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Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

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Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#341

Post by tkgally »

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 electronics stores of Tokyo, particularly Yodobashi Camera and Yamada Denki

And not only Tokyo. Yodobashi has a couple of dozen stores throughout Japan, some of them, such as Yokohama and Umeda (Osaka), as big as the flagship in Akihabara. They're a good source for household appliances, too.

I live in Yokohama, and I shop at Yodobashi not for the prices but for the service: More than once a salesperson has saved me a lot of trouble by confirming that whatever I bought (a monitor, a hard drive, a cable) was actually compatible with the computer I was using. The staff know their products, and they are willing to give up sales in order to keep from selling people something they can't use. That makes me a more loyal customer.

Yodobashi seems to have a lot of Chinese-speaking staff these days, which is understandable considering the large number of Chinese tourists in Japan in recent years. Probably some of the staff speak English, too, though I've never asked.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#342

Post by xxxtentachyon »

volkl48 wrote: post #323
tombert wrote: post #172

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 o…

Tinkersphere Electronics, 152 Allen St (Manhattan) - as the name indicates, hobbyist focused. Allstate Electronics - Jamaica Queens - Old school distributor, has basically every electronic component under the sun. If you head out to NJ, there's a couple big shops as well (Wayne Electronics, Green Brook Electronics) but they're not transit-accessible or closer to the city.

+1 for Tinkersphere, I walked there a few hours ago to get a micro HDMI-to-HDMI and some headers.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#343

Post by beatgammit »

djsumdog wrote: post #207

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 Best…

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.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#344

Post by lotsofpulp »

logfromblammo wrote: post #291
macintux wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> and the windmills give you a nice eco-green feeling,

Lol, driving 6 hours to browse a store and getting an eco-green feeling.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#345

Post by techslave »

agoodthrowaway wrote: post #197
theYipster wrote: post #189

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…

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.

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 ...

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#346

Post by lotsofpulp »

onlyrealcuzzo wrote: post #254
dexwiz wrote: post #252

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…

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.

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.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#347

Post by dreamcompiler »

tkgally wrote: post #341
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 electronics stores of Tokyo, particularly Yodobashi Camera and Yamada Denki And not only Tokyo. Yodobashi has a couple of dozen stores throughout Japan, some of them, such as Yokohama and Umeda (Osaka), as big as the flagship in Akihabara. They're a good source for household appliances, too. I live in Yokohama, and I shop at Yodobashi not for the prices but for the service: More than once a salesperson has save…

They do assist English speakers, but it's the usual deal for Japan: If you ask a question in English, they recognize it immediately and call a staff member over who can at least speak some English. If you begin your query with "Ohayo Gozaimasu" and are courteous, they try very hard to help you.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#348

Post by adamzegelin »

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

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#349

Post by rrix2 »

derefr wrote: post #262
rrix2 wrote: post #258

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sounds like what wirecutter.com does these days across a pretty wide selection of product categories. Just got a new pillow through them after drowning in Amazon reviews looking for a good side sleeping pillow.

Sure, there are reviewers that publish "objectively best for use-case X" reviews. But they don't review niche product-categories on demand, nor do they filter by your weird personal requirements (say... needing the tool you're buying to be made out of a material that will survive having other parts TIG-welded onto it.) Though I guess you could track down the people that write for one of these sites and commission the…

Those are good points, for sure!

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#350

Post by fencepost »

elfexec wrote: post #318
duxup wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Reminds me of the late stages of Circuit City where the stores were just there ... but empty shelves, strange patterns in inventory, employees who just have given up on work .. look like they gave up on life. I was always amazed how long Circuit City stuck around like that.

I'm surprised that kmart is still around. And staples too, but to a lesser degree.

There aren't a lot of Kmart locations still around, and I suspect that some of them are in spots where the land is owned and there's some competitive advantage to being there (like the ones in the Florida Keys, where there's no Walmart closer than the mainland).
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