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Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

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Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#171

Post by dawnerd »

dougbarrett wrote: post #92
Diederich wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

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.

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.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#172

Post by tombert »

mod50ack wrote: post #148
CoolGuySteve wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In NYC I've had good luck with Amazon Prime Now for urgent computer parts. I've gotten an SSD, power supply, and CPU fan for various work needs within a couple hours and without having to go on an excursion. So thank you, Rube Goldberg machine of human misery, for saving my work day on more than one occasion.

Microcenter has worked for me in NY. And they match Amazon pricing.

Second thumbs up for Micro Center. I like that they have a combination of consumer-level electronics, mid-level stuff like Raspberry Pis, and low-level stuff like resistors and whatnot.

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?

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#173

Post by wj »

steeef wrote: post #85
taborj wrote: post #74

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 ditc…

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.

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.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#174

Post by tombert »

jonny_eh wrote: post #93
blantonl wrote: post #4

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…

> It's clear Amazon and online retailing has decimated them And yet, somehow, Best Buy is doing fine apparently. https://www.forbes.com/sites/jillgriffin/2018/07/27/best-buy...

Which I find a bit annoying; what I like about Fry's is that they have low-level components in addition to the high-level stuff. With Radio Shack closing, and Fry's probably closing soon, the only non-internet place left that I'll be able to purchase components will be Micro Center.

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.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#175

Post by Noos »

jcranmer wrote: post #34
ping_pong wrote: post #28

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 wh…

> Fry's is dead. Chalk one up for Amazon and automation a-la Andrew Yang. 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)…

There always will be some need for physical retail, though. The pattern seems to be:

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.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#176

Post by unlinked_dll »

dougbarrett wrote: post #92
Diederich wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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?

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.

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).

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#177

Post by chubot »

linguae wrote: post #107

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 st…

I didn't know about Fry's closing until this article, and that makes me sad. It's one of the first places I went to when I moved to the bay area in 2002.

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.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#178

Post by logfromblammo »

idiot900 wrote: post #156
nradov wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't actually required to have your receipt checked. I just walk straight out and ignore them.

You’re in their store. If you don’t want to follow their rules, don’t enter their store.

Ownership changes at the point of sale. At the time they do the check, they no longer have any legal basis for preventing the customer from leaving. Costco and Sam's Club can only get away with it because they can revoke membership for non-compliance. At Fry's, stopping someone for a search risks civil suit for kidnapping.

Aside from that, it's a security theater tactic to discourage shoplifting, which also happens to discourage regular shopping.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#179

Post by penagwin »

nilram wrote: post #82
tyingq wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't know if this policy is chain wide, but I was very unhappy with the weird shakedown when you leave. There's a person there that stops you and matches your receipt to your purchased items. No attempt to be friendly about it either.

Which is not legal in many states, unless they have 'probable cause' or you pay a membership and agree to it beforehand (c.f. Costco).

West Michigan here - bestbuy does this on your way out, but it's never felt like they were being intimidating, just a friendly smile while they glance at your receipt and your things and a "have a nice day".

I think meijers might do it too?

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#180

Post by ben174 »

jcranmer wrote: post #34
ping_pong wrote: post #28

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 wh…

> Fry's is dead. Chalk one up for Amazon and automation a-la Andrew Yang. 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)…

Simple: MicroCenter left California. It’s extremely difficult to do business here and be profitable with the tight margins involved in computer retail. California is booting them out and spoon feeding non B&M retailers like Amazon.
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