Physical shop front in SanFrancisco

I'll be spending some time in SanFrancisco in a couple of weeks and was wondering if there were any physical (B&M) shops I should look at re flashlights, electronics (especially flashlight parts), survival gear. I already know about TAD Gear. Thanks.

REI is a good store. Probably not exactly what you're looking for, but a decent selection of "survival" gear. Don't know if they exist in Australia.

Sadly, the heavy rents in SF prohibit a lot of stores of the survivalist, hunting, and sportsman variety and you are already familiar with Tad Gear. Tad Gear is pretty cool and they have some interesting and quirky items and as already mentioned, REI has some decent stuff as well but neither of the two have an extensive Surefire collection.

San Francisco doesn't have any of the larger chain stores that a lot of other flashaholics refer to so TAD and REI are the only two that I know of. There are some classic Army+Navy stores, one on Market around 6th street and one in the Upper Haight but I haven't been in either one for a while. I'll keep racking my brain and do a few more searches and if nothing else maybe we can catch a beer or two should time permit.

saabgoblin said:

Sadly, the heavy rents in SF prohibit a lot of stores of the survivalist, hunting, and sportsman variety and you are already familiar with Tad Gear. Tad Gear is pretty cool and they have some interesting and quirky items and as already mentioned, REI has some decent stuff as well but neither of the two have an extensive Surefire collection.

San Francisco doesn't have any of the larger chain stores that a lot of other flashaholics refer to so TAD and REI are the only two that I know of. There are some classic Army+Navy stores, one on Market around 6th street and one in the Upper Haight but I haven't been in either one for a while. I'll keep racking my brain and do a few more searches and if nothing else maybe we can catch a beer or two should time permit.

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Kaplan's on Market has been closed for a few years. REI is on Brannan between 7th and 8th streets. There's only one gunshop left in SF (High Bridge Arms--3185 Mission Street).

You already know of TAD GEAR, I'd check them out first as they have a decent selection of SF lights plus tons of cool tools/gadgets too.

dano said:

There's only one gunshop left in SF (High Bridge Arms--3185 Mission Street).

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I'm guessing they sell water pistols and nerf guns? :nana:

dano said:

Kaplan's on Market has been closed for a few years. REI is on Brannan between 7th and 8th streets. There's only one gunshop left in SF (High Bridge Arms--3185 Mission Street).

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I didn't know that there was even one left in San Francisco, I have been meaning to head over to Pacifica to check out the store over there, I'll have to put the Mission shop on my rounds as well.

saabgoblin said:

I didn't know that there was even one left in San Francisco, I have been meaning to head over to Pacifica to check out the store over there, I'll have to put the Mission shop on my rounds as well.

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High Bridge Arms used to be Bob Chow's Gunshop 30+ years ago for those of you into 1st gen custom 1911 gunsmiths. Glad to hear it is still around since SF is such an anti-gun environment. I remember the SF Gun Exchange closing around 2000 and there was a line going out the door every day when they had their closeout sale. It was worth the wait though since I bought a bunch of Surefire P60 and P90 lamps for $10 each.

If you have time and want to take a trip you may want to visit LPS Tactical located in Brentwood, near Antioch. They used to be a good sized Surefire dealer and did a lot of mail order too when they were located near Fremont but I haven't seen or heard much from them since they moved to Brentwood. Brentwood is about 40 miles east of SF. Their website is http://www.lpstactical.com/index.htm but I recommend you call them first to make sure they are still around and have selection worth visiting. When they were located near Fremont they had tons of Surefire parts including black M2 bezels, Turboheads, tailcaps, chargers, and all of Surefire's flashlights.

Another place is Reed's Indoor Range in Santa Clara. There website is http://www.reedsindoorrange.com/ but it is another 45 mile one way drive south of SF.

9x23

Thanks Guys:twothumbs.
Your help is much appreicated.
Saabgoblin - I'll get in touch when I'm a little closer to departure.
Looks like I'll be doing my best to help your local economy!

To be honest, you could probably spend a whole day at TAD.

1_what,

Just a clarification, I just noticed on LPS Tactical's website that they didn't move but appear to still have the original location (Newark, next to Fremont) as well as the location in Brentwood. If that is true I would recommend going to the Newark location since that would put you about 20 miles from Reed's Indoor Range in Santa Clara. You could hit both locations in one trip.

9x23

greenLED said:

I'm guessing they sell water pistols and nerf guns? :nana:

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Personally Greenie, I think that those new fangled pointy Nerf Darts are quite dangerous and send the wrong message to our kids so their sale, at least in San Francisco, should be banned as well.

9x23 said:

1_what,

Just a clarification, I just noticed on LPS Tactical's website that they didn't move but appear to still have the original location (Newark, next to Fremont) as well as the location in Brentwood. If that is true I would recommend going to the Newark location since that would put you about 20 miles from Reed's Indoor Range in Santa Clara. You could hit both locations in one trip.

9x23

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Live down the street and had no idea that place was even there......:thumbsup: