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Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

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Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#371

Post by masonic »

mikeryan wrote: post #290
jedberg wrote: post #223

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity where are you located? As far as I can tell, all the Microcenters in the Bay Area have closed down. We still have Central Computer, which is where I had to go to get my last part when Fry's didn't have it (the special screwdriver for opening the newish Mac laptops).

I was wondering if Central was still around. They used to be my SF go to when building my own PCs.

The Sunnyvale store burned to the ground. They've opened a new one on Lawrence next to St. John's, across Lawrence from Fry's.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#372

Post by DrScump »

greedo wrote: post #33
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…

Microcenter's success would seem to indicate that perhaps Fry's issues aren't macro, but more management?

Fry's lost millions to an executive with a gambling problem:

https://www.sfgate.com/crime/article/Fry-s-exec-dropped-mill...

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#373

Post by luckydata »

sn wrote: post #46
luckydata wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's one in Sunnyvale, one in Fremont and one in Palo Alto.

There used to be a Micro Center in the Mercado shopping center. There's no Micro Center in Northern California any more.

I was talking about fry’s, sorry if I misread.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#375

Post by sowbug »

hellisothers wrote: post #238
stevespang wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Our Fry's in Austin had a "real tough front" on returns. You had to go through a lot of BS to return anything. I wonder if that contributed to the downfall, and if Fry's in other states were tough on returns as well . . . obviously Bezos and company has had an impact

Same here in CA, you had to wait in line forever, have them dig through your boxes taking everything out, then stand waiting for a manager to also come over and do the same thing and then approve it.

That happened to me the last time I seriously shopped there (excluding subsequent visits with my kids for historical/tourism reasons). Returned a brand-new, unwrapped HP PC and watched in horror as the returns clerk clumsily defiled its pristine seal right in front of me. I assume it was later wrapped right back up again, but there's no way a roughed-up item like that would have ever been the same.

I get the risk of fraud and all that, but it seems the Palo Alto Fry's didn't understand the corresponding brand cost of selling blemished merchandise as new.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#376

Post by Rapzid »

chaoticmass wrote: post #204
Rapzid wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ah, I used to work at that location in the mid 00s. The place was a mad house back then. They probably still show the video of me getting a "customer" into a rear naked choke after he started attacking employees. Those were the days :)

And on black friday, the line would loop all the way around the store even with some 200 registers open.

Yeah, that was a bit nuts but TBH most weekends at the time were pretty darn busy. I'm talking the whole store being mall promenade busy. It was all very energized and felt like the place to be if you were interested in tech hardware.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#377

Post by logfromblammo »

lotsofpulp wrote: post #344
logfromblammo wrote: post #291

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As I don't live in Indy or Chicago any more, I don't have any good solutions for you. I-65 isn't that bad a drive, and the windmills give you a nice eco-green feeling, even if the rest areas aren't so great. The Greek Islands restaurant used to regularly drive a van to Chicago and back, because Kronos wouldn't ship their beef-lamb doner kebab cones for vertical gyro rotisseries all the way to Indy, so they were about…

> and the windmills give you a nice eco-green feeling, Lol, driving 6 hours to browse a store and getting an eco-green feeling.

Was the hyperbole not hyperbolic enough? I-65 from Indy to Chicago is as boring as an electric auger with no off switch.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#378

Post by zootam »

redsymbol wrote: post #367

Here's my brilliant idea for saving Fry's. Two of their biggest problems are 1) Not enough people coming into their store to buy, and 2) Past real-estate investments that left them with too much indoor space. Solution: Take half the space of each store, and turn it into a maker-space/education center. Hold workshops there. Free, or dirt cheap, on how to do fun things with a Raspberry Pi, or build your own PC/gaming r…

i think they're in some odd holding pattern on their downward spiral, where there isn't enough capital for changing the business or even purchasing new product, but there isn't enough business potential for new investment either.

perhaps they are keeping everything open as shells to try and shop some deal to potential investors as revitalizing a once great brand.

someone up high has some really good and specific reasons for keeping most of the stores barely open and operational.

if there were responsible people at the helm they would shutter nearly all the locations immediately.

they probably have a few dozen months of funding left at this pace, no idea what they're holding out for, they seem to be just delaying the inevitable.

Re: Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?

#379

Post by bytematic »

bsder wrote: post #352
bytematic wrote: post #278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've stayed away from newegg since they got bought by a chinese company and allowed third party vendors. The prices are rarely the best anymore

What's a reliable alternative to Newegg nowadays?

Honestly, Amazon. I usually find a microcenter because the drive (90miles) results in money saved anyways
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