster.com

• McFeelys - used to be the go-to guys for Robertson drive screws. Now it's their web site that's screwed. http://www.mcfeelys.com

• There are some non-chain supply places near us (NoVA) I've been meaning to go on a long lunch to a couple of them, namely http://posners.com and http://winchestermetals.com

Tools and Tool Storage

• Lista - gorgeous cabinets - outfit your garage for more than what your car cost. http://www.lista.com
• Stanley Vidmar - Mercedes to Lista's BMW. There's always eBay. http://www.stanleyvidmar.com
• Harbor Freight - Part of the fun is reading reviews on various forums to figure out what's good and what's just crap. I'll put their $7.99 wheel chocks up against the Camping World product that costs 3x as much. http://harborfreight.com
• Lehigh Valley Abrasives - Not actually in the Lehigh Valley. Tan says get your abrasive cutting wheels here. http://www.lehighvalleyabrasives.com
• Wiha Tools - really nice precision screwdrivers including weird stuff like tri-wing, pentalobe, etc. At your local tool store or buy direct from http://wihatools.com

IT/Computer Supplies

• Deep Surplus - Most of your keystone jack, cabling, and AV needs. http://deepsurplus.com
• Stay Online - you need power cables? they got power cables. http://stayonline.com
• Monoprice - these folks have always struck me as high tech Harbor Freight, but some folks give them good marks. http://www.monoprice.com
• FluxLight - asr says these folks have good pluggable optics at reasonable prices, http://www.fluxlight.com

Electronic Components

• Everyone knows about http://www.newark.com and http://www.digikey.com as well as http://www.mouser.com and http://www.sparkfun.com. Some folks even know about . But how about:
• http://www.seeedstudio.com/depot/
• http://www.futurlec.com (I use the latter for stuff that I don't mind waiting six weeks for. Cheap and good.)
• Bill Mera, N2CQR, claims good experience with http://www.taydaelectronics.com on his Solder Smoke blog
• Tan says plenty of cool stuff at http://www.lightobject.com and like Futurlec, by the time the good show up from the far east you've forgotten what you ordered and it's like Christmas