Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?
sfchronicle.com
sfchronicle.com
It’s unfortunate to see Fry’s in the zombified state that it’s in. Back in the 2000s it was a really nice store, but recently it has fallen on hard times. I went to the Sunnyvale store a few months ago to try to find a TV antenna, and the selection was a bunch of beat-up boxes, some of them with discount stickers indicating that they were returned items, which left me not confident about the whole lot.
Meanwhile, I’m a little envious of the electronics stores of Tokyo, particularly Yodobashi Camera and Yamada Denki. I travel to Japan regularly, and every now and then I check out these stores. Their Akihabara flagships are a nice mix of Fry’s selection and Best Buy’s presentation. Sometimes I wonder why we don’t have that in Silicon Valley, but then I remember that Tokyo’s density and transit-oriented planning makes such retail operations more viable than Silicon Valley’s largely car-dependent, US suburbia-style planning, which favors online shopping. Still, these flagship Akihabara stores are wonderful places to shop.
I get the risk of fraud and all that, but it seems the Palo Alto Fry's didn't understand the corresponding brand cost of selling blemished merchandise as new.
I was always amazed how long Circuit City stuck around like that.
At the time I went there to look at their hardware prices, when I was contemplating building a replacement for my desktop Linux box, the only computer they had on the floor with an Internet connection was a Mac. I used it to do some quick price comparisons, then remembered Macs were UNIX too, and decided it was time to give Apple another try.
But nobody wanted them. We got 25 at our store and almost every one of them came back. People wanted PC's....
I thought the iMac was a massive success? Didn't it save Apple from ruin almost single handedly?
The iMac did get a lot of bad reviews and was $1299, in the days of $399 eMachines
Those eMachines chugged badly out of the box even.
...the overweight, less colorful cousin of the iMac.
MacOS was behind the times vs. Windows. Still sticking with cooperative multitasking until 2000. Crazy!
iMac was the start of something different, but Apple had a decade of second-class product to atone for, first.
To be fair, sticking with it until 2000 wasn't Apple's intention; they'd expected to bring the new "Copland" Mac OS to market by the end of 1996.
I don't know how well the iMac may have sold at the OP's Best Buy, but my recollection -- and a web search just now seems to back this up -- is that the iMac sold very well pretty quickly after its 1998 introduction. For instance, a NYT article from January 1999 which begins:
"Apple Computer Inc.'s popular iMac desktop computer was the No. 1 selling machine through retail and mail-order channels in the 1998 holiday season, according to the research company PC Data.
"In overall sales, the iMac fell from the top spot in November to No. 3 in December. It is still the top-selling computer since its mid-August introduction and led overall sales in the fourth quarter, PC Data, of Reston, Va., reported."
https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/22/business/apple-s-imac-led...
So thank you, Rube Goldberg machine of human misery, for saving my work day on more than one occasion.
It's a bit of a pain for me to get to MicroCenter (about an hour one the train), but it has always been useful for me when I'm in a pinch.
When I visit my parents in Orlando, there's a smaller place called "Skycraft" which has a lot of low-level components, but I haven't been able to find an analog to it in NY just yet. Do you know of any?
Allstate Electronics - Jamaica Queens - Old school distributor, has basically every electronic component under the sun.
If you head out to NJ, there's a couple big shops as well (Wayne Electronics, Green Brook Electronics) but they're not transit-accessible or closer to the city.
I don't want them to go out of business too!
Unfortunately, I haven't had a single good experience. Many issues were smaller things, but the single most upsetting was the time I found what I wanted (after being ignore by sales reps for awhile) only to be swarmed by reps trying to put their stickers on the box to get a commission while I walked to check out.
And then people wonder why my first instinct to buy anything is to go online and have it shipped to me.
Even lots of power users just use laptops (and AWS) and don't buy components. And sales of consumer electronics like point and shoot cameras, DVD and CD players, GPSes, etc. have fallen off a cliff.
Anecdotally, my local Best Buy is always packed. I do a good amount of shopping online, but I also like to get certain things in person when possible. To me, it's much more satisfying to buy something and be able to use it on the same day.
Sounds like you could make a good business out of being an "online shopping guide", to help people pick the right [whatever] out of an endless array of [whatever]s. Do credit cards offer this as a concierge service at some level?
But yeah since I moved to SF it just doesn't make sense to drive down to Palo Alto to buy computer stuff. The traffic kills it :-(
I think the last time I went to Fry's was like 2011 or 2012 :-( I think part of the loss of customers may have to do with younger people moving to SF instead of Palo Alto / Mountain View? In addition to them buying online.
Interestingly I remember my first roommate in 2002 was the one who told me about Newegg.
And yes, you can often negotiate with salespeople, particularly on higher priced items. At a store like Yodobashi Camera, I think it's possible to negotiate for more points on your point card.
At smaller electronics stores, particularly out of the city, negotiating price is more common. I was once looking at a TV at a store (I think K's Denki) towards closing time and the salesman walked over with a calculator and gave me 20% off without me even initiating the negotiation.
Still, you're right — you're paying for convenience and selection when you go to the big electronics stores in Japan.
I try to be conscious of where the things I buy are manufactured. Sadly, the last two items I bought at Yodobashi (a radio and a voice recorder) were made in China. When I asked the salespeople if they had any made in Japan, they seemed very sad (ashamed?) to deliver the answer.
It's sad to see it go, especially Palo Alto. It felt like they expanded incredibly rapidly - including to Sacramento/Roseville, southern CA and WA state.
I've been using Newegg almost exclusively these days for components. But, yes, the lack of instant gratification can be trying.
Yup. I remember a whole lot of scammy behavior on the part of reps, too. After I picked up a box running after me to try and get me to let them write it up for commission. Lies from sales reps. RAM inventory being 80%+ bad, taking 3 trips to try and get a working set and realize that I had been being sold the same DIMM I had just returned (I finally put a dot on it with a sharpie).
There's fewer choices than ever for electronic components and misc fixings in the Silicon Valley. Fry's is gone, Radio Shack is gone, Halted is gone, Weird Stuff is gone, a lot of the computer shops are gone (and the ones that remain are dodgier than ever), Triangle Machinery is gone, etc. We've got Alltronics and Jameco and Excess Solutions now...
Sorry for prying, but I'm curious. Is this for business? Do you plan your flights around travel sales? How's your Japanese?
I'm asking because I'd like for similar arrangements.
That market is a dream place for any electronics enthusiast, at least those who grew when an electronics shop wasn't a cellphone reseller. I wish there was some way of purchasing those Aitendo modules in the EU at decent prices. Unfortunately some stores are closing over there as well, albeit much slower than in other places.
