28 ms·

Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

• paulmendoza 7y ago
  Every time I go into one now I am shocked at how much open space there is on the floor and the shelves. It is super depressing. I have been seeing this for the last year or so at the San Marcos store near where I live. Frys has been going downhill for years though. But I mostly notice this empty space in the areas where they sold toys or books. The super technical areas of the store are still fully stocked where they sell CPUs or computer cases or motherboards.
• madengr 7y ago
  Micro Center seems to be going fine. Fully stocked (with the exception of CPU) and always busy. No issues price matching online either.
  • mikelward 7y ago
    The one in the Bay Area (Santa Clara Mercado) closed years ago and became a Walmart. As far as I know, there's only one in SoCal still open (Tustin).
    • fortytw2 7y ago
      Kinda anecdotal, but the one in Richardson (DFW) is almost always packed. Easily one of my favorite brick and mortar stores anywhere.
    • Aloha 7y ago
      https://www.frys.com/ac/storeinfo/fountain_valley-location-frys-electronics-hours-maps-directions https://www.frys.com/ac/storeinfo/fountain_valley-location-f...
      • mikelward 7y ago
        This subthread was about Microcenter.
    • bigyikes 7y ago
      There is still one open in Sunnyvale a few miles away from Santa Clara Mercado, but I’m not sure how much longer it’ll be around.
      • _jal 7y ago
        Yeah, I was in there about a month ago, needed a few long ethernet cables while at a datacenter. 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.
      • mikelward 7y ago
        This subthread was about Microcenter.
    • luckydata 7y ago
      There's one in Sunnyvale, one in Fremont and one in Palo Alto.
      • seattle_spring 7y ago
        None of those 3 locations are SoCal.
        • mikelward 7y ago
          None of them are Microcenters, either.
          • Kaibeezy 7y ago
            On the sunny side, this was one of the funnier subthreads I’ve seen around here in a while :) Which is also kind of sad :( Why aren’t we funnier?
      • Diederich 7y ago
        I believe the one in Sunnyvale is closing. Last time we were there, maybe a couple of months ago, the shelves were being emptied out.
      • WWLink 7y ago
        I believe they were talking about Microcenter.
        • luckydata 7y ago
          Ah, could be. Reading on mobile and all that.
      • sn 7y ago
        There used to be a Micro Center in the Mercado shopping center. There's no Micro Center in Northern California any more.
        • 7y ago
    • mikelward 7y ago
      Parent was talking about Microcenter, not Fry's.
  • TheAdamist 7y ago
    Just stopped in my local microcenter (Wayne, pa) after not being in for a year or two and they had blocked off a third of the store with ugly shelving, Hopefully they are using the space for shipping or something, but I'm somewhat worried as they are the last physical store with a decent selection in the wide area. Multiple aisles of cheap cellphone accessories aren't a good look either, but there were a bunch of Anker boxes - whose cables I like.
    • wronglebowski 7y ago
      That whole shopping center is getting remodeled and the management has been arguing about renovating the space. 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.
  • josephwegner 7y ago
    Literally just did this last week. Needed some more RAM for my laptop, and figured a quick drop into Fry's would work. It was pitiful and absolutely shocking. I have to say 70% of the store was empty, with multiple departments worth of shelving completely empty. They didn't have the RAM I needed, and the options they did have were poorly price... and hard to find... and the sales associate in the area seemed to not know what customers were for and completely ignored me. 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.
    • corysama 7y ago
      So, what did Microcenter do right to avoid having the same fate as Fry’s?
      • jandrese 7y ago
        Carrying product that people would want to buy at a reasonable price?
  • nickthegreek 7y ago
    Columbus Ohio microcenter was PACKED (both shelves, and people) during the holidays. Love that place.
• blantonl 7y ago
  Answer: of course, yes. 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.
  • rossdavidh 7y ago
    How is the Micro Center in DFW doing? I see other electronics retailers doing ok, so I think Amazon is just the coup de grace.
    • denimnerd42 7y ago
      Seems to be busy enough. They always have new cool products and lots of new inventory. If he's in Irving that's pretty far from him so he might not visit.
    • ajflores1604 7y ago
      Microcenter is doing great, at least from the point of view of a frequent customer. 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.
      • BitwiseFool 7y ago
        It's mostly school supplies and pallets of bottled water now.
