GoKawiilLos Alamos Surplus Shop 'Black Hole' Closes After Decades of Sales
The Black Hole was a surplus store in New Mexico that resold decommissioned equipment from Los Alamos National Laboratories, ranging from vintage oscilloscopes and liquid nitrogen dewars to old dials, calculators, and even A-bomb detonator cables. It functioned as both a working retail operation and an informal museum of Cold War-era nuclear research hardware. A 2017 update confirms the business has since shut down.
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The Black Hole represented a rare public-facing link between classified nuclear weapons research and everyday commerce, letting collectors and historians access physical artifacts from a famously secretive institution. Its closure marks the loss of an unusual archive of Cold War scientific and military hardware that is unlikely to be replicated given tightening security around nuclear research surplus.
- The Black Hole resold decommissioned Los Alamos National Laboratory equipment to the public.
- Inventory included oscilloscopes, calculators, dewars, and even A-bomb detonator cables.
- The store permanently closed as confirmed by a March 2017 update.
Source: atlasobscura.com, 2026-09-02
Published there as: “Black Hole of Los Alamos Seller of surplus nuclear research materials (2011)”
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