The last time I bought something from Newegg was maybe five years ago. Since then, I've never been able to find what I want in stock on their web site.
for computer stuff and some consumer electronics there are a bunch of central computers and in the south bay theres anchor for electronic components and excess for surplus
I used to buy gear there and often would find failures...
I would return them to Fry's but in doing so would mark the box with a sharpie in a known place (to me)
I would always check back in the aisles for my returned items and would frequently find them replaced on the shelves to be sold again - knowing that they were bad items.
So Frys would be wasting multiple peoples time, plus their own resources on throwing shit that I tested bad in my lab at Intel back on the shelves...
One time, I went through ELEVEN returns of some SuperMicro mobos that were all bad... (SuperMicro had a REALLY shitty run in the late 90s, early 2000s)
Frys is dead to me know though, for the most part.
It’s unfortunate to see Fry’s in the zombified state that it’s in.
I'm not trying to be a jerk, but what did you think was going to happen?
And not only Tokyo. Yodobashi has a couple of dozen stores throughout Japan, some of them, such as Yokohama and Umeda (Osaka), as big as the flagship in Akihabara. They're a good source for household appliances, too.
I live in Yokohama, and I shop at Yodobashi not for the prices but for the service: More than once a salesperson has saved me a lot of trouble by confirming that whatever I bought (a monitor, a hard drive, a cable) was actually compatible with the computer I was using. The staff know their products, and they are willing to give up sales in order to keep from selling people something they can't use. That makes me a more loyal customer.
Yodobashi seems to have a lot of Chinese-speaking staff these days, which is understandable considering the large number of Chinese tourists in Japan in recent years. Probably some of the staff speak English, too, though I've never asked.
The employees know it. They’re always referring to how bad it is at Frys and that’s why their store has become so popular.
Microcenter is down right dangerous. There are shelves and shelves of new Ryzen processors and those Bucky ball looking Intel processor boxes. It’s tough to not build a monster rig. I’m even considering heading there as I write this comment - to pick up a water cooler for an old i7 3770k so I can clock it to the moon and revitalize it. (If any hackers here have a 3770k and tips, please share)
I love being able to go there to grab UniFi gear right off the shelf. Being able to walk into a physical store that’s a ten minute drive from my house to grab SFP transceivers and fiber cables is kind of unreal to me.
My local Fry's have gotten a terrible reputation for putting used or broken gear on the shelves -- and they've had that reputation for years. I think they're getting what they deserve, frankly.
Of course, now they don't really have that kind of merchandise, so this knowledge is pretty much worthless :P
My Fry's is similarly a disaster zone, so I thought I'd see how close the nearest Microcenter is. Figuring that out requires me to either be familiar with the suburbs of major cities outside my state, or to click through each one to see where they are.
LA, Denver, Atlanta (x2), Chicago (x2), Kansas City, Boston, DC (x2), Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, Minneapolis, NYC (x5), Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Houston.
If you live in the NE, you probably recognize the closest store just by the name of the city it's in. If you don't recognize any names, then it's probably several hours away.
There are a lot of products on their site that are "in-store only" which is a good model .. if you happen to live near one. I'll even pay an extra $30~$40 for something high end like a monitor since if something is wrong with it, I can just return it to the store and not have to worry about packaging it and shipping it back.
We still have Central Computer, which is where I had to go to get my last part when Fry's didn't have it (the special screwdriver for opening the newish Mac laptops).
they have handful of store around the bay
Do they still do the RadioShack-style hounding you for a phone number when you checkout? Or did they finally wise up and stop doing that?
The last time I was shopping there, they were AGGRESSIVE about it. Actually got mad when I said my number was unlisted and refused to give it to them. I was so turned off, I just took my shopping online and never looked back.
When I visited Fry's in the DFW area last year (Irving Store off of LBJ freeway) I was shocked at how low energy and sad the place was. It was just one big pile of despair. Just a handful of people were shuffling in and out. They shelves were in complete disrepair, and there were areas where there was no stock on shelves. Computers on display were broken, twisted wrecks. The home theater areas had older model sets and speakers strewn about.
It was nothing like the late 90's when the place was an absolute zoo, and you could be guaranteed to have every gadget known to man on display. Christmas time at Frys was waiting in a checkout line 100's deep. It was a fun time.
That last time I visited is the last time I'll ever visit. It's clear Amazon and online retailing has decimated them.
The Fry's in Plano is in a similar state to what parent comment is describing. It's an incredibly weird feeling walking thru. They've stopped restocking, so anything I remotely could use or need isn't there. What's left are things that nobody really wants. I have lots of memories growing up in that store, sad to see it like this. I definitely recommend hitting it up before the inevitable shutdown, it's quite the vibe to take in.
You may also want to check out Altex. They have a store in Carrollton, and my experience visiting there a few months ago is that they're _very_ well-stocked and with excellent prices at that.
Last time I went there was nothing particularly awe-inspiring as far as setup computers. Just a bunch of Dell and Lenovo's with normal looking monitors. Would have been nice to see at least one souped-up uber PC with all kinds of obnoxious leds quad SLI, and 4 8k monitors, or something.
Granted it's still an extremely useful store, and I really wish I had one in the area I live in now.
I'm not sure how they're surviving in the era of online shopping but they seem to be doing well. I wonder if most of the foot traffic is driven by impulse same-day BOPIS (Buy Online Pickup in Store) sales. I'll admit that's how I ended up going to the brick-and-mortar store -- I didn't think that computer superstores still existed in this day and age.
I would just walk the aisles to see if anything looked interesting. And sometimes you would see people you knew, or knew of.
On one of these random walks, I ran into Linus Torvalds in the Campbell store. Good times!
I won't be going back. Microcenter, Best Buy, or an online retailer for me..
You mean Amazon doesn't police your receipt and merchandise at a checkpoint as you got out of the store?
My practice when I used to shop at Fry's was to stop and let the receipt checking person mark my receipt with their pink marker, if no one was ahead of me in that line. This was only to let them feel good about their job, not because I had any legal obligation.
If there was anyone in the receipt checking line I would just smile and wave and walk by. They never stopped me, nor could they legally, but the people waiting in line would often look at me and look at the receipt checker, puzzled that I could get away with it and they "couldn't".
Aside from that, it's a security theater tactic to discourage shoplifting, which also happens to discourage regular shopping.
Finding something you may have forgotten at the checkout is the only possible benefit to the consumer, so they play it up as a point of customer service, to partially counteract the unreasonable queue they create for exiting the store.
If the genuine concern was forgotten items, they would do the additional QA check at the point of sale, where the item is most likely to be found, rather than at the exit doors.
Don't parrot the corporate propaganda without giving it your own analysis first.