• mu_killnine 7y ago
  I live in the midwest and there's a Frys up by Chicago. I drove up there during the holidays in hopes I might be able to snag my wife a nice monitor off the floor. 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.
  • lozaning 7y ago
    Hanger 1 at moffett is only 348,480 sq ft, that is an absolute unit of a Frys at 400,000. Maybe I'll have to drive over to Chicago and check that out before their inevitable closure.
    • sct202 7y ago
      The Frys in Chicago is more like a normal big box store size like a Target. I just drew a ploygon over it on Google maps and it's 3.6 acres (~156k sq ft)
  • organsnyder 7y ago
    The one near Indianapolis is like that, too. I'd never been in one before (none anywhere near me in Michigan), and was excited to experience it when vacationing with my family last year. Was shocked at how bad it was—it looked like it was in the process of being liquidated (huge empty spaces), and the merchandise was mostly garbage. It was like a junky flea market without the energy.
    • macintux 7y ago
      Watching that store spiral downhill has been very depressing. 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.
• unlinked_dll 7y ago
  The Fry’s in Burbank won’t even keep all their lights on during the day. I’ve had to bust out the flashlight on my phone while browsing there. 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.
  • Diederich 7y ago
    > The Fry’s in Burbank won’t even keep all their lights on during the day. I’ve had to bust out the flashlight on my phone while browsing there. Seriously?
    • dougbarrett 7y ago
      Right, I find that hard to believe. I worked in the Oxnard location for a short time in 2007 and that has never been my experience. They'll dim the lights well after store closing, but it's never been dark enough that I felt like I couldn't see what I was doing.
      • dawnerd 7y ago
        Used to shop at the Oxnard location all the time - opening day was awesome, and the cheap hotdogs they'd do the following year. Probably the brightest fry's I've seen. 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.
      • unlinked_dll 7y ago
        I'm 100% serious. I have been in there maybe two dozen times in the last 2 years. The audio area in particular is quite dim, there are ceiling lights that are never turned on (underneath the weird UFO shaped outcropping).
        • 7y ago
• hosh 7y ago
  The store in Phoenix not only had bare shelves, but the extra warehousing space in the back corner was all empty. I went there on Black Friday this year to find the shelves still empty.
  • brewdad 7y ago
    So sad to see this. The Thunderbird store used to be about midway between work and home when I lived in AZ, 20 years ago. I'd often stop in just to walk around and see what was new. 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.
    • hosh 7y ago
      Leading up to the New Year's, I was watching the CNN history documentary on Netflix. It was the one executive produced by Tom Hanks, and covers the 70s, 80s, 90s, and 2000s. I went backwards and have just finished the 80s. 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.
• ulkesh 7y ago
  Part of the issue is that their quality of service has gone down. 10 years ago, most people who worked there were knowledgeable in their respective departments, but now it is quite often the opposite. I don’t exactly blame the workers, it could simply be that circumstances have caused training to become nonexistent. 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.
  • dsfyu404ed 7y ago
    10yr ago those people had just got laid off from all their IT jobs and whatnot. Now they all have real jobs again and you've got lower quality labor. The same thing happened to Autozone, Home Depot and every other place a laid off skilled worker wound up getting a job to make ends meet.
    • ulkesh 7y ago
      That is a good point. I was lucky to get through the recession without being laid off, but so many others were certainly not as fortunate.
  • dspillett 7y ago
    > 10 years ago, most people who worked there were knowledgeable ... but now ... 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.
  • lotsofpulp 7y ago
    > 10 years ago, most people who worked there were knowledgeable in their respective departments, 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.
• taxicabjesus 7y ago
  I noticed the shelves at the Phoenix Fry's starting to get bare a year ago. In November an employee said they were "renegotiating" with their suppliers. This article explains "the shelves are empty because it has shifted to a consignment model, meaning that suppliers get paid for goods only after a store has sold them." 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 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.
  • Macha 7y ago
    If there's anything to browse beyond water bottles, VGA cables, phone cases and year old DVDs, then your local Fry's is doing much better than the one I visited in early December.
• ninguem2 7y ago
  I wonder what that means for the American Institute of Mathematics (https://aimath.org/ https://aimath.org/). It is partially sponsored by John Fry.
  • williamstein 7y ago
    Having worked with AIM a lot over the years, I'm also very curious about this. In my experience, the people who work at AIM fulltime are very professional and experienced at putting together high quality grant proposals, and already receive substantial NSF funding. I'm thus optimistic that they can survive longterm without the direct support of John Fry.
