Q & A with Kim Stenglein of American Science & Surplus

American Science & Surplus is one of those places in Milwaukee that everyone seems to know, even if they have not walked through the door in years. Founded in Chicago in 1937 by Al Luebbers, the business began by acquiring and selling surplus camera lenses. It evolved and grew from a mail-order operation, into a long-running source for science equipment, surplus goods, educational items, and hobbyist parts. Over time, it became the kind of store that served creators of all kinds, from curious kids and teachers to artists, tinkerers, and people looking for one specific part they could not find anywhere else.

That long history is part of why the store still stands out. At the Milwaukee location on Oklahoma Avenue, that history now continues under owner Kim Stenglein, a longtime employee and former store manager who purchased the store in October 2025. We spoke with Kim at the Oklahoma Avenue location about the store’s history, its place in Milwaukee, and what keeps people coming through the door.

Q: How did the store develop into what it is today?

A: We went from having a company that was doing really well with catalog sales and internet sales to getting hit by big retailers offering free shipping and pricing items for less than what we were sometimes paying for them. We actually did pretty well through COVID, even the first few months, but about a year after that things really started to fall off.

American Science & Surplus as a company did go out of business on September 30th. There is no more catalog and there is no more website. What is left is my brick-and-mortar store here, and one of the other former store managers purchased the Geneva, Illinois location. We are independent from each other, but we work together a lot. Right now we are in a rebuilding process.

Q: What has rebuilding looked like for you since purchasing the store?

A: It has taken a whole lot longer than I anticipated. Even just reestablishing with every single vendor that we had before is a process. Reaching out to new vendors is a process.

Picking out the merchandise is a process. Whether, it’s stuff we’ve already carried or finding new stuff. You have to figure out what was profitable before, what you want to continue carrying, versus what items to let go, and what new items to bring in.

Once the orders arrive, you still have to get all the information into the computer systems and figure out your pricing. You are trying to keep your customer pricing down so people do not feel like everything is too expensive, while still making enough of a profit to stay open. I am learning a lot right now, and it has really been a rebuilding process across the whole store.

A lot of people assumed that our store was closed, we have been working really hard to let the world know that we are still here. We are still here, and we’re listening. We want to put the “surplus” back into American Science & Surplus, and bring more science items back in.

Q: What brings people through the doors now?

A: On the weekends it’s a lot of families. People can come in here, give their kids five or ten dollars and they can go home with a couple items. You can spend a couple hours here and your kids get to take something home with them. Because of that, I focus heavily on science kits, model kits, and novelty toys for kids.

During the weekdays it is a different crowd. We get retired people, people coming in on their lunch breaks. We get people who are here with a mission. They need a switch, a part, or something specific for a project.

During science fair season we get a lot of kids coming in for help with projects too. We do not build them for them, but if they know what parts they need, we can help them find them, and if they are having problems, we can help them troubleshoot.

Q: What makes American Science & Surplus different?

A: One of the big things is that people can come in and actually see things, touch them, and test them. We have a test bench here where we can fire up a motor for someone and they can see if it is going to work for them. We can fire up a fan and let them see if it blows enough air or if it has too much vibration. That is something a big box store does not offer.

The other part is that we have people here who want to help. We do not do repairs, but we can help troubleshoot. We are not experts in every single thing, but I have staff with a lot of knowledge and a lot of enthusiasm for sharing it. Sometimes we will sit with someone for half an hour and try to help them figure something out. That kind of hands-on help is still important to people.

Q: What kinds of customers do you see?

A: We do get people who are buying things to turn them into something else. I had someone buying plain ceramic mugs from us in bulk and customizing them for resale.

I need to repopulate my jars and bottles section, because that used to do really good business with people making their own products.

There is a woman named Venus Williams, not the tennis player, who used to come in a lot. She is connected to the Fondy Market and does gardening on the north side. She and her sons are lovely, and they would come in and buy jars upon jars, because they were growing things, and preserving them.

So, not so much people who buy items to resell them, but people buying them to turn them into other things. We begin to get a lot of that at Christmas time, too. I sold a lot of bottles during that time.

Q: Where are you seeing the most opportunity?

A: Yes. One of our biggest focuses right now is electronics. Our goal is to make the back of our store Wisconsin’s largest electronics hobby shop.

People don’t always want to wait to get what they need. They want to come in, look at it, test it, and take it home that day. There’s still a place for people who want help from someone standing right there with them.

Q: Have there been any supporters or fellow business owners who’ve stood out during your rebuild?

A:I will be honest and say there has not been a ton of that from local businesses. One person who did reach out is not even local. There is a surplus company in Minneapolis called Ax-Man Surplus. About two weeks after I bought the store, someone asked if he could speak with me, he introduced himself as “Ax-Man!” and I was thrilled because I love Ax-Man. It is one of my favorite stores. He and I are in contact now, and without us having a website, I send people their way if they want that classic science & surplus shopping experience. Locally, a lot of the support has come from people saying they are glad we are still here.

Q: What do you want people in Milwaukee to know about American Science & Surplus?

A: One thing I really want the public to know is that we want their surplus. I do not just want to buy from vendors. I want to buy from the public too, because there are so many usable materials, parts, and scraps out there that still have value and can still be used. I get leather scraps from people, and those cutoffs are still useful to someone. We have also had things like foam and cigar boxes come through, and those are the kinds of items people love finding here because they can turn them into something else. We want your surplus, we are looking for volume of course, if you were going to throw it out anyway, this is a good place instead, people can use it, and at least this way it won’t go into landfill.

Q: What do you want the public to know about what is coming up at the store?

A: Right now, it looks like the first weekend of April will be our first big sale. It is not really a spring clear-out so much as an out-with-the-old, in-with-the-new kind of sale. We are planning to mark down about 500 items, really low, to get them out of here and make room for new merchandise we want to bring into the store.

After that, it looks like our first Science Night of the year will be Friday, April 24th, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., and those are free to the public. We do those a couple times a year, and they are always science-based. I have three staff members and one former staff member who are so enthusiastic about it. They each do demonstrations throughout the night.

We also set up hands-on activities around the store that kids can do one-on-one with staff, along with a make-and-take project.

After that, we want to start transitioning back into regular weekly events. Some weeks that would be a Sunday daytime event for kids and families, and other times it would be a Thursday night event for adults.

We also want to do maker markets, hopefully one in the summer and then one in late November or early December for Christmas. A lot of it is still in the works. We are still focusing on rebuilding parts of the store, but that is the direction we are moving in.