The veracity is easily checked. Buy a small, disposable item with your regular purchase, and put it in your pocket after checkout. If the receipt checker notices the item is missing, note a positive result. Put the receipt in your pocket with the item. Next time around, take the item out of your pocket and put it in the cart, and see what happens. Make sure you project the confidence that yes, that object in the cart is yours, and was lawfully purchased during a previous visit. Beware that this sort of testing may get your membership revoked.
I've considered using a collapsible box that I bought at Costco to pack my items after a shopping trip there. I wouldn't have the original receipt for it though, so I don't know how much hassle it would be. Haven't tried it yet.
It's a moot point, because good QA is not the goal.
You could swap collapsible boxes with someone who shops at Sam's Club, if it worries you.
Other stores don't have the processes for it, but legally they could bar you from return visits to their properties.
Their considering me a thief by default has provoked me to spend elsewhere. The poor buggers manning the front door never gave me any grief for blowing them off, but the unanswerable managerial thought that put them there in the first place makes it a no brainier to shop elsewhere.
And yea, that is despite the pull of preferring to fondle and drool on the merchandise in person.
And yet, somehow, Best Buy is doing fine apparently.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillgriffin/2018/07/27/best-buy...
Every time I go in there I have to ask the cashier for the price on the web site. The stores and site have different prices. I guess it makes sense because you capture 5% from everyone who doesn't bother to do that.
My point is, Best Buy has never been a one-to-one comparison to me. There are things that Fry's has that Best Buy simply doesn't.
[1]: https://www.frys.com/product/1000013 [2]: https://www.frys.com/product/1003503
They probably own the buildings (maybe even the land, too.) Potential buyers of a commercial building would want said building's internals in good condition (i.e. not wrecked by looters.) And the simplest way to ensure the building stays in good condition is to keep it running.
Those were the days :)
I kept joking to my friend that it felt post-apocalyptic because it looked like it had been looted. There were rough and cut-open boxes on empty shelves, empty and open packaging on the floor, no signs for the aisles to show what they had on them, employees that looked dead in the eyes, rows of shelves that were just empty or had maybe two or three items on them. It was legitimately sad to see.
We were on the hunt for a dual monitor setup. They didn't even have a 4k monitor on the shelves. That was how poor their selection was.
I've heard they're having issues even paying their vendors, so yeah. I'm pretty positive Fry's is in big trouble.
Sad to see them slip away, one of the joys was wandering the aisles looking for things I didn't know I needed/wanted.
I used to love Fry's, they had a great selection for system builders and hobbyists. Although I will say it always had a kind of grim, penitential air to it - all the employees in their black and white outfits and the massive black locked cages behind the rows of registers. It seemed oppressive, like you wouldn't be surprised to find out that the managers were beating the cashiers or something.
Still, sorry to see it go. I've been disappointed with the other system-builder-oriented place in town who knowingly restock broken merch. I guess it's Newegg from here on out!
Yeah. A weird vibe. The wood. The faux “luxury” trim. The yellow. Dudes in cheap looking suits trying to corner you so they can “ring up your order” for their commission.
Yeah. Fry’s was a weird place. The branding just didn’t match the service or experience at all.
The last time I went to Fry's was maybe 1 year ago. If you walk around, all of the electronics are older models, the game shelves are filled with games that are all several years old, even things like hard drives, etc are all old and expensive.
There were no salespeople to help except in places like the TV area. The car stereo area, which is what I was interested in, was empty and no one showed up. The car stereos themselves were older models. Nothing worked.
Why on earth would I ever return? The entire shopping experience at Fry's is worse than clicking through on Amazon.
Fry's is dead. Chalk one up for Amazon and automation a-la Andrew Yang. 30% of retail stores will close in 5-10 years and it's because of online stores like Amazon, that suck money out of local stores and diverts all the money to Seattle, except for the local warehouses where minimum wage workers are being worked like robots. This only gets worse unless we figure out how to rejig the economy with 21st century solutions like UBI.
https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Fry-s-exec-dropped-mill...
It's easy to say that, but then the retort is why isn't Micro Center suffering the same issues? The two should be facing exactly the same pressure from Amazon, so the reasons for Fry's failures has to be more nuanced than "internet retailers are sucking everyone dry."
For my part, I'm much more willing to buy computer parts in person because a) I get to walk out with it and set it up that day and b) I'd rather carry >$1000 worth of equipment on my person than hope no one steals it between its delivery time and my getting off of work.
I have no idea which part of the country you live in, but I would be shocked if in the Bay Area, Micro Center would be considered a "success". I can see how some stores, depending on their business agreements, might be able to stay alive through support, etc.
But for example, last year I ordered a graphics card on Amazon and it arrived on a Friday. I tried installing it on Saturday, and discovered it was broken, so I ordered a new one on Saturday afternoon. It arrived on a Sunday, before 9am. It was the most amazing experience.
I also shy away from amazon for some computer components because of all the fake stuff Amazon is now filled with. At MC you're much more likely to get the actual real part you ordered.
For non-sale stuff, they're usually in a competitive ballpark, although I wouldn't necessarily say cheaper, and I don't have to worry about counterfeits, or the "might be used/refurbed" roulette.
I don't buy anything complex on Amazon anymore, just books and stuff that I don't care are fake.
Also, as far as I know, Best Buy will do price-matching against Amazon, just like Fry's does, except with much less fuss about it. And Best Buy is way better about actually pricing their stuff competitively with Amazon to start with rather than hoping you just don't notice.
I actually purchased a 34" ultrawide monitor from the Rockville store recently specifically because it was the best price I could find at the time, and I went and got it the same day.
Went to a Fry's way out in the burbs of Chicago long ago, in the mid 2000s or so, it was pretty lively then. Not even sure if that one is still around.
There even used to be a TigerDirect location just south of Micro Center on Elston for a while. In my mind they always competed with NewEgg though and looks like NewEgg won out. I don't think the physical location was around that long. Might have even been a CompUSA around there too if I remember correctly.
Went to Microcenter later that day. Moderately busy store, fully stocked shelves, and a decently knowledgeable staff.
I also just bought an open-box video card there last weekend, which ended up saving me another $35 USD. I like having the option to just return it to the store if there is a problem, I'm a little more worried about doing this via an online retailer.
Amazon returns are nice, but store warranties are where MicroCenter shines. When my Samsung SSD died after six months, I waited weeks for the manufacturer to ship me a replacement. I've gone with store warranties since then; if something breaks they'll just hand you a replacement off the shelf.
One possibility is that Fry's didn't focus enough on it's core competency: computer components for enthusiasts. Last I was there they were selling a bunch of very tangentially related things, like a lot of kids toys.
