The AM Forum

Anyone remember these guys?  After seeing their ads for years and ordering from them, I visited their store in MA in the 80's and I recall being pretty underwhelmed by the size of the place.  Not sure about the quality of the components but it was hard to argue with the prices.

(https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/Zz8AAOSwq~tkKE4G/s-l1600.webp)

Back in the 70's I bought bags of rectifier diodes, bags of unmarked transistors, key pad membrane switches, a number mystery grab bags of stuff and probsbly stuff I don't remember.

After several years, the light bulb went on over my head, "I have no use for most of this stuff"
In 1980, a good friend, and former manager at one of the NJ Lafayette stores said I should take the stuff to a hamfest and try to sell it. Never went to a hamfest before that. So in June 1980 I went to the, at that time, Dunellen Hamfest (the hamfest is now in Piscataway). I didn't even have a table. I brought two sawhorses and several 2X4's and laid the 2X4's across the sawhorses.

Sold the majority of the Poly Pak stuff along with some cannibalized Lafayette tape decks, radios, and some other weird stuff. Some attendees even wanted to buy my 2X4's. I came to realize that some of
these attendees would buy anything at a hamfest, swap meet, etc. Came home with $119 and was hooked on hamfests.

Since 1980, never missed this hamfest, except 1 year when my wife was in the hospital and COVID (when they had no hamfest for 2 years)

I still have a bag of Poly Pak 1N4xxx rectifier diodes (I think a 100 came in a bag) and a bag of unmarked FET's.  :D

PolyPaks was in Lynnfield Massachusetts, either on or really handy to US Route One, as I recall.  Yes, the retail part was pretty small, but one could peruse the catalog, fill out a paper order form, and hand it to one of the many young ladies who worked there and wait while they went out back and picked the stuff for you.  Maybe they just didn't have the real estate to put lots and lots on display but I thought that they'd sell more of they had it all on pegs or in bins to catch the impulse buyers. At the time, the Route 128 high tech corridor was booming and the rumor was that PolyPaks bought things that didn't test up to full spec, as well as overstocks.  That being said, I found few duds in my purchases.  I recall that a high proportion of the women who worked there were easy on the eyes.
73 de Norm W1ITT

Yes, brings back memories. I believe I ordered from them many times starting around 1973 I think.
Also, Meshna of Lynn MA. I may be getting them mixed up at this point, same era I suppose.