    • ninguem2 7y ago
      Yeah, but right now their location is in Fry's headquarters and their promised permanent location (that Fry was building) is far from finished.
• hobojones 7y ago
  Once I became aware of Newegg and other online retailers, and trusted shopping form them, it was the end of Fry's for me. The Fry's close to me always had terrible products - off brand motherboards, orange stickered components, etc. For a period Fry's was my place to pick up emergency Cat 5 and other random components, but Home Depot/Lowe's sells quality product at far more convenient locations. I last visited the Renton store a few years back, hoping to find some unnecessary necessity and left disappointed. The store was under stocked and in disrepair. The general quality and quantity of goods had diminished remarkably. I was near the San Diego location a few months back with time to kill and decided it wasn't even worth it to wander around in the air conditioning for a few minutes. 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.
  • DonHopkins 7y ago
    >In the mid-1990s, before high-speed internet connections made software easy to download, the stores served as a teenage hangout, allowing customers to play video games and try new hardware. >[link:] PAGE ONE -- '90s Kids Find New Hangout -- Computer Store https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-90s-Kids-Find-New-Hangout-3025706.php 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!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hxLaFJf9Jk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hxLaFJf9Jk
• ping_pong 7y ago
  Well, "trouble" is the wrong word. Fry's is more like "dead man walking". 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.
  • greedo 7y ago
    Microcenter's success would seem to indicate that perhaps Fry's issues aren't macro, but more management?
    • ping_pong 7y ago
      What exactly are you considering a "success" and which part of the country do you live in? At least in CA, at the turn of the century Fry's was the most reliable vendor for computer equipment. EVERYONE went there. On Black Friday, the lines were crazy. 20 years later, it's a graveyard of old knockoffs.
      • greedo 7y ago
        I used to live in California when Fry's was the popular destination. They started to go downhill around the time I moved to the Midwest (1995). Questionable return policies etc. Microcenter in contrast is still a huge success. Everytime I visit one, I'm amazed at how well stocked they are, and how busy.
    • DrScump 7y ago
• sn 7y ago
  SF Bay Area folks: for buying new your options (depending on what you are trying to buy) are now https://www.centralcomputers.com/ https://www.centralcomputers.com/ for enterprise/personal computers, https://www.bestbuy.com/ https://www.bestbuy.com/ for consumer electronics, https://anchor-electronics.com/ https://anchor-electronics.com/ for electronic components. Central computers just opened a store almost right across the road from the Sunnyvale Fry's.
  • bittercynic 7y ago
    Jumping on the Central Computers recommendation, I highly recommend checking them out if you're near one of their stores. They have good prices on the things I've checked, and they are a pleasant place to shop. The employees are helpful if you ask, and they won't harangue you if you just want to shop quietly. One of the few shops that lacks that concentrated misery that is so common in retail.
  • bcantoni 7y ago
    Another +1 from me for Central Computers - I've bought assembled desktops as well as components there. Prices seem recent (they need to keep up with online price matching) and the service/knowledge is really good.
  • dekhn 7y ago
    yes, I would go to Central before Fry's any day. 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).
  • Stratoscope 7y ago
    Yet another Central Computers fan checking in. Besides computers, they have all kinds of networking equipment, cables at decent prices, etc. 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. https://www.jameco.com/ https://www.jameco.com/ https://www.sfcable.com/ https://www.sfcable.com/
• badrabbit 7y ago
  I get less variety at microcenter than Frys. I use to frequent both, fora long time I just put up with bad customer service and atmosphere (hostile at times!) At both establishments but somehow, microcenter just changed last year, and now I either get it at microcenter or order online and wait, fry's is my last option. Part of me wants to feel sorry for retail workers but I think it's a management issue. 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.
• ozzyoli 7y ago
  I’m having a really hard time tinkering away at my beginner electronics project in San Francisco because I keep sitting down to do it and then realise I need a new component and then having to stop, place an order on adafruit and then wait a week for it to arrive. 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
  • mesh 7y ago
    Might want to check out Jameco on the Peninsula: https://www.jameco.com https://www.jameco.com Not a walk in store, but you can order online and pickup.
  • bitwize 7y ago
    There's a solution for that. Move to Shenzhen. Anywhere else and you're mostly SOL.
