[Scan-DC] The demise of the DIY electronics shops

[Andrew Leyden]

Actually, this is a pretty good summary video of one place:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBtRJc-z05k



On Jun 11, 2014, at 10:19 AM, Andrew Leyden <andrew at leyden.com> wrote:

> Here in Hong Kong one of the must see trips for visitors from the US and especially those from Silicon Valley is a trip to Shenzhen’s Huaqianbei district just across the border. This is the “gadget market” of China and a sight to behold.
> 
> You enter a room the size of a football field with each stall occupying a couple of folding tables in size. Each person specializes in something, one doing buttons, one doing capacitors, one doing magnets, one doing wires, one doing LEDs, one doing USB connector assemblies, and so on. Row upon row of tables filling up a football field, and then…eight to ten floors of these on top of each other in the building. And then, dozens of buildings just like this all around the area.
> 
> These are the factory representatives for the parts makers from all over China on hand in Shenzhen for the major manufacturing districts nearby. The supply chain of consumer electronics all spread out before you. Over at the factory making Blackberry handsets the truck delivering keyboards gets stuck in traffic. The line of 10,000 workers is going to go quiet if there isn’t this truck, so someone runs over to Huaqianbei and buys 50,000 keyboards from the supplies on hand and the line keeps going. It’s truly amazing to see, and definitely something that is no longer present in the USA.
> 
> You can actually buy retail there. I buy little bits and bobs to make toys for the kids. My “maker” friends frequently go up there to buy parts for new projects they are working on here in Hong Kong.  I do wonder how the shift of manufacturing, and more importantly the parts supply chain in the USA has harmed the ‘gadget maker’ community / Radio Shacks and whatnot. 
> 
> 
> You aren’t suppose to film inside but some guys have done so:
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHNkoySL4MI
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3smtPYO_K4
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O5oEALLDCuI
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9YJBwD0geA
> 
> 
> http://www.engadget.com/2010/04/28/the-engadget-show-inside-the-gadget-markets-of-china-part-two/
> http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/15/shenzhen-mobile-phone-market-going-deeper-inside-huaqiangbei/
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