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Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

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Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#311

Post by mailslot »

tyingq wrote: post #42
ping_pong wrote: post #28

Well, "trouble" is the wrong word. Fry's is more like "dead man walking". The last time I went to Fry's was maybe 1 year ago. If you walk around, all of the electronics are older models, the game shelves are filled with games that are all several years old, even things like hard drives, etc are all old and expensive. There were no salespeople to help except in places like the TV area. The car stereo area, which is wh…

I don't know if this policy is chain wide, but I was very unhappy with the weird shakedown when you leave. There's a person there that stops you and matches your receipt to your purchased items. No attempt to be friendly about it either.

If you look ahead and keep going, you can just not stop.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#312

Post by lowbloodsugar »

aazaa wrote: post #297

It looks that way. Something very strange is happening in retail now. As mega-stores like Fry's, not to mention mom and pop shops, wither up and die, people are left with fewer local store options. So even if you want to continue supporting local business and an old favorite chain, you're left with at least a 50-50 chance you'll make the effort only to return home empty handed. Wasting an hour or more of your life on…

Isn't the ideal world one with replicators like Star Trek NG that can make anything, including a cup of snobby tea and the china cup to hold it?

Well, son, we could have that but that would have hurt mom&pop stores, and put people out of work, and people have to have jobs don't they? A human isn't living a good life unless they are working to keep food on the table.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#313

Post by toast0 »

tracker1 wrote: post #136
danesparza wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being able to get headphones, UniFi gear, a Raspberry Pi Zero W and multiple sensors at Microcenter is very dangerous for me too. And their service to order ahead and just pick it up 20 minutes later is just nuts! I don't have to sift through all the shelves myself! My local Fry's have gotten a terrible reputation for putting used or broken gear on the shelves -- and they've had that reputation for years. I think the…

Totally forgot about that last part... man, never buy a MB or Graphics Card from Fry's if there's a sticker on it... avoid like the plague, and never buy a laptop/desktop there either... head to BB for that.

There was a time where motherboards were shipping with terrible BIOS, and you could save a bunch of money by buying one of those that was returned and flashing it first thing.For things without a good chance of easy fixes, though, I would probably not buy a previously returned one.

Of course, now they don't really have that kind of merchandise, so this knowledge is pretty much worthless :P

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#314

Post by jdkee »

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…

Microcenter on Elston in the 1990s and 2000s was a disaster, run and organized like a flea market. Contrast with the St. Louis one which is like a futuristic Best Buy, clean, organized and well-stocked. YMMV.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#315

Post by bookofjoe »

duxup wrote: post #141
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…

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.

Like GameStop stores now. Zombie company.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#316

Post by arrty88 »

chrisseaton wrote: post #226
bluedino wrote: post #191

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My retail days....we sold Macs at Sears (low end crap like Performas), and we sold them at Best Buy back in 1998 or whenever it was the original iMac came out. But nobody wanted them. We got 25 at our store and almost every one of them came back. People wanted PC's....

> nobody wanted them. We got 25 at our store and almost every one of them came back. People wanted PC's.... I thought the iMac was a massive success? Didn't it save Apple from ruin almost single handedly?

I remember my school had hundreds of them in the library and across different labs. Maybe it was education rather than home user / consumers who bought the bulk?

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#317

Post by dlhavema »

bookofjoe wrote: post #315
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.

Like GameStop stores now. Zombie company.

Is there still a market for kids with cash and no debit/credit card?

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#318

Post by elfexec »

duxup wrote: post #141
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…

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.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#320

Post by toast0 »

grendelt wrote: post #234
upbeatlinux wrote: post #231

A week before Thanksgiving I went to the Fry's in Roseville. The Northgate (Sacramento) location has always been busy (haven't been back since 2018). Fry's has always been my go to for last minute electronics (i.e. I can't wait for next day shipping). The entire computer/networking section was bare. They had a wireless IP camera and a $400 "small-business class" Cisco router (can't remember which model). No cable mod…

> he said they were told no This is what companies that are going out of business tell their employees in order to keep enough people around to help liquidate/pack up when it's time to shut down. Curious to know if employee paychecks are still arriving on time and clearing.

Whatever is happening at Fry's, it's not the normal retail circling the drain. Toys R Us had more inventory on shelves a week into their final clearance sales than Fry's in Fountain Valley did a couple days before Christmas.

If it were trying to make things work, they should be consolidating stores to reduce operating costs. But they're just in some sort of holding pattern. I saw a rumor on a Fry's employee forum that one of the brothers Fry was going through a personal bankruptcy and that was disrupting the corporation's credit, which seems plausible, but hasn't been reported anywhere legitimate, so I dunno.

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