• Sylamore 7y ago
  The Layoff page for Fry's (https://www.thelayoff.com/frys-electronics https://www.thelayoff.com/frys-electronics) is full of reports of empty stores, no restocking deliveries for months and empty parking lots and has been for a while now.
• nullsocket 7y ago
  Given there shady business practices in the past, it's no surprise the company has been ran into the ground and abandoned. Good riddance.
  • defterGoose 7y ago
    It's pretty clear that management has gone AWOL, but what did they do in the past?
    • QuinnyPig 7y ago
      There was that time a VP embezzled $65 million from them. https://www.seattletimes.com/business/frys-electronics-executive-accused-of-embezzling-65-million/ https://www.seattletimes.com/business/frys-electronics-execu...
    • kabdib 7y ago
      They were well known to re-shrink-wrap defective, returned products and put them back on the shelves for resale. I'm not sure I've ever followed the logic of this, unless it was to justify the necessity for a large returns department. Long-time customers learned the signs of repackaging (sometimes overt stickers, sometimes more subtle and you had to look for loose plastic wrap or bent cardboard flaps). 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.
• carapace 7y ago
  If you're in the SF Bay Area, and you like electronics, do yourself a favor and check out Al Lasher's Electronics in Berkeley: http://allashers.com/ http://allashers.com/ "Family owned and operated since 1960."
• LatteLazy 7y ago
  Sorry to seem all pompous but I can't find another way to say this... 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.
  • organsnyder 7y ago
    You're assuming that ecommerce is universally a better experience than brick-and-mortar. Given the abysmal reliability of Amazon listings these days, I'm not ready to agree.
    • LatteLazy 7y ago
      With the exceptions listed, it is isn't it? When was the last time you could by (say) computer hardware cheaper in a store than on amazon? You must have some fantastic local stores compared to me :(
      • function_seven 7y ago
        SD cards. You buy those on Amazon and there's a not-so-small chance you're going to get a counterfeit item instead of the genuine thing. The odds that Best Buy are stocking their shelves with fake SD cards are much lower. 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.
    • Rapzid 7y ago
      Yeah, people do like to see physical items and browse around. And once you are there, for a lot of people, a modest market is worth not having to wait and do extra work later. 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.
• LaMarseillaise 7y ago
  I visited Fry's last week. 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.
  • jvagner 7y ago
    Fry’s in Concord was the same as of last week.
  • penagwin 7y ago
    Windows xp? Please get a picture of that, I really want to see it D:
  • spookthesunset 7y ago
    > The only computers I could find were antiquated machines for the workers running Windows XP (or possibly Windows 2000) with 4:3 monitors. 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.
    • adrr 7y ago
      They never focused on online sales. Bestbuy was facing a similiar decline But Bestbuy modernized their online experience and added a price guarantee which made them competitive against amazon and other online merchants.
• taborj 7y ago
  The one in Wilsonville, Oregon has been a sad place for well over a decade. A friend went there just before Christmas this year, and found the same as the article mentions - empty shelves, everywhere. 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.
  • steeef 7y ago
    I have vivid memories of the demos at Incredible Universe, including an early-stage VR setup. It's also the place I was able to try out crappy consoles like the Atari Jaguar and the 3DO Interactive.
    • wj 7y ago
      I also remember demoing the 3DO at Incredible Universe. What an incredible store design they had. I believe I also bought my copy of OS/2 there.
  • Ocerge 7y ago
    I remember going to the Wilsonville Fry's as a kid and playing Gran Turismo 2 for PS1 in an awesome demo setup with a steering wheel, shifter, and huge TV. I went back last year to the same store and found it downright melancholy. Like seeing your childhood die.
  • schwank 7y ago
    I used to drive down there from Portland to get parts that I needed right away. Haven't been there in years though, as it had definitely started going downhill in the early 2000s. I always hated the receipt checkers and used to walk right by the line of people waiting to get out after they paid for merch. 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.
• _bxg1 7y ago
  It's tempting to say "well it's just because of Amazon and Newegg", but Best Buy and (from what I've heard) Microcenter are doing just fine. I'd be really curious to see a post-mortem on what went wrong at Fry's.
• wil421 7y ago
  Fry’s in Alpharetta is one step away from being a Brandsmart. The store is lackluster and not stocked very well. Thankfully I moved close to a Microcenter. It’s rare you can beat Microcenter’s Intel cpu prices for non-niche cpus. 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.
  • ulkesh 7y ago
    This is my Fry’s as well. A very sad state.
