At 198 Abeel Avenue on the Rondout waterfront in Kingston, tucked between the Hideaway Marina and Block Park on the foot of Hunter Avenue, there stands a cluster of three previous industrial buildings whose nondescript exterior hides a wonderland inside. Timothy Smythe, Jr., who runs P&T Surplus together with his father, Timothy Sr., calls the place “a giant youngsters’ toy retailer.”
The Smythes proudly proclaim that their firm “buys and sells nearly the whole lot,” at deep-discount costs. “We purchase predominantly reusable steel,” says Tim Jr. “We promote nuts and bolts by the pound.” Secondhand instruments are a lot sought-after gadgets. Prospects are available in not solely to get a significantly better deal on {hardware} than they’ll discover in big-box shops, but additionally to find all types of miscellaneous objects to include into building and artwork tasks: tarps in each conceivable measurement, sheets of zinc plate, bungee cords, classic prismatic stickers, ham radio parts, heavy-duty work gloves, enameled copper buttons, compartmented plastic trays. “A few of the stuff, we don’t even know what it’s.”
The enterprise acquired began on this website – a former foundry relationship again to the times when the Rondout was stuffed with busy shipyards – within the late Fifties, based by Tim Sr.’s uncle, Phil Riley, and his accomplice David Hines. At first it was all about taking aside outmoded mainframe computer systems from IBM and Remington Rand and reselling the parts. The unique house owners would get “two or three tractor/trailer hundreds a day of 1 mainframe. It was all state-of-the-art again then,” Tim Jr. explains.
When IBM shut down its Kingston facility in 1995, there was a short flush of fabric to promote, together with loads of private computer systems. Then got here onerous instances for the founders of the enterprise, so the Smythes stepped in to take it over. “Dad has been working right here for 60 years, and owned it with me since 1997,” Tim Jr. relates. “We had one other run in 2000, when IBM was beginning to depart Fishkill. It was just like the Second Coming: very profitable. The computer systems had that unique steel that artists like.”
In accordance with the Smythes, artists have been an vital element of P&T’s buyer base over the a long time, with school and college students from Bard and SUNY New Paltz making frequent pilgrimages to the warehouse in the hunt for sculptural supplies. “The artwork group has been nice for us for years; additionally collectors,” Tim Sr. notes. For some years, the warehouse even hosted an annual Nuts & Bolts Artwork Present of items put collectively from parts acquired there – many by Tim Jr. himself, who’s fairly the tinkerer.
It’s additionally a goldmine for props for theatrical productions and movie units. Tim Jr. remembers how Headless Horseman Hayrides in Ulster Park as soon as purchased up a complete cargo of previous microscopes for a hospital-of-horrors diorama. “Everyone loves mannequins at Halloween time,” he provides. Reusers and upcyclers, to not point out households needing components and concepts for varsity science-fair tasks, all discover inspiration right here. Acquired a child on the autism spectrum who’s obsessive about STEM topics and likes to take issues aside and put them again collectively once more? P&T Surplus could be their thought of Paradise.
Like many companies, P&T hit lean instances when COVID struck. “The final couple of years we struggled slightly bit. The pandemic was onerous on us,” says Tim Sr. “Masks helped maintain us in enterprise on the time.” Certainly, within the earliest days of the pandemic, when masks had been onerous to search out, P&T’s well-established provide chain made it one of many few locations in Ulster County the place they may reliably be obtained. That introduced the shop and its huge inventory of fascinating oddments onto the radar of many who hadn’t found it earlier than.
It additionally created new streams of incoming items, as stir-crazy owners used the lockdown time to filter overstuffed garages, basements, attics and barns. Folks got here to promote and stayed to purchase. “There are lots of people struggling on the market,” Tim Sr. observes. “When cash is tight, they arrive on the lookout for bargains. We get a variety of contractors and do-it-yourselfers coming in.”
“As soon as individuals discover out about it, they arrive again,” says Tim Jr. “Folks consider this as their retailer. They don’t need to miss something.” There’s even a raccoon who’s an everyday customer, climbing down from the rafters into the workplace, which stays heat at night time. “He’s consuming my desk chair. He’s checking it out each night time, it doesn’t matter what.”
One loyal human buyer is Charles Vincent, proprietor of Kingston-based Northeast Shelters. “I’ve been coming right here for 20 years. I imagine in doing native enterprise,” Vincent says, as he purchases a pile of screw-eye hooks. At Dwelling Depot or Lowe’s, “This is able to price you $3; right here I pay 50 cents. I are available in each couple of weeks and see what they’ve acquired…. I are available in on the lookout for one factor and I depart with 5. Each time you are available in, you see one thing totally different.”
“The true story is, the purchasers love my father. It’s like a membership generally; they discuss his ear off,” says Tim Jr. However, whilehe’s nonetheless typically to be discovered on premises, Tim Sr. has lately needed to cut back his involvement within the enterprise following a stroke. And Tim Jr. stays within the midst of his personal long-running well being disaster: “I’m doing dialysis 3 times every week resulting from Stage 5 kidney failure. I’ve been ready on a transplant for six years.”
Because of this, P&T Surplus acquired approach behind on paying its payments, and was at risk of going out of enterprise altogether earlier than beginning a GoFundMe marketing campaign in February. The group has rallied across the Smythes, with $21,780 raised of the $35,000 purpose raised as of early this week. On March 3, Tim Jr. posted an replace: “Thus far, we now have been in a position to pay down the Central Hudson invoice, the fuel invoice and a few of Tim Sr.’s medical payments. After chatting with New York State tax individuals, we hope they will give us an installment plan. Sadly, it’s for $40,000 as of proper now, however we hope to get it down some.”
To contribute to the crowdfunding enchantment, go to https://gofund.me/93ad3938. To make a purchase order, come to the shop – hours are slightly irregular at current resulting from well being points, so it’s greatest to name first at (845) 481-4329 – or go to www.pandtsurplus.com. (Be certain that to take a look at the FAQs on the web site, which mirror the Smythes’ wry humorousness by answering such very important questions as “What number of planets can I purchase?”) The P&T Surplus Fb web page at www.fb.com/individuals/PT-Surplus/100063661238622 is the place to go for updates on the newest shipments of products, sensible or inconceivable, that at the moment are out there.