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Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

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Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#301

Post by trav4225 »

tasty_freeze wrote: post #118

I graduated college in 1985 and moved cross country to Sunnyvale for work. Fry's was a supermarket chain, and at the time there was one and only one location that was trying out carrying computer stuff, on the east side of Lawrence Ave I think, before they moved to the west side of Lawrence. They weren't yet fully committed to it. Half the store was produce and such -- milk, eggs, lettuce, etc, and the other half was…

> Silicon Valley felt like a magical place back then.

I ditto that! I was fortunate to spend a fair bit of time in SV (including Fry's) back then. That time+place was inspirational.

SV (and Fry's) are nothing like they were back then. Perhaps ironically, the rise of the consumer Internet coincided pretty closely with the death of that era of SV.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#302

Post by not2b »

jjav wrote: post #130
heleninboodler wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You haven't lived the life of a late 90's bay area nerd if you've never grabbed your copy of Computer Shopper and hit Fry's, Weird Stuff and Central Computer in a single afternoon. With friends. :D

I did that exact routine so many times! It's not really Silicon Valley anymore without Weird Stuff and Fry's. Of course, the valley companies aren't really tech companies anymore either. Just adware wrapped in tech, so sad.

There are still quite a few companies in the valley doing actual silicon design. They aren't as flashy.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#303

Post by mark-r »

dimmke wrote: post #262
duckfang wrote: post #250

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Admittedly the very few times I went to Frys, I just walked around them. They yelled to stop. I yelled back to call the cops if they have proof. And... nothing happened. Nothing ever happens. Because I don't steal; I go through the register; and I leave with product that I now own.

I've done that at Walmart before. Walmart has this policy where if the item you bought is too big to be put in a bag the greeter tries to check your receipt. You're right - they can't do anything. But it still is a very unpleasant interaction. Also, not very effective anyways. Target on the other hand doesn't check receipts, but they have a well trained loss prevention team that watches the cameras and they know when…

The Target system isn't 100% effective though. I once saw a guy ask to see a laptop, then grab it and make a mad dash for the door. He got away with it. I think it was shortly afterwards when they moved the electronics department to the back of the store.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#304

Post by mark-r »

geocrasher wrote: post #249
BeetleB wrote: post #149

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sad to hear these stories. For me, Fry's was the opposite. I wouldn't call them experts, but they were more knowledgeable than the competition (Best Buy, etc). Also, no other place in this city that has some of the components they would sell. Now the only option is to buy online.

To be fair, "more knowledgeable than Best Buy" is a pretty low bar. In desperation I went to a Best Buy looking for a SATA controller (circa 2004) and they said "The controllers are over here..." and took me to the game pads and joy sticks.

The last time I went to Best Buy I wanted a laptop. Found a good one but there weren't any out on the floor, so I waited forever for a salesperson to help. They went into the back room and came back out, saying it was an older model that was no longer available but I could have the replacement model if I wanted. I asked to see that model and they said sorry, we don't have a display unit. I whipped out my phone and quickly found out that Micro Center had it in stock, on sale for $50 less. Couldn't get out of there fast enough.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#305

Post by wishinghand »

geocrasher wrote: post #74
abc_lisper wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Hey, I have the same issue. I get dizzy inside malls too

Thanks for commenting! I appreciate knowing I'm not alone in this. It's very unnerving when it happens. I pride myself in being spatially oriented, and when I get into huge spaces with lots of distractions, my brain does weird things.

Happens to me at Comic con, but not concerts before the band goes on. Not sure what triggers it. I’ve been to busy cities with lots of neon too.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#306

Post by BeetleB »

mark-r wrote: post #304
geocrasher wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To be fair, "more knowledgeable than Best Buy" is a pretty low bar. In desperation I went to a Best Buy looking for a SATA controller (circa 2004) and they said "The controllers are over here..." and took me to the game pads and joy sticks.

The last time I went to Best Buy I wanted a laptop. Found a good one but there weren't any out on the floor, so I waited forever for a salesperson to help. They went into the back room and came back out, saying it was an older model that was no longer available but I could have the replacement model if I wanted. I asked to see that model and they said sorry, we don't have a display unit. I whipped out my phone and qu…

Yeah, I too had an annoying case where the Best Buy salesperson pretty much said he wouldn't help me find the product that their web site claimed was in stock. He just pointed me to the aisle and said "If we have it, it's there" - ignoring my remarks about it not being in that aisle.

So I went online, ordered it for pickup, and simply came back a few hours later and picked it up.

I needed it the following day so I couldn't rely on an online purchase with shipping.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#308

Post by sitkack »

joncrane wrote: post #201
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 was pleasantly surprised by Microcenter in November of last year. I was looking for a laptop and apparently Microcenter has a house brand called Powerspec. It turns out they are a very user-focused brand that a) has no bloatware preinstalled and b) has high performance and every single port you could possibly want . When I went, there was a little bit of hovering but overall the staff were nice. Protip: whenever yo…

> If you like to be left alone to shop, find an employee who left you alone on your way to the registers

What a wonderful sentiment and comment.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#309

Post by bigtex »

Slightly OT, but I remember Incredible Universe, which Fry's bought many years ago in the Dallas area. Friend and I would hangout in the store, play video games and eat Pizza Hut upstairs for lunch. In the video game department they even had a Neo Geo machine connected with popular fighting games, so there was even a line sometimes. Super Tecmo Bowl was the game then and I had a running competition with one of the employee's on who was the best.

Re: Fry's Electronics is closing all stores

#310

Post by mark-r »

BeetleB wrote: post #306
mark-r wrote: post #304

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The last time I went to Best Buy I wanted a laptop. Found a good one but there weren't any out on the floor, so I waited forever for a salesperson to help. They went into the back room and came back out, saying it was an older model that was no longer available but I could have the replacement model if I wanted. I asked to see that model and they said sorry, we don't have a display unit. I whipped out my phone and qu…

Yeah, I too had an annoying case where the Best Buy salesperson pretty much said he wouldn't help me find the product that their web site claimed was in stock. He just pointed me to the aisle and said "If we have it, it's there" - ignoring my remarks about it not being in that aisle. So I went online, ordered it for pickup, and simply came back a few hours later and picked it up. I needed it the following day so I co…

In my case I had a local Micro Center store, so I didn't have to wait for shipping. It was just an inconvenient drive.
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