• S_A_P 7y ago
  this article made me think of 2 experiences at big box stores I had this weekend. 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.
  • spookthesunset 7y ago
    Dude, the new self checkouts at Home Depot are the bee's knees. Huge, bright and very responsive display. And best part is they actually let you hold a barcode wand so you can scan all your stuff while it is still in the cart! Makes it much, much faster to use because you aren't getting constantly blocked on the machine between each item you ring up. Unlike every other self checkout, I actually had fun using it!
• whalesalad 7y ago
  The Fry’s by my house is a disaster zone of sadness and empty shelves. The Microcenter up the road has completely blown up as a result. It’s regularly packed to the gills. 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.
  • danesparza 7y ago
    Being able to get headphones, UniFi gear, a Raspberry Pi Zero W and multiple sensors at Microcenter is very dangerous for me too. And their service to order ahead and just pick it up 20 minutes later is just nuts! I don't have to sift through all the shelves myself! 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.
    • tracker1 7y ago
      Totally forgot about that last part... man, never buy a MB or Graphics Card from Fry's if there's a sticker on it... avoid like the plague, and never buy a laptop/desktop there either... head to BB for that.
      • toast0 7y ago
        There was a time where motherboards were shipping with terrible BIOS, and you could save a bunch of money by buying one of those that was returned and flashing it first thing.For things without a good chance of easy fixes, though, I would probably not buy a previously returned one. Of course, now they don't really have that kind of merchandise, so this knowledge is pretty much worthless :P
• kabdib 7y ago
  The Fry's in Renton, WA doesn't have much stock, and what they do have is mostly very bad quality off-brand stuff (e.g., the keyboard section has just one or two brands of keyboards, I'm guessing from suppliers that weren't smart enough to ask for cash up front). They had a section of garden tools at one point. 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.
  • testingworks1 7y ago
    Used to love Fry's in Renton. Was great to go down and see what they had and browse all the items and options. I went to buy a new Ryzen build for my stepdaughter after the old AMD bulldozer I donated to her bought the farm (turned out to be the video card, all other parts recycled into my other ancient AMD bulldozer. Long story short, I had $2500 in my pocket to spend on this build so we could build it together. The MOBO shelves were empty. So were the vid card shelves. I walked out with 50 cents worth of shrink tubing for a different project. Told the cashier "you just lost a $2500 sale". She was indifferent. Stopped at costco on the way home and found an acceptable HP gaming machine for ~1000. The fire for a big build was gone, but the step daughter is happy. It's truly sad. I used to love ComputerStop and HDNW back in the Microserf days. I'm also of the point of view that I don't want to order thousands of dollars of parts without holding them in my hand in the store. Gen X here. We're the last to appreciate that experience I think. (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) :)
    • testingworks1 7y ago
      (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) :)
• raintrees 7y ago
  Fry's was a great place to shop for electronics, back when the only alternatives was WeirdStuff and Quements, both in San Jose/Santa Clara area. I was always entertained by the spill-over merchandise (personal care, snacks, etc.), reportedly from the founders' Dad's grocery store line... 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...").
• izzydata 7y ago
  The Microcenter in my midwest city is doing really well. They recently renovated the entire store and always have the latest computer hardware and knowledgeable staff.
• wyldfire 7y ago
  > Fry’s has adamantly denied the rumors, saying the shelves are empty because it has shifted to a consignment model, meaning that suppliers get paid for goods only after a store has sold them. 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.
• tombert 7y ago
  I had to fly to California for work a few months ago, and made a trip to Fry's, since I usually have fun there, and it was one of the most depressing things I've seen in my entire life. 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.
• linguae 7y ago
  I usually purchase my computer components from Newegg. However, whenever I was impatient or pressed for time, I used to go to Fry’s. I remember one time in 2011 driving from Santa Cruz to Campbell to pick up a hard drive to replace one that suddenly failed; having to wait days for shipping would have been more inconvenient. Fry’s is a great convenience in these cases. 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.
  • stevespang 7y ago
    Our Fry's in Austin had a "real tough front" on returns. You had to go through a lot of BS to return anything. I wonder if that contributed to the downfall, and if Fry's in other states were tough on returns as well . . . obviously Bezos and company has had an impact
    • hellisothers 7y ago
      Same here in CA, you had to wait in line forever, have them dig through your boxes taking everything out, then stand waiting for a manager to also come over and do the same thing and then approve it.
