Spare-Parts Superstore

Halted Specialties Company, Santa Clara, CA

Halted, in Santa Clara, Calif., is one of the last of a dying breed — a rough-around-the-edges electronics wonderland meant for people who just can’t find what they need at stores like Best Buy and Fry’s Electronics.

In fact, Apple’s co-founders, Steven P. Jobs and Stephen Wozniak, shopped at Halted, hunting down parts for their first products. During one of these visits, Hal Elzig, who founded Halted and died in 2005, turned down an offer to invest in what would become Apple.

“Hal remembered them driving around barefoot in a Volkswagen van,” Mr. Ellingson [the current owner] said. “They were a couple of young, scruffy-looking guys. He said, ‘I don’t want to give these guys any money.’ ”