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Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

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Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#21

Post by mc32 »

BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #10
geocrasher wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only time I've ever been into a Fry's (due to not living near one) was around 2010 in the Sacramento CA area. It was so huge that I genuinely got dizzy and had to work hard to focus to see individual items (It's a thing that happens to me when there is a lot of "input" for lack of a better term). I suspect that the cavernous real estate (and its cost) only hastened their demise.

Cavernous is such an apt description. Fry’s uses giant warehouse sized buildings and even the distance in between racks and aisles is wide. I also remember the checkout lines having dozens of empty checkout stations that I never saw used. I always assumed they were there for Black Friday or something.

>Cavernous

Apropos, didn't the one in Sunnyvale become an REI?

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#22

Post by chris11 »

BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #3

I’m not surprised, but this makes me feel incredibly sad. I built my first PC using parts from there. I’m going to miss it. But once Fry’s pivoted to be a consignment store that was mostly empty and selling pallets of bottled water and perfume, it was obvious the business was about to die. Curiously, Microcenter has managed to live on and seems fairly robust. I can’t help but think Fry’s tried to sell too many differ…

I really liked Fry's years ago. It was depressing to see inventory go down so quickly last couple years. I would like a local Microcenter. Their prices are decent and they have good motherboard/cpu combos.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#23

Post by soheil »

This makes me so sad. I was just there not too long ago and it looked like a ghost town, the selection all gone, mainly just empty spaces. I think to experience a store like that ever again one has to travel somewhere like Shenzhen [0]

[0] https://yandex.com/images/search?text=shenzhen%20electronics...

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#24

Post by noncoml »

mc32 wrote: post #7
BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #3

I’m not surprised, but this makes me feel incredibly sad. I built my first PC using parts from there. I’m going to miss it. But once Fry’s pivoted to be a consignment store that was mostly empty and selling pallets of bottled water and perfume, it was obvious the business was about to die. Curiously, Microcenter has managed to live on and seems fairly robust. I can’t help but think Fry’s tried to sell too many differ…

Central Computer is still kicking around -for now. This is all changing. It's not the same. You used to have a bunch of grey market PC parts distributors all over the east bay (uProcessor, add on Cards, RAM, HDD, etc) that used to sell to beige box PC makers (and individuals) but they went the way of the dodo too (ASI is legit distributor now). Also, remember WeirdStuff? Gone too. It's a mature industry and the biz h…

> Central Computer is still kicking around -for now.

I used to be a big fun of them. But their markup + must be a bundle, buy 3 more items rule for RTX30x0 cards, really put me off.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#25

Post by m463 »

geocrasher wrote: post #6
BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #3

I’m not surprised, but this makes me feel incredibly sad. I built my first PC using parts from there. I’m going to miss it. But once Fry’s pivoted to be a consignment store that was mostly empty and selling pallets of bottled water and perfume, it was obvious the business was about to die. Curiously, Microcenter has managed to live on and seems fairly robust. I can’t help but think Fry’s tried to sell too many differ…

The only time I've ever been into a Fry's (due to not living near one) was around 2010 in the Sacramento CA area. It was so huge that I genuinely got dizzy and had to work hard to focus to see individual items (It's a thing that happens to me when there is a lot of "input" for lack of a better term). I suspect that the cavernous real estate (and its cost) only hastened their demise.

I think they owned their real estate (although there were probably taxes)

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#27

Post by Melting_Harps »

BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #3

I’m not surprised, but this makes me feel incredibly sad. I built my first PC using parts from there. I’m going to miss it. But once Fry’s pivoted to be a consignment store that was mostly empty and selling pallets of bottled water and perfume, it was obvious the business was about to die. Curiously, Microcenter has managed to live on and seems fairly robust. I can’t help but think Fry’s tried to sell too many differ…

> I’m not surprised, but this makes me feel incredibly sad. I built my first PC using parts from there. I’m going to miss it.

Same, the last one I stepped foot in was in 2018 at the one near the Tesla factory in Fremont after my interview, and it looked absolutely dead. I thought with so many tech nerds in that town you'd be bound to see a bunch guys getting together after work and just buying up carts of stuff of the shelves and working on a side project.

But, nope... it was like 20 people max and it was actually really sad to me as years before I went to the ones in Orange County and we had lines out the door on certain days.

Well, COVID claims another retailer and thus the brick and mortar get another nail in it's coffin.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#28

Post by slg »

BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #15
slg wrote: post #11

Every Fry's I have been to in the last decade has felt like the store was already in the process of going out of business. That said, I will miss the place. Sometimes you just need a piece of electronics today and Fry's had a much wider selection than stores like Best Buy.

Heck, I would go to Fry’s just to browse and ogle all the equipment I could never afford. I genuinely miss that kind of experience.

Very true. They also tried to serve so many different niches that it was often interesting to just walk around the store to see products I would never buy and often didn't even know existed.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#29

Post by patricko123 »

It's sad to see them go. When I moved to the Bay area 20 years ago it was the place to go to see what was the coolest things in tech. I built my first PC from components that I got there, generally had a pretty good price. It was good talking with a lot of the store staff because they knew what they were talking about. They were generally younger kids who you knew were going to move into tech so it was fun chatting with them.

I went to the Palo Alto store about a year and a half ago and it was so empty it was depressing. I also stopped off at the San Jose store on Hamilton around the same time and there were more employees than customers, It was funny/tragic some older gentleman was walking his dog in the store and it took a s*. Someone almost walked on it and said I thought this place had gone to s* but I didn't think that they'd taken it this literally. I never went back again, it felt too painful.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#30

Post by tanseydavid »

geocrasher wrote: post #6
BuyMyBitcoins wrote: post #3

I’m not surprised, but this makes me feel incredibly sad. I built my first PC using parts from there. I’m going to miss it. But once Fry’s pivoted to be a consignment store that was mostly empty and selling pallets of bottled water and perfume, it was obvious the business was about to die. Curiously, Microcenter has managed to live on and seems fairly robust. I can’t help but think Fry’s tried to sell too many differ…

The only time I've ever been into a Fry's (due to not living near one) was around 2010 in the Sacramento CA area. It was so huge that I genuinely got dizzy and had to work hard to focus to see individual items (It's a thing that happens to me when there is a lot of "input" for lack of a better term). I suspect that the cavernous real estate (and its cost) only hastened their demise.

Going to Fry's without a VERY specific shopping list was always dangerous for me.

I could blow 3 hours in a Fry's just browsing and barely notice the time that had passed.

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