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Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

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Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#211

Post by takeda »

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).

Are you sure this is illegal? I saw other stores to do it as well, for example Home Depot in California. It's not like they are paying your down, just look at the receipt and your cart.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#212

Post by Sylamore »

magduf wrote: post #100
Sylamore wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Virtually all of my electronics tools and supplies came from the Tempe store. Since I've moved back east it's a serious challenge finding stores with even a fraction of the inventory the Tempe store had so I end up ordering stuff off Amazon or Ali Express. I the RTP ares has a good electronics store, I haven't found it yet.

You can get electronics tools and supplies from techni-tool, probably cheaper than Fry's.

Never heard of them before, looks like they have a local DC so shipping would be fast so I'll add them to my bookmarks, Thanks!

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#213

Post by spookthesunset »

LaMarseillaise wrote: post #72

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 h…

> 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.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#215

Post by Ididntdothis »

unlinked_dll wrote: post #7

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…

When my sister visited she needed a USB cable so we went to Frys in Burbank . I also remember it being very dark and it sort of had an Eastern German feeling to it. Big store with only a few items in it.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#216

Post by gryson »

bluedevil2k wrote: post #186
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…

The prices in these flagship Akihabara stores are much higher than you'd see online though (20%). You can either search the side alleys there looking for a good deal, or try to negotiate with the salespeople on the floor there. Here in the US, at Fry's and Best Buy I've seen, they'll match Amazon's price without having to do any deal-making.

Most Japanese electronics stores including Yodobashi Camera have point-based discount systems. If you have a membership card, you get 10% of your purchase back in points, which can be used on the next purchase. Of course, prices can still be high.

And yes, you can often negotiate with salespeople, particularly on higher priced items. At a store like Yodobashi Camera, I think it's possible to negotiate for more points on your point card.

At smaller electronics stores, particularly out of the city, negotiating price is more common. I was once looking at a TV at a store (I think K's Denki) towards closing time and the salesman walked over with a calculator and gave me 20% off without me even initiating the negotiation.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#217

Post by emodendroket »

mixmastamyk wrote: post #142
emodendroket wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not only that, but have you ever tried shopping for something like a laptop on Amazon? The descriptions are all three lines long and by the time you figure out what the hell you're buying you could just drive to Best Buy and see a display that clearly explains what's on offer.

Dell developer laptops are pretty good, not to mention Apple if you can put up with them.

I like Lenovo, personally.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#218

Post by spookthesunset »

S_A_P wrote: post #80

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 bu…

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!

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#219

Post by let_var »

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.

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