      • sowbug 7y ago
        That happened to me the last time I seriously shopped there (excluding subsequent visits with my kids for historical/tourism reasons). Returned a brand-new, unwrapped HP PC and watched in horror as the returns clerk clumsily defiled its pristine seal right in front of me. I assume it was later wrapped right back up again, but there's no way a roughed-up item like that would have ever been the same. 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.
• tartoran 7y ago
  They have so much space and such few ideas. They could for example organize hackathons, electronics fairs, gaming conventions, etc.. things that an online retailer cannot do. Oh well, seems to me that they are poorly managed.
• Ishmaeli 7y ago
  I only go to Fry's for geeky gifts. My local store seems to always carry a full selection of "As Seen On TV" merch, for instance. And they have a lot of video game themed plushies and other toys. 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.
• CalChris 7y ago
  The Palo Alto location is prime real estate. It's a couple of hundred yards from Wilson Sonsini. So if that lease was up, it is going to be expensive. https://goo.gl/maps/bwVeeWYWSNjL1X4dA 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.
• blhack 7y ago
  How is it possible that they've been running in this zombie state for so many months now? The amount of money they have to be spending things like power to keep the lights on and the air at a comfortable temperature must be astronomical with almost no revenue coming in. 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.
  • craftinator 7y ago
    They've been keeping about 40% of the lights at the nearest Oregon store turned off for the last 6 months or so....
• gscott 7y ago
  I was just at the San Diego Fry's hoping to pick up a cheap mouse and keyboard... it was slim pickings for both. Last year the shelves had plenty at all price points but not anymore.
• Majromax 7y ago
  > Fry’s has adamantly denied the rumors, saying the shelves are empty because it has shifted to a consignment model, meaning that suppliers get paid for goods only after a store has sold them. ... so it's in trouble, because it is no longer considered creditworthy enough to obtain net-day financing terms from its wholesale partners.
• Aloha 7y ago
  If they can make this shift to consignment, they'd be playing the same game amazon does, and would arguably more competitive.
• deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
• beardedProgmr 7y ago
  I'm 99% sure the Austin one is slowly closing. Less stuff every time. No graphics cards last time. I stopped going. Microcenter come to Austin. We have money. Please!!
• logfromblammo 7y ago
  Based on my last visit, yes. 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.
• Animats 7y ago
  I'm not surprised that the Palo Alto store is closing. It was built in an abandoned warehouse, and the land is now far more valuable than the store. 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.
• pacetherace 7y ago
  Nobody but they themselves are to be blamed. 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.
• mmanfrin 7y ago
  My mom, in 4th grade, dated one of the Fry boys. Back then the family had a grocery business that the father of the family ran. He sold it to help fund Fry's Electronics. Sad to see it crumble.
• picantePepper 7y ago
  I live close a fry’s and it’s sad to see how empty the electronic component section (resistors, small dc motors, sensors, etc) becomes every visit. 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.
• banana_giraffe 7y ago
  This was the hard drive section at my local fry's a couple of weeks ago: https://imgur.com/a/fptZufK https://imgur.com/a/fptZufK 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".
  • geerlingguy 7y ago
    Wow, that looks like what most places look like after a couple weeks of 'going out of business' sales, when they start selling shelves, light fixtures, desks, trash cans and the like.
• theYipster 7y ago
  As many have already pointed out, the answer to Fry's in 2020 is Microcenter. 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.)
  • agoodthrowaway 7y ago
    Used to be a Microcenter in Santa Clara. It was a good store and huge. But it closed a few years back. At the time it seemed like it suffered from the same problem as Fry’s. Sounds like maybe they regrouped and are doing better now.
    • techslave 7y ago
      I never found it to be good. With Fry’s and central computer (not to mention Al’s or whatever that place is that I can’t quite remember ... the legendary one) nearby, there was no need to go into overpriced Microcenter. Of course that was then ...
• batt4good 7y ago
  I recently went to the store in Austin TX. Like others are saying - the entire PC Hardware / sales department was empty most of the store had empty shelves or shelves that looked very picked over. 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.
• spookthesunset 7y ago
  I haven't been to Fry's in a while, but every time I went I always wondered how the hell they managed to stay in business. My random observations over the years of dealing with Fry's: - 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.
  • Stratoscope 7y ago
    > Almost all the floor people are paid in part on commission. 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.
