Fry's Electronics to cease all operations as of today | Hacker News Reader

Fry's Electronics to cease all operations as of today

frys.com

6 pointsjedberg10 comments

I have fond memories of going to Fry's Alice in Wonderland themed store with my dad when I was a kid, which means we must have started going there right when they opened.

And now my goto store was the very first one here in Sunnyvale. I was just there a couple weeks ago! And I remember thinking what a sad sad shell of its former self it was.

Fry's was definitely a goto spot throughout my early career when I worked in IT and then system administration on a lot of physical servers. Any time I needed parts I'd run to the Aztech themed location in Campbell or one of the locations near Berkeley/Emeryville.

I wonder if I can buy some of their big props? No idea where I'd put them though!

Oh yeah, I lived by the Fry's "temple" around eBay for about 5 years.

Running up and down the bouncy, moving sidewalk was fun. It was long and at a gentle angle since the store was elevated off the ground at a second floor level. The stairs were less fun.

I recall droves of people lining-up for many hours prior to opening for holiday loss-leaders.

I also remember PixelUSA, JDR Microdevices, and NCA Peripherals.

In high school, I was an assistant manager at the Egghead Software store on Blossom Hill Rd. until it shutdown (killed by CompUSA and other big stores, which were mostly killed by BestBuy, Newegg, Amazon, and the internet). The model of tiny, local software stores selling plain cardboard or plastic bag software could never compete with hypermarts like CompUSA, BestBuy, or Walmart, or the internet (Newegg, Amazon, etc.).

Central Computer and MicroCenter are still in business!

Yeah, I've found myself going to Central Computer the last few times I needed something that Fry's didn't have. But it's just not the same as going into that massive warehouse. ..

IKR. Silicon Valley (and Seattle, Portland, RTP, and Austin) need a 24/7 "tech" convenience store like B&H Photo but with electronic components, equipment, and odds-ends hardware, software, biohackers, makers, and inventor-entrepreneurs need immediately. Throw in a coffee shop like some Fry's had but bigger and cooler (Buck's of Woodside-style).

I noticed Fry's were declining when their electronic components section atrophied, shelves were pulled-out, shelves weren't filled, and there wasn't as much foot-traffic.

The sign of the fall for me was when they removed the wall of CPUs and RAM.

Sigh. Yeah, that's a slow and sad death. Someone should write "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Fry's Electronics Empire." I'm sure there are business lessons to be learned, like not slacking off in brick-n-mortar retail or store-equivalent online sales. Fry's online sales were never good and they didn't keep up; honestly, I think they survived so long out of location and existence more than business acumen.

I remember the Fry's Electronics original location in the heyday of the home-built PC days. IIRC they had electronic components, shareware, PC components, and odds-ends before branching out into appliances, convenience store, pr0n, and other items.

Also, I remember the Fry's (not electronics) general store at Kooser and Meridian in San Jose.

The Fry's general store was owned by the father of the founders of Fry's electronics. He sold the market to a big grocery conglomerate and then gave the money to his kids, who used it to found the electronics store because they didn't want to run a supermarket.

However, they liked the idea of a supermarket since they knew how to run one, so they set up Fry's like a market. The first Fry's electronics actually had groceries and even fresh produce. But they cut back on actual food and just started stocking chips and other "grocery items for men".

Yeap. :) I remember that. I also used to hangout with the Saberkittens because of a coworker's fiancé. The Sabercats occasionally used the Fry's 747ER.

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