Today a question on the TLUG mailing list asked about peoples' experience in shopping for computer components in the College/Spadina area of Toronto.

Most of what I want can be found inexpensively enough at Canada Computer at Yonge & Sheppard, TigerDirect, or a store whose name escapes me on the north side of Sheppard just west of Allen Road. If I really want the clone-parts experience, these days I would go to Pacific Mall, which IIRC has more hole-in-the-wall PC parts places than College & Spadina while boasting IMO the world's finest food court.

At the other end of the scale is CompuSmart at Mavis and Matheson in Mississauga (the net indicates they also have stores in Scarborough and at 151 Yonge). While sporting a smaller version of the BestBuy tech look&feel, they also have a dedicated whitebox/DIY section, with reasonably knowledgeable and helpful staff who (more often than not, at least when I've gone) are Linux-clueful. Their prices are a few dollars more than the Spadina & College chaos and they have fewer off-brands. But the experience can be much better on your nerves if PC hardware is not your obsession.