• djsumdog 7y ago
  I don't want to see retail outlets go away. There is sometime important about being able to physically check out things like keyboards, gaming mice and headphones. I'll pay the extra premium at a BestBuy just because I can actually paid each bluetooth headphone with my device and try it out and actually hear the sound-stage and quality. 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?
  • beatgammit 7y ago
    I feel the same way. I don't have Fry's/Microcenter near me, so my choices are BestBuy (overpriced, poor selection) or the internet. 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.
    • craftinator 7y ago
      From a nostalgic point of view, I agree. Browsing, interacting, and being critical of suppliers are all important things to take into account. But, from an economic point of view, I disagree. The market has chosen the better course. I can browse online, without wandering isles; I already know what I'm looking for. I can read other customers questions and reviews; can't do that in stores. I can see how other customers have reviewed the seller; Fry's has never offered that. They don't make, nor sell, buggy whips anymore. Fry's is just another iteration of that effect. It has not followed market optimization, so it has failed.
• antaviana 7y ago
  I remember going to Sunnyvale’s store in January 1990. It was really, really awesome back then.
• let_var 7y ago
  Ah miss that Palo Alto Fry's. 2011 or early 2012 was the time when I got my TV and bunch of other stuffs from Fry's. Not a big TV buff, so the old one still runs well. +1 to Best Buy as well, they always surprise me with great customer experience.
• let_var 7y ago
  Amazon is still good for comparison and reviews, sort of. Hard time filtering the real ones from paid ones. It's no fun buying top line electronics from a 1D scrolling list.
• taurath 7y ago
  I subscribe to the theory that they're trying to set up a model where they own most of the checkout employees and the building, and rent the shelf space to subcontractors who are financially responsible for inventory. This would be interesting and would take a lot of liability off of their books, but it doesn't seem to be going well.
• upbeatlinux 7y ago
  A week before Thanksgiving I went to the Fry's in Roseville. The Northgate (Sacramento) location has always been busy (haven't been back since 2018). Fry's has always been my go to for last minute electronics (i.e. I can't wait for next day shipping). 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
  • grendelt 7y ago
    > he said they were told no 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.
    • toast0 7y ago
      Whatever is happening at Fry's, it's not the normal retail circling the drain. Toys R Us had more inventory on shelves a week into their final clearance sales than Fry's in Fountain Valley did a couple days before Christmas. 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.
• dexwiz 7y ago
  Fry's is undergoing the same warehousification as the rest of brick and mortar retail. Going to an electronics store used to be an event: new models, attractive displays, knowledgable staff, clean stores, bright lights. I suspect MBA management has squeezed every margin not directly connected to profit. This leaves the inventory, but removes any expense wasted on the experience of the store. New models? No, just the ones that sell the most. Knowledgable staff? No, only those willing to settle for essentially minimal wage. Clean stores? No, we cut the staff and only sweep as needed. Bright lights? No, turn off every other bank to be "green" (and save on electricity.) So the stores have become a step above warehouses. 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.
  • onlyrealcuzzo 7y ago
    MBA's aren't to blame for everything. 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.
    • lotsofpulp 7y ago
      Yes. What more selection in TV do you need than Costco? They’re all made by LG or Samsung anyway with some diff software, at the price levels most people can afford.
• dv_dt 7y ago
  It's really odd, their 2018 revenue is reported at 2.3B (though as a private company, I don't know how one gets believable numbers). https://www.forbes.com/companies/frys-electronics/#469688c7578c https://www.forbes.com/companies/frys-electronics/#469688c75...
• mikey_p 7y ago
  I'm a huge nerd and I loved just wondering around the store getting ideas for projects, etc, but I can't help but think that the overall shopping experience was terrible. Wonder in past random bins of laptop fans and USB desk lamps through an outdated books section. Find something that you want, and half the time you had to have a sales person write up a sheet on it so that they'd get their commission, and then go stand in line, just go have to get the thing from a giant chain-link security cage, and then when you finally leave the store someone has to look through all your bags and check the stuff against the receipt. They might have had selection when no one else did, but the experience was practically designed to be as annoying and uncomfortable as possible.
• newman8r 7y ago
  I stopped going there after they sold me a previously used item as new (I'd been a customer for at least 20 years). Kind of gross to get a mouse that someone else had used, and was DOA anyway. 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.
