Think of American Science & Surplus as a combination of 7-Eleven and Dollar Tree — if you swapped out the candy and cards for squirrel-in-a-tree-stump stress-relief squeeze toys or goth cat figurines. On any given day, more than 6,000 items pack its 5,000-square-foot store in Park Ridge — and about 99 percent are things you never knew you always wanted. Who couldn’t use a glow-in-the-dark toilet bowl? The store has been peddling random (and ridiculously inexpensive) items since 1937, when it was founded to sell surplus stock. Today, it sells just about anything owner Patrick Meyer can secure, from closeouts to overruns and misprints. So if you crave crystals that transform your fire pit’s blast from mundane orange to rainbow, get them before they’re gone. 27 N. Northwest Hwy., Park Ridge. sciplus.com