Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble? • Hacker News Board

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#241

Post by jcranmer » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

macintux wrote: post #120

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…

Apropos of nothing, Microcenter's "locations" page is atrocious. Just give me a map! My Fry's is similarly a disaster zone, so I thought I'd see how close the nearest Microcenter is. Figuring that out requires me to either be familiar with the suburbs of major cities outside my state, or to click through each one to see where they are. https://www.microcenter.com/site/stores/default.aspx

Microcenter's locations are, using metro areas as a location metric:

LA, Denver, Atlanta (x2), Chicago (x2), Kansas City, Boston, DC (x2), Baltimore, St. Louis, Detroit, Minneapolis, NYC (x5), Columbus, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Dallas, and Houston.

If you live in the NE, you probably recognize the closest store just by the name of the city it's in. If you don't recognize any names, then it's probably several hours away.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#242

Post by spookthesunset » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 9:06 PM UTC

Stratoscope wrote: post #235

spookthesunset wrote: post #201

I haven't been to Fry's in a while, but every time I went I always wondered how the hell they managed to stay in business. My random observations over the years of dealing with Fry's: - Almost all the floor people are paid in part on commission. Even the cashiers salary is in some part commission based. Like, how can a cashier have any control over what somebody purchases in order to maximize their commission? - Thei…

> Almost all the floor people are paid in part on commission. Yeah, every time I picked my item off the shelf, if anyone was nearby they would grab it from me and say "I need to give you a quote." The first few times, I dutifully followed them to their terminal hoping that the "quote" might be a buck or two off the sticker price. Nope. The quote was for exactly the same price. After a while I got in the habit of sayi…

I've had similar treatment. It is so awkward for both me and the employee.

I always got the feeling the stores management, and corporate were stuffed full of sleazy used-car style salespeople.

Just tons of mis-aligned incentives that resulted in a very poor customer experience.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#243

Post by Stratoscope » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 9:07 PM UTC

celim307 wrote: post #115

wenc wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Microcenters in the Chicagoland area (N Elston in Chicago, Westmont) are busy, especially on Saturdays. Shelves are well-stocked, and there's even an electronics section with a potpourri of Arduino and RaspPi accessories. I'm not sure how they're surviving in the era of online shopping but they seem to be doing well. I wonder if most of the foot traffic is driven by impulse same-day BOPIS (Buy Online Pickup in Store)…

browsing the shelves and just being around tech is soothing for me. and the feeling of walking out with a bunch of boxes too. for something i enjoy like tech i like to savor the whole experience

I can relate to that. I used to stop by the nearest Fry's store if I was in the neighborhood, even if I wasn't looking for anything in particular.

I would just walk the aisles to see if anything looked interesting. And sometimes you would see people you knew, or knew of.

On one of these random walks, I ran into Linus Torvalds in the Campbell store. Good times!

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#244

Post by mark-r » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

nkrisc wrote: post #76

jcranmer wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been to the Boston, Chicago, and DC-area Microcenters, and had good experiences with all of them (although the Boston one could use a larger parking lot). Never actually been to a Fry's store--it seems that Fry's mostly set up west of the Mississippi and Microcenter east of it.

Same experience with Chicago (Elston) and Rockville, MD Micro Center stores. The employees are helpful and knowledgeable, I've found prices to be good, and being able to bring something home in your own vehicle is also valuable. That's opposed to waiting for it to be tossed onto your porch from across the yard or just simply stolen. I actually purchased a 34" ultrawide monitor from the Rockville store recently specif…

I think I bought my home monitor from that TigerDirect many years ago. I remember being amazed at how quickly they shipped it, I think I had it at my home in Minneapolis a day later.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#245

Post by schwank » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 9:09 PM UTC

taborj wrote: post #74

The one in Wilsonville, Oregon has been a sad place for well over a decade. A friend went there just before Christmas this year, and found the same as the article mentions - empty shelves, everywhere. Fry's in Wilsonville had some tough shoes to fill -- the building started as an electronics megastore called Incredible Universe, and in the beginning at least it was an event to go there. When Fry's moved in, they ditc…

I used to drive down there from Portland to get parts that I needed right away. Haven't been there in years though, as it had definitely started going downhill in the early 2000s. I always hated the receipt checkers and used to walk right by the line of people waiting to get out after they paid for merch.