That's the kind of stuff that nobody really cares so much about seeing before they but them, so easy for online retailers to serve.
Seems like many successful post Amazon businesses focus on a particular niche. Of course, I imagine that with their huge retail buildings, Fry's had to fill them with something to justify the cost of that space.
Retailers are just as much selling an experience as they are selling goods. The novelty of the Fry's experience just wore off for most people. Believe it or not there was a time when people would take their families there all weekend long as an outing.
People just aren't as impressed with consumer technology now as they were then ... and they're sort of right. The changes in recent years haven't been that wonder-inducing from a consumer perspective.
1. Many Speciality retailers 2. Single speciality retailer 3. single speciality retailer with limited stock 4. general retailer or substitute
With each step the market shrinks some, but it's still possible to capture profits.
Like you can chart videogames in this way
1. funcoland, electronics boutique, software etc, gamestop 2. gamestop (expansion) 3. current gamestop (limited game selection, focus on other high margin goods) 4. (future) gamestop folds, wal-mart and general retailers become focus of physical game retail.
In my town, bookstores are like this:
1. Waldenbooks, B Daltons, Books a Million, Borders 2. BOrders, then BAM 3. BAM, limited book stock, focusing more on high margin accessories 4. (in my local area) Goodwill, tiny book shelf at Walmart
The market will contract as Amazon increases to fit the reduced need for physical. So Micro Center is able to fulfill the demand by themselves, and it was just who had better business governance that chose who survived to take over the shrinking market, i think.
Seems like a store that big is only sustainable if you've got a ton of daily foot traffic.
Microcenter on the other hand has much smaller stores and a more focused set of product offerings. Also much better service. You can count on Microcenter staff to be helpful and informed, while Fry's staff was hit or miss but mostly pretty useless.
Fry's is not paying better than Amazon and Amazon's workers do not earn the minimum wage. Show me where Fry's has a national $15 minimum wage policy (they don't), ie nearly 100% higher than the Federal minimum wage.
I think meijers might do it too?
It IS illegal for them to try to stop you from leaving if you decline, unless they are detaining you for suspected shoplifting (which they must specifically inform you of).
And if they actually go so far as to physically prevent you from leaving? Congratulations, you just won the lawsuit lottery.
The customer service is definitely atrocious though. It took 40 minutes to find someone who could unlock the RAM I needed from a cage (and this was after I had to get a printed PO from someone on the "sales" floor).
They're spending a ton of labor for things that don't matter (like keeping a cafe open). No wonder they dont have money to keep their shelves stocked with anything other than as seen on tv junk.
Contrast to going into a local computer store, they had full stock of all the latest parts/components and competitive prices.
Would be interesting to know what's going on within the leadership of this company. They must know what the situation is, but how do they turn things around?
Central computers just opened a store almost right across the road from the Sunnyvale Fry's.
In fact, for my home-built machines, I typically buy them at Central, who will assemble the CPU, RAM, and Motherboard, showign that it POSTs (I've had plenty of times when I've purchased what I thought was a compatible group of hardware that wasn't).
I haven't been to Anchor yet but several of my ham radio friends have recommended it.
Jameco in San Carlos also has a lot of components. It's not a retail store, other than a small display up front of mostly closeout stuff, but you can order online for will call and they will have it ready by the time you get there.
One more Bay Area source I like a lot is SF Cable. As you can guess, they have mostly cables. The ones I've bought from them have been good quality at a good price. I particularly like their flat Cat 6 Ethernet cables. I don't think they have a retail store at all, but if you're in the Bay Area it's overnight shipping.
I have to say too that the San Jose store has smelled horrid the last year due to what seems like super old carpet smell. If they won't even pay to clean their carpet they don't deserve to be in business.
I was absolutely gutted to see the state of the store. It's immense, which makes its hollowness even more shocking. I remember when the store opened during my highschool years (2004'ish?) it was a pilgrimage to go there and see double-stacked shelves of every part you could imagine.
The employees (probably a 15-20 in the huge 400K sq.ft. store) looked shellshocked and didn't seem to have any inclination to ask me how they could help. I talked to a security guard who was maybe 17-18 and he mentioned something about renegotiating contracts with vendors or something, but I could tell even he didn't buy it.
I don't think there is any question of whether Fry's is in dire trouble.
The roof leaks water everywhere, so they have shopping carts with buckets all over the store; the computer section is now entirely empty ("we're switching to a consignment model") is what one employee told me; just very, very sad.
I'd guess perhaps they spent too much on real estate (that store could be 1/3rd its size and still fit everything) but no idea.
Since Fishers succumbed to Carmel disease and started putting traffic circles in everywhere, it's even more difficult to get to from the north.
I'd say they spent too little on real estate, and tried to repurpose a bad building in a bad location. They would have done better in the old shuttered Marsh supermarket on 96th St., if it had closed up shop before they moved in to Indy. Actually, they could probably move right now, for all the shelf-stock they're likely to still have on hand. The old building should just be razed and replaced with class-B office park offices. It has never had enough casual traffic to be good retail.
Otherwise, plan ahead and use online retailers.
The Greek Islands restaurant used to regularly drive a van to Chicago and back, because Kronos wouldn't ship their beef-lamb doner kebab cones for vertical gyro rotisseries all the way to Indy, so they were about the only place in town you could get a real gyro. I guess it's about the same for electronics.
You could maybe ask around the IUPUI or Purdue electronics engineering professors, or the robotic therapy/prosthetics lab at the IU hospital.
Lol, driving 6 hours to browse a store and getting an eco-green feeling.
Fry's in Wilsonville had some tough shoes to fill -- the building started as an electronics megastore called Incredible Universe, and in the beginning at least it was an event to go there. When Fry's moved in, they ditched all the theming (side note - this store never got a unique theme like many other Fry's stores; it was always promised to be "coming soon" but never did), and changed the layout to be a bit of a hodge-podge by comparison.
I really miss Incredible Universe's "bent and dent" room, where they sold items that were missing bits, slightly damaged, unboxed, etc, at a pretty steep discount.
I did go to the AMD roadshow in the parking lot one time, and both my friend and I won Athlon CPU/Mobo combos, that was cool. That may have been the last time I was there. Sounds depressing.
I'm fortunate to live 15 minutes away from the only Microcenter in California, which has really picked up business over the last year. Every Fry's in our area is in thes same sad condition (the Fountain Valley and Anaheim Hills Fry's are both ghost towns.)
The folks who work at our nearby Microcenter are all enthusiasts, and the store has a similar vibe to the golden-era of Fry's stores in Silicon Valley (this is despite CA's Microcenter being in Orange County, about 400 miles south of Silicon Valley and the broader Bay Area.)
