I’m considering fleeing my red state and moving to Oregon. But I noticed you guys don’t have a single microcenter anywhere! Where do the makers all go for filament, resin, ram, diodes, etc? I read you guys used to have fry’s but that went under. Did nothing take its place?
I’d like to be able to bring my hobby with me. Where do the DIY nerds shop?
There are some cool maker spaces in Portland, but I’m gonna level with you, I order all that stuff online like probably 99% of people.
Here’s a couple: https://www.pastlives.space/ https://hhacker.space/wiki/index.php/Equipment
If things keep happening like they have been, you may need to flee further north.
I’ve thought about that but I can’t come up with a way to immigrate to Canada quickly. Moving to a blue state I can do quickly. Plus I have friends in Oregon and I’d be alone in Canada.
Try to move somewhere along the I-5 corridor, preferably no further south than Eugene. It gets pretty maga further south. And especially avoid going east. That said, there is Novacs electronics in Salem that should have some of the stuff you’re looking for but the covid death of Fry’s really hurt and there hasn’t been a replacement I’ve found yet.
You would not be alone, we would welcome you :). But Vancouver area is known for the “Seattle Freeze” effect where people have their clique’s and don’t act very welcoming to strangers. Other areas of Canada are much more friendly. Vancouver has that big city don’t talk to me vibe, but it extends all they way out to the rural areas 1.5 hours out.
Once you get outside this zone people act like normal humans again.
Anecdote an hour outside of the city: Me: Good Morning Them: blank stare and walk by. 70% of time.
1.5 hours outside of Vancouver: Me at auto repair place talking to parts guy, he says its the weekend, the part won’t be shipped till tomorrow, its in a city across the strait by ferry. Random lady: I heard you are stranded till tomorrow, I’ll drive you to go get your belongings, and take you to the ferry, message me when you are back with parts and I can get you back to the repair place.
Shoresy makes Sudbury, Ontario look nice
the latter sounds just lovely.
It was. The lady took a chance that me and my friend were not weirdos, and spent half her day making sure we could get our car fixed and on our way. And she wouldn’t even take gas money for all her driving.
This drastically depends on what part of Oregon you’re moving to (and FYI outside of the city areas is likely very similar to your red state in many ways) but around PDX there are a lot of small hobby stores. Also not my area of expertise but looks like there is URS Electronics and Surplus Gizmos that might fit what you’re looking for.
They all shut down. We had a microcenter in wilsonville but that’s gone.
We do have lots of board game stores and tabletop themed bars.
We did not have a microcenter in Willsonville. It was Incredible Universe then Fry’s. Currently it is a vacant building to my knowledge.
Ah yes! I mixed them up! I miss that place.
Even Eugene? C’mon, Eugene’s got to have something.