• IronWolve 7y ago
  The Seattle frys has been dead for 2 years. Both times I needed a usb drive or power supply and the had none. Found a local mom and pop up near mill creek that had seasonic power supplies in all sizes (wanted an 850), and a collectibles shop. Thanks @ https://computerconceptsbothell.com https://computerconceptsbothell.com 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).
• aatharuv 7y ago
  I dropped by the Fremont Fry's the past weekend to see if the "inventory issues" I'd seen in September had gotten any better. They were worse. 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.
• linuxhansl 7y ago
  I first read of Fry's in Douglas Copland's "Microserfs" long before I came to California. 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!
• lukewrites 7y ago
  When Fry's opened up here in the PNW I was looking forward to seeing what theme the store would have - it was a bummer when it wound up being a generic big box store. But still, Fry's was Fry's, and we got some great deals there (mostly thanks to their price match policy) and found some really neat stuff. 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. 0 - https://www.frys.com/product/9768454 https://www.frys.com/product/9768454
• purplezooey 7y ago
  What are we going to do with all this empty retail. Osh, Sears, K-Mart all in the past few years. It should probably be demolished for high density housing.
• freepor 7y ago
  If you go into a Fry’s the mystery isn’t whether they are in trouble but rather how they didn’t go out of business 20 years ago.
• aazaa 7y ago
  It looks that way. 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.
  • lowbloodsugar 7y ago
    Isn't the ideal world one with replicators like Star Trek NG that can make anything, including a cup of snobby tea and the china cup to hold it? 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.
• wiseleo 7y ago
  For things I wanted same day, I now got forced to re-open a Synnex account. They supply companies like Central Computer.
• williesleg 7y ago
  MICROCENTER is THE PLACE!
• duelingjello 7y ago
  I remember Fry’s original, non-tech retail store at Camden & Kooser in San Jose before they opened the first Fry’s Electronics in Sunnyvale. 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.
• techslave 7y ago
  Fry’s was in a tough position. Expand, or risk leaving not just money on the table, but being swamped by expansion of others. In the short term it was a good move for them, but they became Best Buy (the failing version). 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.
• adamzegelin 7y ago
  Just got home from a visit to my local Frys (East San Jose) (tonight, around 7pm). My wife and I were probably 2 of 10 customers total, if that. 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. https://imgur.com/a/Ewfphsm https://imgur.com/a/Ewfphsm
• dboreham 7y ago
  I go all the way back to when there was only one store, on Lawrence (near the current big brown box, but they moved twice between the original one with IC legs painted on the side and the current location). I also lived a couple blocks away for a few years in the 90s. 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/B06Y26JF2M https://www.amazon.com/16-Heat-Shrink-Tubing-1-100FT/dp/B06Y...
• abalashov 7y ago
  I've patronised the Atlanta (Gwinnett) store since the mid-2000s. It was a very important base for hardware of all kind, to the degree that we would regularly drive from Athens, GA (60 mi E) to Fry's for parts. The last few years, it's been a gradual deterioration toward exactly the kind of empty-shelf phenomenon described in the article. By now, much of the stock seems to be gone, what remains--which is definitely not the most updated and trendiest items--is disorganised and poorly attended-to, and the place has almost no staff. One can hear a pin drop in there most days. It's eerily still, bizarrely empty yet formally open, like the setting of a postapocalyptic video game. 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.
• craftinator 7y ago
  All of the Fry's locations in Oregon had a similar feel to other commenters. The one thing I'd like to add: many of the overhead lights were off. Like, at random. My best guess is direction from the top to save on electricity costs. At first I thought they were turned off in areas without merchandise, but ended up finding what I was looking for in those dark nooks and crannies. The lighting made the area look oppressive, and the "As Seen On TV" just gave it an acerbic vibe. The employees actively walked away when I approached them asking where things were, and the one I finally cornered (after chasing him to the checkout counter) had no idea where their electrical tape was. Verrrrry sad :/
• perl4ever 7y ago
  The closest Fry's is almost 800 miles away from me according to Google Maps. Currently if I want something local I go to Best Buy, but I remember the days of CompUSA... 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.
• sjg007 7y ago
  Fry’s is overpriced.. they should up their Shopify game though.
• redsymbol 7y ago
  Here's my brilliant idea for saving Fry's. 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.
  • zootam 7y ago
    i think they're in some odd holding pattern on their downward spiral, where there isn't enough capital for changing the business or even purchasing new product, but there isn't enough business potential for new investment either. 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.