One thing I noticed even a decade ago is that Microcenter did a much better job catering to high end computer builds than Frys, which over the last decade felt like it had too much breadth of product at the expense of useful depth in any one area. For instance, Microcenters have long had full isles dedicated to water cooling. Back before AIOs, you'd be able to find parts you'd only otherwise get at online specialty stores -- Newegg didn't even cary them. (Today, the selection is smaller but that is mostly due to the proliferation of AIOs.)
Of course that was then ...
The shelves in most of the store were empty. Much of the store was blocked off with caution tape, with buckets out to collect rain water dripping from the ceiling. I looked for graphics cards, but the aisle was completely bare. There were very few workers in the store, and even fewer customers.
In the front, I found fragrances. DVDs and Blu-rays were mainly obscure or poor films priced as high as $40. The only computers I could find were antiquated machines for the workers running Windows XP (or possibly Windows 2000) with 4:3 monitors.
One of the workers said that they were 'restructuring' their supply contracts - a clear attempt by management to keep up morale in a failing business. A store that size does not move to a consignment model.
Is Fry's Electronics in trouble? Yes.
Somewhere there will be a chapter in the book of Fry's demise about how they never modernized their point of sale system. That thing is fucking ancient and looks like some kind of weird homebrew monstrosity that the owners nephew (you know, the one who "knows computers") cooked up for them way back when they started. That thing has to have been a boat anchor that kept them from tinkering with their business model.
I just think they’ve got too much crap in there at RadioShack prices. It’s hard to find something I’m looking for and when i do find it, have to make the mental choice to pay twice as much for it in store or wait 2 days for Amazon Prime to deliver it.
So just anecdotally as a guy who shops there, I’m not surprised they’re struggling.
Seriously?
Had to stop going there when some manager got upset I was came back in asking for a price adjustment per the store policy and they told me to never come back after handing me cash.
I remember when MediaPlay and Circuit City went away. So are we just down to BestBuy and MicroCenters if you want to actually look at things before buying them? How long until all we have are YouTube videos by Markus/Dave2D/Linus to judge products by?
I try to buy from Newegg instead of Amazon because I don't want Amazon to essentially have a monopoly (not to mention that Newegg seems to package things better). I'll buy from BestBuy only in an absolute emergency, though I used to shop at Fry's and RadioShack quite a bit when both were good.
I hope Microcenter can reinvigorate the enthusiast electronics retail market and expand since apparently Fry's isn't going to do it.
I remember the holidays at that time with the checkout line being so long that they couldn’t keep up with even 30 registers open. Now, they have maybe two registers open at any given time and the checkout line is never more than a few customers long.
I find it sad and disconcerting. But I have to admit to being part of the problem: I haven’t bought much at Fry’s since I built my last PC 2-3 years ago. Every time we go now, it’s depressing and we end up only buying a cable or a memory card.
That is the same in and vaguely specialist shop. Most of the workers will be the cheapest to employ or the least willing to fight back about a bit of unpaid overtime here or there. Having knowledge and/or skills is no longer a significant competitive advantage in that employment market.
The quality and depth of information available online, especially via forums, far exceeds what one can expect from a single employee. I don’t see how any store could compete on that aspect, although the online info is probably limited to people who are adept at reading English.
This always chapped my hide. It absolutely killed my favorite local technical bookstores.
Two of their biggest problems are
1) Not enough people coming into their store to buy, and
2) Past real-estate investments that left them with too much indoor space.
Solution:
Take half the space of each store, and turn it into a maker-space/education center.
Hold workshops there. Free, or dirt cheap, on how to do fun things with a Raspberry Pi, or build your own PC/gaming rig, or whatever.
Have spaces where people can assemble their gear. With a few knowledgeable staff around - plus the friendly neighborhood volunteers who will be naturally attracted to just come hang out at this space - to help out. And since it's right there, they can just walk over to the store and BUY ALL THE PARTS.
Make it FUN. Family friendly. A place where people want to come and just hang out, to be around other technical hobbyists...
A place where local tech enthusiasts go to meet their friends, and make new friends. And spend money.
(Heck, Fry's could even sell food and drinks. Popcorn. There would be people there who need to eat and drink; why not?)
Would this work?
Maybe. Maybe not.
But I bet it has a better chance of working than the direction they're heading now.
perhaps they are keeping everything open as shells to try and shop some deal to potential investors as revitalizing a once great brand.
someone up high has some really good and specific reasons for keeping most of the stores barely open and operational.
if there were responsible people at the helm they would shutter nearly all the locations immediately.
they probably have a few dozen months of funding left at this pace, no idea what they're holding out for, they seem to be just delaying the inevitable.
The employees at both places are only really knowledgeable about gaming stuff. As soon as I ask them about other things they have a deer in headlights look.
The entire computer/networking section was bare. They had a wireless IP camera and a $400 "small-business class" Cisco router (can't remember which model). No cable modems, no other routers, nothing. The only stocked shelves were media (CDs and Blu-ray). The Christmas shoppers were disgruntled they had made the trip.
A sales associate I talked to was confounded. When asked whether Fry's was going out of business he said they were told no. He mentioned there had been no deliveries in months and the storage they did have was empty.
I don't think it can be attributed to just Prime or better service at Best Buy. The market is saturated with tech. Everyone has a cell phone, laptop/desktop, TV, smart-device, etc. Fry's should've been downsizing about 10 years ago. It's possible they could've done more with their service department (the tire, car audio system installers always seemed busy)
I'll always remember Fry's as
- being packed during the holidays
- having ridiculous long checkout lines b/t 1998-2016 even an hour before close
- being able to find cool/rare last minute gifts
- massive selection of photography equipment
- in recent years (?) having price-match guarantee
This is what companies that are going out of business tell their employees in order to keep enough people around to help liquidate/pack up when it's time to shut down.
Curious to know if employee paychecks are still arriving on time and clearing.
If it were trying to make things work, they should be consolidating stores to reduce operating costs. But they're just in some sort of holding pattern. I saw a rumor on a Fry's employee forum that one of the brothers Fry was going through a personal bankruptcy and that was disrupting the corporation's credit, which seems plausible, but hasn't been reported anywhere legitimate, so I dunno.
The Fry's PC builder section at Northgate was a mainstay for years. Sad days.
Sounds like Fry's asked themselves, "Why are Amazon's inventory carrying costs so low?" or "How come we can't do like FBA?" Their suppliers clearly are not onboard.
When I went to Fry's in Austin a couple of weeks ago I saw very close to no inventory in many of the product categories I looked at. I'm not sure I'll go back. While I'm sad to see Fry's go, I understand that it's partly due to my fondness for Amazon.