I did go to the AMD roadshow in the parking lot one time, and both my friend and I won Athlon CPU/Mobo combos, that was cool. That may have been the last time I was there. Sounds depressing.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#246

Post by mrpippy » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 9:11 PM UTC

taborj wrote: post #74

The one in Wilsonville, Oregon has been a sad place for well over a decade. A friend went there just before Christmas this year, and found the same as the article mentions - empty shelves, everywhere. Fry's in Wilsonville had some tough shoes to fill -- the building started as an electronics megastore called Incredible Universe, and in the beginning at least it was an event to go there. When Fry's moved in, they ditc…

The San Diego store (in Mission Valley) also started out as an Incredible Universe, Fry's had also bought their delivery trucks but never repainted them. Even 10 years ago, I would still see Incredible Universe-logoed trucks delivering appliances.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#247

Post by jmspring » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 9:11 PM UTC

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…

I recall a point where I was had to go to Frys because places like Quement Electronics, etc. closed down. Frys was always a "hold your nose" and "be careful/picky" sort of place. Often they restocked bad returns, I had problems with them giving out bad ram at times, etc. Generally, the employees weren't particularly knowledgable either.

It's sad to see it go, especially Palo Alto. It felt like they expanded incredibly rapidly - including to Sacramento/Roseville, southern CA and WA state.

I've been using Newegg almost exclusively these days for components. But, yes, the lack of instant gratification can be trying.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#248

Post by derefr » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 9:11 PM UTC

andykx wrote: post #185

smelendez wrote: post #164

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think smartphones, laptops, streaming and online shopping really decimated this retail sector. Even lots of power users just use laptops (and AWS) and don't buy components. And sales of consumer electronics like point and shoot cameras, DVD and CD players, GPSes, etc. have fallen off a cliff.

I'm not sure what the numbers show, but I think, as people who are interested in tech, we often forget a large segment of the population needs some in-person assistance when choosing new devices. My dad asks me every time he needs a new laptop, TV, or whatever. He has no interest in doing the research himself. Anecdotally, my local Best Buy is always packed. I do a good amount of shopping online, but I also like to g…

> I'm not sure what the numbers show, but I think, as people who are interested in tech, we often forget a large segment of the population needs some in-person assistance when choosing new devices. My dad asks me every time he needs a new laptop, TV, or whatever. He has no interest in doing the research himself.

Sounds like you could make a good business out of being an "online shopping guide", to help people pick the right [whatever] out of an endless array of [whatever]s. Do credit cards offer this as a concierge service at some level?

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#249

Post by ryandrake » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 9:13 PM UTC

idiot900 wrote: post #156

nradov wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You aren't actually required to have your receipt checked. I just walk straight out and ignore them.

You’re in their store. If you don’t want to follow their rules, don’t enter their store.

You can just ignore them. They have no cause to detain you, and you have no obligation to let them search you. I've never had a problem just walking past them out to my car. Only one time did someone even bother to yell "hey, I need to check your receipt!" and I just said NOPE and kept walking.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#250

Post by derefr » Fri, Jan 03, 2020, 9:14 PM UTC

chasd00 wrote: post #94

blantonl wrote: post #4

Answer: of course, yes. When I visited Fry's in the DFW area last year (Irving Store off of LBJ freeway) I was shocked at how low energy and sad the place was. It was just one big pile of despair. Just a handful of people were shuffling in and out. They shelves were in complete disrepair, and there were areas where there was no stock on shelves. Computers on display were broken, twisted wrecks. The home theater areas…

You should see the Fry's on Northwest Hwy near Garland. It's almost scary, it has a sketchy bazaar feeling. A couple rows of shelves have just random perfume and colognes. All the televisions and stuff have 1/8" of dust on them. It must be more expensive to shut it down than to keep it running.

> It must be more expensive to shut it down than to keep it running.

They probably own the buildings (maybe even the land, too.) Potential buyers of a commercial building would want said building's internals in good condition (i.e. not wrecked by looters.) And the simplest way to ensure the building stays in good condition is to keep it running.