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While attending the University of Arizona in Tucson in the early 90s, I got very confused by posts on Usenet talking about buying computers at Fry’s. You see, the Fry’s grocery store chain still existed in Tucson at the time, so I could not figure out where a grocery store would stock computers! Needless to say when I moved to the Bay Area after college graduation, I wasted no time visiting the closest Fry’s Electron…
Drooling over PC part reviews in magazines that I could never afford, checking the weekly printed Fry's ad in the local paper to find deals, convincing my parents to drop me at the electronics-nerd-utopia for a lazing weekend afternoon - "Won't you get bored?" . . . "No Mom!" Iconic building, nostalgic time.
I had a traveling job for a while, I was away from home every single week.
When you first start doing a job like that, you imagine that you'll be doing all kinds of sightseeing. I thought I'd be traipsing through Central Park and eating Cubanos in Miami.
None of that happens IRL; you're so busy working, by the time you have a few hours to kill, all you want to do is space out. Doing tourist stuff gets to be WORK.
After a few months of this, I started to just obsessively spend time at Fry's.
I didn't even really need anything from Fry's. It was just this place I could reliably visit at any tech hub on the west coast. Doesn't matter if you're in Burbank or San Diego or Sacramento or Portland or Seattle: if it's 2010, there's a Fry's you can wander around in for a couple of hours.
I've never been to The Space Needle in Seattle, but I've been to Fry's Electronics numerous times.
I miss both Incredible Universe and Fry’s a great deal. Incredible Universe was the only store I ever saw that let me play a NeoGeo and CDi.
The Fry's by I8 in San Diego was an Incredible Universe too. (Not the Fry's in north county, the one further south.)
For those in the bay area, Micro Center is opening a branch in Santa Clara. https://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/santa-clara.aspx Well, maybe. It's delayed months at this point.
For those in the bay area, Micro Center is opening a branch in Santa Clara. https://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/santa-clara.aspx Well, maybe. It's delayed months at this point.
Where else could you simultaneously purchase through-hole transistors, a gaming motherboard, a 19" rack, a leafblower, a loudspeaker disguised as a plastic rock, pornography, a taser, a sandwich and a decent cup of coffee while surrounded by fiberglass cowboys and aliens... sad to see
Sandwiches, too. Ate at the cafe a fair bit. When my buddy was living on Victory and Hollywood we hit Burbank on a regular basis. Of the Burbank, Fountain Valley, San Marcos, San Diego, Anaheim Hills, Roseville, Sacramento, Fremont, Las Vegas and Sunnyvale locations, I think I liked the San Diego one most for selection (it was a former Incredible Universe), but the Roseville and Las Vegas ones had the wildest themes,…
For those in the bay area, Micro Center is opening a branch in Santa Clara. https://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/santa-clara.aspx Well, maybe. It's delayed months at this point.
The first Windows machine I ever bought was a cheap advertised 386 deal at the San Jose Fry's in the 90's. The sales guy took me around to load up a shopping cart with chassis, mother board, memory, hard disk, floppy, etc., with each item stocked in separate store departments. Probably around $200 total. Took it all home, put it together, and it worked reliably for years.