One time I had to get a laptop last minute, they (fry's) tried to get me to buy one laptop, told them I will look around first, which I did and foud what I wanted, asked them to help me get that model after which they basically ignored me and refused to interact with me for like half an hour to 45 minutes where finally a manager stepped in and personally helped me.
Another time, I wanted to buy some game I think as a gift. I declined to give my name/address since I was paying cash and suddenly I needed to show my id and a credit card or else I'm committig fraud or some ridiculous thing.
I've seen them make nasty comments about a customer's appearance to the customer's face too.
And this is at different locations. Microcenter started to get their way,but I was so shocked how they turned around. It's hard to explain,like the sales people will helpfully just ...help you find things without being rude. The cashiers will ask for an address (and get pushy at times) but they are fine without one.
I will just buy online if I have to give up my name anyways. Cash gift cards and deliver it to a trusted person. All the variety I want too. The one advantage aside from accessibility retailers had was privacy and that's outthe door now. Amazon/newegg does not do facial recognition,gait analysis and track my phone in order to buy something in their site.
- Almost all the floor people are paid in part on commission. Even the cashiers salary is in some part commission based. Like, how can a cashier have any control over what somebody purchases in order to maximize their commission?
- Their Point of Sale software seemed to be the most antiquated homebrew garbage on earth. The thing would print out a mile long receipt, even in their cafe. Like, to order coffee the cashier had to do a bunch of steps in on the terminal just to complete the transaction--super bizarre. I'm pretty sure some owners nephew "who knows computers" must have programmed that thing way back in the day and the owners never bothered to modernize.
- The stores always seemed depressing, even ten years ago. Shelves were always dirty with crap strewn about. The isles always had some shelves that were empty with no inventory, or the majority of the inventory out of stock.
- Years ago my monitor crapped out on me and I had an extended warranty. The cheap fuckers didn't replace it but actually wanted to spend several weeks somehow repairing it. I still have pictures on my phone of the absolute mountain of paperwork they gave me for this processes. It was completely insane.
- All the people working there never seemed happy. Several times I overheard employees yelling at each other in neighboring isles. I always got the feeling store management was running the place like a pressure cooker--"gotta sell XYZ of whatever or you are fired" where "XYZ" was some product nobody on earth wanted.
In short, Fry's always had a weird vibe to me. I'm surprised they managed to make it this far.
Yeah, every time I picked my item off the shelf, if anyone was nearby they would grab it from me and say "I need to give you a quote."
The first few times, I dutifully followed them to their terminal hoping that the "quote" might be a buck or two off the sticker price. Nope. The quote was for exactly the same price.
After a while I got in the habit of saying "just browsing", and as soon as they left the aisle I would grab my item and make a beeline out of that area.
One time I bought a $20 case for my compact camera. I told the guy I would be a while trying different cases to see how they fit. As soon as I picked one and started to walk away... Yes, you guessed it, "I need to give you a quote." And he wrapped it around my little case and taped it all over the place to make sure I wouldn't throw the quote away.
I always got the feeling the stores management, and corporate were stuffed full of sleazy used-car style salespeople.
Just tons of mis-aligned incentives that resulted in a very poor customer experience.
Something very strange is happening in retail now. As mega-stores like Fry's, not to mention mom and pop shops, wither up and die, people are left with fewer local store options.
So even if you want to continue supporting local business and an old favorite chain, you're left with at least a 50-50 chance you'll make the effort only to return home empty handed.
Wasting an hour or more of your life on an attempt to source an item from a local store isn't worth it to most people. So they go with Amazon, where they find exactly what they're looking for, at a rock-bottom price, often delivered within a day.
With each iteration, another layer of soil gets thrown on the coffin of local retail.
That said, I'm not entirely sure this is a bad thing. Driving around burns a politically and environmentally harmful resource. Freeway congestion is a blight on on cities everywhere. Big box retailers and shopping malls destroy wildlife habitat and pervert the local tax base.
Well, son, we could have that but that would have hurt mom&pop stores, and put people out of work, and people have to have jobs don't they? A human isn't living a good life unless they are working to keep food on the table.
I don't think they revamped their business model as much others who survived did. Their website and newsletter feels like it is from the 2000's.
The stores are just too big and unintuitive.
Most useless products are at the entrance.
The checkout takes ages even if there are only 2-3 customers in the line.
At Lowe's, I had to buy a few things for a desk Im building. I noticed the following: 1) the staff size was the same, but 2) I had to check out my own items at the self checkout which is 3) user hostile and requires assistance for about 30% of the items. 4) they only had 1 person for 8 self checkout stations and this person was super busy and checking out took unnecessarily long
I vowed then to never go back. It just so happens I had a plumbing issue, so I went to home depot. As luck would have it, they have done the same thing. However, their self checkout was reasonably polished and more user friendly. That said, I still was not happy with the process and will revert to going to one of the fewer and fewer ACE hardware stores whenever possible. I shouldnt have to know any code or special information about a product to buy it. If I have to check out my own items I shouldnt see 15 employees loitering around the store chatting.(true at both Lowes and Home Depot). I shouldnt be paying 8 dollars for a 25 foot roll of painters tape if I am checking out my own items.
Unlike every other self checkout, I actually had fun using it!
... so it's in trouble, because it is no longer considered creditworthy enough to obtain net-day financing terms from its wholesale partners.
It hasn't been a useful place for electronic parts for ten years. For computer components, try Central Computer. For electronic parts, DigiKey or Mouser.
When the most attractive feature of a store is in-store pickup, it is no longer an event to go to a store, but a logistical footnote in your day. Items are no longer sold by staff, environment, and experience, but instead as a commodity. While many people here may say they want to shop undisturbed, a large portion of purchases, especially high dollar ones, are made with the help of an eager sales person who is encouraging you to spend money.
Margins used to be skyhigh on electronics. Things were new and hot and changing rapidly. People didn't know a whole lot about what they were buying, they needed educated. And it required educated staff, and the margins were high enough to afford them.
Electronics are mostly a commodity now. There's less of a difference now between a TV store and a shoe store.
At this point it's probably a better business move to close the store till they're able to stock shelves. No one walks into that store and thinks "oh, this is somewhere I should come back to for my tech needs in the future".
From 2004 till about a year ago, I'd never seen any inventory problems at any of the Bay Area Fry's. Starting around June (I think), I'd noticed inventory issues at their Fremont and San Jose locations.
By September, it was very noticeable -- I couldn't even find a basic plug converter in preparation for an international trip a few months back, finding Target had better selection. When I asked if the store was closing, they said something about some inventory changes, presumably the move to the consignment model the article spoke about.
