Owning American Science & Surplus ‘ideal job’ for Cable

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Evanston resident Philip Cable is the owner of American Science and Surplus, the place to go for slingshot monkeys, plastic lizards and rubber ducks that look like James Dean. | Joel Lerner~Sun-Times Media

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Updated: March 10, 2012 8:05AM

If it’s broken, Philip Cable will fix it. Or at least he’ll try.

Evanston’s Cable, owner and CEO of American Science & Surplus, has been inventing and recycling things, ideas and businesses long before being green was in.

He acquired the quirky educational supply store in 2000 and has yet to look back.

“This is the ideal job for me,” said Cable, a self-described “lifelong science geek.”

Seagull yarn, Russian gas masks and the once-popular cheeseburger phone are a few of the more random items that crowd shelves in Cable’s “something-for-everyone” shop.

American Science & Surplus is also known for practical goods that can’t be found anywhere else, such as robot parts, distinct tools, and electronics.

“We appeal to a lot of ‘do-it-youself-ers’, inventors, artists,” Cable said.

Cable, who turned 50 Jan. 1, said he had a tendency as child to disassemble household items for their workable motors.

It wasn’t uncommon to see smoke billowing from his home’s basement windows when his experiments went awry, he said.

Despite a fondness for science, Cable studied English in college because he “never had the math chops to be a scientist,” he said. He did, however, have a knack for creative business.

In his mid-20s, Cable packed-up and drove to Chicago from Ohio in a 1968 Rambler Rogue to find work.

After hearing hammers pounding in a house in Chicago’s Lakeview neighborhood, Cable knocked on the door and asked the contractor if he needed help.

He worked six months rehabbing the house before venturing on his own.

Cable found and purchased a nearly condemned residential building, spent eight months fixing it up, then sold it for a sizable profit, all before age 30.

Cable had found a niche and has been revamping, rehashing and reinventing ever since. Other business forays include opening a 12,000-square-foot bar near Wrigley Field where imbibers played mini-golf and operating catalogue-marketing company that sold science-related good for kids.

After taking night classes and earning an MBA from DePaul University, Cable was ready to acquire an already-established business.

American Science & Surplus was for sale and Cable became its buyer. Founded in “about 1937,” the company now employs a staff of 60 and has retail stores in Chicago, Geneva and Milwaukee. Catalogue and orders, which account for 70 percent of the business’ sales, are processed in a 69,000-square-foot warehouse in Niles.

Despite a track record of moving from one endeavor to the next, Cable said that he’ll stick with the science supply store for while.

Besides, he said, where else can you work in an office where gadgets whizzing by employees’ heads is considered normal?

“I’m very happy,” Cable said. “It’s a good fit.”