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Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

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Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#291

Post by logfromblammo »

macintux wrote: post #282
logfromblammo wrote: post #272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you absolutely need it ASAP, drive the 3 hours to Riverfront Plaza in Chicago. Otherwise, plan ahead and use online retailers.

It’s more the browsing factor. I typically don’t know what I need, and it’s much easier to get a feel for my options when I can see the variety up close.

As I don't live in Indy or Chicago any more, I don't have any good solutions for you. I-65 isn't that bad a drive, and the windmills give you a nice eco-green feeling, even if the rest areas aren't so great.

The Greek Islands restaurant used to regularly drive a van to Chicago and back, because Kronos wouldn't ship their beef-lamb doner kebab cones for vertical gyro rotisseries all the way to Indy, so they were about the only place in town you could get a real gyro. I guess it's about the same for electronics.

You could maybe ask around the IUPUI or Purdue electronics engineering professors, or the robotic therapy/prosthetics lab at the IU hospital.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#292

Post by asploder »

dubyah wrote: post #257
ben174 wrote: post #180

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Not that simple given their sole California location in Tustin has been doing quite well. Fry's imploding has only made it even more popular.

It would be nice to see them enter (or re-enter) the Northern California market now that Fry’s has imploded. It seems like they have the niche figured out, and apart from Central Computers’ handful of good-but-small locations, they’d have the market to themselves.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#293

Post by asploder »

sn wrote: post #41

SF Bay Area folks: for buying new your options (depending on what you are trying to buy) are now https://www.centralcomputers.com/ for enterprise/personal computers, https://www.bestbuy.com/ for consumer electronics, https://anchor-electronics.com/ for electronic components. Central computers just opened a store almost right across the road from the Sunnyvale Fry's.

Another positive review for Central Computers. I was sad to see their Pleasanton store close, presumably due to rising rents, but the Sunnyvale store just reopened in a new location, so hopefully they’ll be with us for years to come.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#294

Post by packetslave »

takeda wrote: post #211
nilram wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

It's not illegal for them to ask to see your receipt at the exit.

It IS illegal for them to try to stop you from leaving if you decline, unless they are detaining you for suspected shoplifting (which they must specifically inform you of).

And if they actually go so far as to physically prevent you from leaving? Congratulations, you just won the lawsuit lottery.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#295

Post by watertom »

whalesalad wrote: post #84

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…

The Microcenter right next to Villanova University rocks, right now they are renovating and it's taking forever, but it's a great store.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#296

Post by StevePerkins »

whalesalad wrote: post #84

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…

There's a Microcenter just a couple of miles from my house, but I haven't ventured inside in roughly 15 years.

Do they still do the RadioShack-style hounding you for a phone number when you checkout? Or did they finally wise up and stop doing that?

The last time I was shopping there, they were AGGRESSIVE about it. Actually got mad when I said my number was unlisted and refused to give it to them. I was so turned off, I just took my shopping online and never looked back.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#297

Post by aazaa »

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.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#298

Post by whalesalad »

StevePerkins wrote: post #296
whalesalad wrote: post #84

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…

There's a Microcenter just a couple of miles from my house, but I haven't ventured inside in roughly 15 years. Do they still do the RadioShack-style hounding you for a phone number when you checkout? Or did they finally wise up and stop doing that? The last time I was shopping there, they were AGGRESSIVE about it. Actually got mad when I said my number was unlisted and refused to give it to them. I was so turned off,…

They aren't that bad, but they work on commission and will try and put little stickers with their barcode on whatever products you are holding in your hand. If you tell them to buzz off they will.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#299

Post by duxup »

bluedino wrote: post #232
chrisseaton wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> nobody wanted them. We got 25 at our store and almost every one of them came back. People wanted PC's.... I thought the iMac was a massive success? Didn't it save Apple from ruin almost single handedly?

It did...but this was the first one, and we were just Best Buy. Not sure if it was just or store or what. The iMac did get a lot of bad reviews and was $1299, in the days of $399 eMachines

OOOf.

Those eMachines chugged badly out of the box even.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#300

Post by taneq »

plerpin wrote: post #229
bluedino wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My retail days....we sold Macs at Sears (low end crap like Performas), and we sold them at Best Buy back in 1998 or whenever it was the original iMac came out. But nobody wanted them. We got 25 at our store and almost every one of them came back. People wanted PC's....

Not surprised. Apple spent most of the 90's cranking out one turd after another. There were a few hits for well-heeled professionals, but their consumer offerings were generally a bunch of fatally compromised Road Apples. https://lowendmac.com/2014/road-apples-second-class-macs/ MacOS was behind the times vs. Windows. Still sticking with cooperative multitasking until 2000. Crazy! iMac was the start of something diff…

Even the first iMacs were pretty terrible. It took them a while longer to get OSX stable and ditch the Fischer-Price aesthetic. The G4s (iirc and IMO) were the first ones since the Macintosh that were what you'd call 'professional'.
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