A few commenters mention that Fry's seemed to be adding more kids toys sections giving that as a potential reason for Fry's demise. Many retailers started stocking more kids toys as Toys-R-Us fell victim to vulture capital. I suspect Fry's was trying to cash in on the sudden market like many other retailers.
Well, it's certainly a reason for geek parents to give as an excuse to drop in to Fry's. Or was at this point.
Thinking back, Fry's was a perfect place to spend my teenage years - I had little money, and not enough technical knowledge to be a discerning consumer. As an adult it no longer serves its purpose - I can afford to buy higher quality goods, and have the time and knowledge to find them.
>[link:] PAGE ONE -- '90s Kids Find New Hangout -- Computer Store
https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-90s-Kids-F...
>Harrison's one complaint is that the game manuals are not near the demonstration computers. "You have to figure out what weapon to kill what people with on your own, and that's hard to do without the manual," he said.
In the late 70's - early 80's, I used to hang out at the mall Radio Shack after school with a few other regular kids, where we played games and learned to program BASIC on the TRS-80's.
They had a similar attitude about kids hanging out there, and gave us a place to store our cassette tapes, because it helped sell computers to the adult customers, who we would demonstrate the computers to all the time.
Plus we got to listen to great music (like "My Sharona" by The Knack, who were supposed to be the next Beatles) as the Radio Shack sales people sold stereos and speakers to customers.
Kids these days know "My Bologna" better than "My Sharona" and Weird Al better than the Beatles. (And JavaScript better than BASIC!)
If they were going to switch to this model, why not just lock the doors for the months where the transition is happening? Very very weird.
Last time I walked in there was a few months ago, and I assumed they were just trying to clear out what remains of inventory before closing the store. It has been very unclear to me under what economic principle it remains open, given that there is little merchandise, almost no staff, and no customers.
They are at a crossroads. Give. Best Buy’s apparent comeback (I am surprised that I like shopping there now, after detesting it for so long) signals that Fry’s could do it. But Fry’s themselves seems to be denying it. They need to aggressive make signs of life. Close half the stores for chrissake.
I’ve actually had 2 “once removed“ encounters with Randy Fry.
1. almost bought the house next door to his in Los Gatos.
2. DMV guy asked if I knew him. I don’t remember why exactly ... it was either that i’d bought the same car or he recognized my address as being near to his house. apparently Randy had just been in the DMV (I guess he doesn’t have people) and the DMV guy remembered him due to his local prominence. Turns out, as the DMV clerk told me, his real name is not Randy. For privacy reasons I guess I’ll not share it.
One of the things I was looking forward to in fatherhood was taking my kid to Fry's. They always had really cool science/tech toys.
We've now got a two year old, and a month ago we went to the Renton Fry's for the first time in, well, probably two years, and it's absolutely desolate. There were still a few cool toys, though - I got him a Soccer Hoverball [0] - so at least I got to do that once with my son.
I went there on Black Friday this year to find the shelves still empty.
Now, the nearest Fry's is 45-60 minutes away from me, so I've only been in about 3 times in the last decade. The most recent was equally depressing. We didn't find what we were looking for and it probably would have been damaged even if we had.
I know the history of computing technology pretty well... but it was striking to see it laid out like that, in the context of changes with art, culture, domestic and international politics.
Retrospecting on that, in the heyday when Moore's Law was so visible, before the PC revolution gave birth to the Internet revolution, new computing devices were changing so fast. You could go into a store a month later and see a lot of things that are new. I remember the Columbus OH Microcenter. There was a tiny used computer store nearby. Both were packed. That business worked because there was so much turnover.
You don't really see that nowadays. The most exciting thing that come out tbese days is the Threadripper, but for most consumers, it isn't necessary anymore.
Most of the rapid changes are taking place where people can't really see it anymore (unless you are an insider) -- in the cloud, with AI.
Even though changes are still happening rapidly, I think the _visible_ changes have petered out for the consumer.
What I am saying is that, even if Fry's were able to compete on price with internet retailers, something more fundamental has shifted.
Now maybe I am just saying this from the perspective of the US. I hear that in China, the development and competitiveness of smartphones is a lot greater there than in the US. Apple has a difficult time competing in China because there are many stylish, hot smartphones within that domestic market. If so, then perhaps it isn't that changes are no longer being visible ... but that the US is no longer the focal point of consumer product innovation that it one was.
They might have had selection when no one else did, but the experience was practically designed to be as annoying and uncomfortable as possible.
Also, in high school, I worked at Egghead Software which was killed off by CompUSA, NCA Peripherals, MicroCenter and other large retailers, most of which have been since killed off by online retailers.
For the past 15+ years, I’ve used pricewatch.com to shop for computer parts because they tend to scrape more sites than Google Shopping does.
Fry’s Electronics anecdote from 1996:
So Fry’s Electronics used to buy full-page ads in the San Jose Mercury News where they would advertise their sales and loss-leaders. In red, 192 point font, Fry’s advertised the launch of OS/2 4 “WRAP [sic]” on three (3) separate lines. Ooof IBM.
Back in the day, compusa was the place, then it went oob. Then hard drives northwest bought compustop and closed them.
For a tech town, this place is missing good computer hardware stores, little strips of computer stores in Redmond just disappeared in the early 2000's. Use to call it little silicon valley (near hdnw).
This was a huge one, and I think I might have actually been the only customer walking around, and it was weird...For a moment, there was a part of me that wondered if the store was closed and they forgot to lock up, but then I bought something without any problems.
I grew up in Florida, where there aren't any Fry's, but whenever we went to Texas or California I always looked forward to going, and when I lived in Dallas I went almost every weekend. Pretty sad to see that it's basically dead.
As far as I know, there's only one in SoCal still open (Tustin).
Same thing everyone else reports: it was dark with a few bored employees wondering around aimlessly. Alternating messy and bare shelves. Absurd amounts of floor space compared to the trade they were doing.
They did have 50' ethernet cables, though.
Multiple aisles of cheap cellphone accessories aren't a good look either, but there were a bunch of Anker boxes - whose cables I like.
It's just a bunch of back and forth on who will pay for what, since they only lease half of that building. I have heard they are doing quite well.
Left, drove to Microcenter, and had to fight my way through the crowds to get to the RAM. They had multiple options, happy associates, and I even poked around with fun 3d printing stuff because the store was so well stocked. It's wild that their situation is so different.
I still hit the stores in Campbell or Sunnyvale, as needed, although we got to referring to it as the "F" word due to the frequent trips to have to return "re-certified" parts. Their testing of returned merchandise frequently left much to be desired. I learned to avoid those stickers ("... Frys warrants this product...").
For me it went downhill at the time they bought Infinite Universe (or whatever that store they acquired was called) and expanded nationwide. Actually it was kind of going downhill by the time they opened a store in Campbell.
I think the Fry's unique proposition was that it sold the stuff the folks inside the industry used, but retail. I remember being amazed the very first time I entered the store (when there was only one, remember) that they sold heat shrink. All sizes. All colors. They carried products that otherwise the only way to get was to order from a distributor, which was a pain because you had to know exactly what you wanted, or trawl through paper catalogs, wait for delivery, all that. Or you could get in the car, zoom round to Fry's and pick up what you needed.
Then over the next few decades two things happened: first, in order to keep making more and more money Fry's expanded both geographically and with more product lines. This took them outside the bubble where orange 5mm heat shrink off-the-shelf is something people want, and into competition with Costco and Walmart for basic computers, fridges, etc. Second the differentiation vs old line distributors eroded as everyone bought everything online with next day delivery. If you want orange 5mm heat shrink today, Jeff can get it to a locker near you in 1/2 a day[1].
In addition, Fry's became just a painful place to shop. e.g. since the early 1990s if you tried to buy DRAM modules there, the sales person would give you hassle about being an idiot for wanting tin plated contacts vs gold. They began strip-searching customers on exit when they moved into the brown box. They stopped carrying most professional products: e.g. if you wanted the simplest thing for a data center cage such as a shelf or a 4U ATX case, they probably wouldn't have that.
[1] https://www.amazon.com/16-Heat-Shrink-Tubing-1-100FT/dp/B06Y...
So many empty shelves. Every isle was capped with stacks of boxed paper reams.
Apple section had one MacMini and a broken Macbook. Car audio section was basically an empty shell, with only a few demo stereos and speakers left. The home theater section was an empty room. Toy section was empty.
The place is dead.
Fry's was the only store I visited on "Black Friday". Some of the other customers were looking at the bare shelves, like "what happened"? I bought a few items I thought would be useful, but I was not in the market for any big-ticket items.
On that day I overheard one of the employees say the "trade war" was the cause of the company's problems. Partially, I'm sure, but not totally. I'd read about an employee at the Fry's corporate office who was caught lining his own pocket with company money: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14906339
I think Fry's has a chance because it owns most of its buildings, and it's presumably not being looted by vulture capitalists (as happened to Sears). The stores have been well-staffed for months in spite of their having little to sell.
I still shop at Fry's because I don't always know what I'm looking for, and it's nice to be able to browse.
Employees appear to be well trained not to say anything negative, mumbling vague promises of restocking soon.
It's been this way for months. I am surprised they have not shut the doors.
(Before anyone gets snarky about substituting an HP for a true custom build... it was my money not hers and she's happy, so I did save $1500 in the deal. That makes my wallet happy) :)
Last time I visited there were empty areas in several aisles.
I know someday I’ll have to order all parts online unless I find a local option.
One of the first things I did after arriving was to visit Fry's in Palo Alto to soak it all in... I was in the BAY AREA!!
Sad to see them (perhaps, likely) go!
The receipt-check at the exit was already enough to send my business elsewhere, but the dismal, "perpetually looks like a going out of business sale", store interior cemented it.
A cancer ward has more hope in it.
The only interesting thing they seemed to have plenty of was UV reactive Sata cables (so wholesome) and Bawls Guarana energy drinks (a favorite past time of mine going to MicroCenter in Cambridge MA).
Sad to say but I think the demise of Fry's is close - but boy was their "western" styled Palo Alto store bizarre and fantastic at the same time.
If they're going to lie and sell returned items as new, they could at least try to refurbish them and see if they work. As much as I don't like best buy (and don't go there anymore either), I don't think they'd ever try to pull that BS.
Going to frys as a kid was a lot of fun, but it would be a last resort for me now.
But I haven't bought computer parts from them in years. I think I got a CPU fan there maybe three or four years ago. Meanwhile I bought a Das Keyboard from Micro Center in the past year because the price beat anything online.
Online stores aren’t great when you are just in need of a $1 component. ideally you’d be able to just nip to a real store and quickly get what you need
Not a walk in store, but you can order online and pickup.
https://goo.gl/maps/bwVeeWYWSNjL1X4dA
Fry's should have been sold to better managers. I go to Central Computer for what I used to go to Fry's for.
In its inimitable way, Maps responds to "Fry's Electronics near <my town>" by crossing out "Fry's Electronics" rather than showing the closest one.
https://www.forbes.com/companies/frys-electronics/#469688c75...
+1 to Best Buy as well, they always surprise me with great customer experience.
I once bought a PC from them that wouldn't boot reliably. In the process of trying to get an OS installed on it, I accidentally wiped the recovery partition on the drive. Eventually I gave up and tried to return the PC.
"Sorry, we can't take this back. We can't restore the OS," said the returns tech.
"It won't even boot. That's why I'm returning it."
"But it means that we can't put it back on the shelf."
I don't remember what I said to get my money back, but I did, and it was the last PC I ever bought there.
I've been going to Fry's since they opened on Lawrence Expressway in the 80s. Fry's was a fun, wacky place to take out-of-town guests to, and they were great for the occasional emergency keyboard or HDD, but you were taking a risk on expensive items. Won't miss them much.
How are brick and mortar stores still a thing for products that are NOT either things I try on (clothes), things I need to see before they arrive (groceries) or impulse purchases? The fact that the last one didn't close in 2010 is a monument to how humans refuse to try anything new past a certain age, no matter how much cheaper, easier, faster or better quality you make it.
It's not just about price. Sometimes you want a reasonable assurance that what you're buying is the real deal. Amazon continues to get worse in that department.
Brick and mortar is also still faster. Not everyone or every item can be delivered on the same day, but going to a store can get me that item now instead of tomorrow or 2 days from now. Usually I'm not in that much of a hurry, but sometimes I am.
But enough about computers. I think the products that keep Best Buy in business are the vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, washing machines, and other large big-ticket items that people would rather not select from pictures on their phone, let alone ship.
Hence the 25 dollar Best Buy USB cables; "Ah Crap.. Do I drive to Walmart?... Nah"
Edit: But actually yes. I was pretty peeved about the cost of a basic A/B USB cable there.
There's something about being able to browse, touch and discover new things that the online experience doesn't provide. Even Amazon's strategy includes B&M these days [2] (Amazon Books, Amazon Go, Amazon 4-star, Whole Foods, etc. -- all of these can be found in the Chicago area and other parts of the country)
[1] New retail technologies:
https://www.retaildive.com/topic/technology/
[2] https://www.amazon.com/find-your-store/b/?node=17608448011