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Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks

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Re: Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks

#41

Post by esseph »

peteforde wrote: post #26

Can someone offer an explanation of why this is popular? I don't mean this in a crass way, I'm actually genuinely baffled to see geeks lining up for a Costco-like experience to get stuff that you can easily get online without needing to get into a car. For me, big box stores just mean markups + staff that know less than most tech reviewers on YouTube. All in an introvert's nightmare. What's the upside?

This doesn't answer your question, but its an interesting fact:

Microcenter has enough swag to get their own exclusive CPU SKUs from AMD.

Re: Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks

#42

Post by NoPicklez »

ostensible wrote: post #35
peteforde wrote: post #26

Can someone offer an explanation of why this is popular? I don't mean this in a crass way, I'm actually genuinely baffled to see geeks lining up for a Costco-like experience to get stuff that you can easily get online without needing to get into a car. For me, big box stores just mean markups + staff that know less than most tech reviewers on YouTube. All in an introvert's nightmare. What's the upside?

I agree. Microcenter seems to sell a lot of flashy shiny garbage and not enough or at all of what matters — like cables or adapters. It’s more a best buy than fry’s electronics. We had a recently opened one here in the Bay Area — I went there once, having heard good things. Never again. It’s a bullshit emporium.

Looking at the photos its a shitload more than just cables and adapters

Re: Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks

#43

Post by scubbo »

bluedays wrote: post #27
peteforde wrote: post #26

Can someone offer an explanation of why this is popular? I don't mean this in a crass way, I'm actually genuinely baffled to see geeks lining up for a Costco-like experience to get stuff that you can easily get online without needing to get into a car. For me, big box stores just mean markups + staff that know less than most tech reviewers on YouTube. All in an introvert's nightmare. What's the upside?

It’s okay for you to not get everything. This one is simple, it’s just not for you. You don’t get it because it wasn’t built for you.

> Can someone offer an explanation...? I don't mean this in a crass way [...] What's the upside?

They weren't saying that it wasn't OK - they were just asking for an explanation from someone for whom it _was_ built

Re: Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks

#44

Post by NoPicklez »

peteforde wrote: post #26

Can someone offer an explanation of why this is popular? I don't mean this in a crass way, I'm actually genuinely baffled to see geeks lining up for a Costco-like experience to get stuff that you can easily get online without needing to get into a car. For me, big box stores just mean markups + staff that know less than most tech reviewers on YouTube. All in an introvert's nightmare. What's the upside?

The upside is that if you need a particular thing, you can go buy it immediately, not only that you can actually see the product and potential try to a degree before buying it.

For me, its seeing cases in person and being able to see how they compare for size rather than trying to estimate online.

As someone in Australia where we have pretty poor computer electronics stores for PC parts, this place is like heaven on earth.

To you its an introverts nightmare, but clearly for many geeks its not who are lining up.

Re: Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks

#45

Post by dylan604 »

pureagave wrote: post #38
dylan604 wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The death of Frys was one of those that took so much longer than it should. The last time I went into a Frys was a fluke as I had thought it was already out of business. Walking around inside was surreal as the inventory was sad with the vast majority of shelves empty. I remember taking pics at the time of just how much a shadow itself it really was. I just couldn't fathom why someone had allowed the stores to stay o…

I went to the Renton, WA one during the death days. It was so odd. Mostly empty shelves and what few products were there had the famous Fry's return labels on them. I'm assuming Amazon killed them.

The store I was in had a lot of open box appliances all lined up like a close out store. The products that were new had the famous layer of Frys dust covering them.

Re: Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks

#46

Post by peteforde »

OkayPhysicist wrote: post #30
peteforde wrote: post #26

Can someone offer an explanation of why this is popular? I don't mean this in a crass way, I'm actually genuinely baffled to see geeks lining up for a Costco-like experience to get stuff that you can easily get online without needing to get into a car. For me, big box stores just mean markups + staff that know less than most tech reviewers on YouTube. All in an introvert's nightmare. What's the upside?

Microcenter has a pretty good reputation for having knowledgeable enough staff. Plus, discovery tends to be a lot better in a curated brick and mortar than online. And sometimes you just want to see and buy cool stuff that you didn't know you wanted.

That's a very reasonably reply.

Except (?) that it's not like you can do more than look at shrink-wrapped boxes.

Even record stores generally let you play albums on a private turntable before you buy them.

It's just so weird to me that someone looking to buy a significant component for their desktop machine or whatever wouldn't do loads of research first. Buying a GPU, for example, during window shopping seems almost unhinged. But everyone's experience is different, and that's a good thing.

Re: Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks

#47

Post by rewgs »

kulahan wrote: post #3
coffee-- wrote: post #2

Step in and replace the loss of our Frys Electronics stores[0], yay! [0] https://www.kjzz.org/business/2025-08-27/fans-of-phoenix-fry...

Huh. I've never been in a Frys before, but boy is that a strange decor choice. Aztec stylings to sell brand new tech? I guess I see the juxtaposition, but still...

The one in Burbank was Area 51 themed. Huge UFO crashed into the front, aliens everywhere, etc. It was great and is sorely missed.

Re: Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks

#49

Post by peteforde »

oppegard wrote: post #40
peteforde wrote: post #26

Can someone offer an explanation of why this is popular? I don't mean this in a crass way, I'm actually genuinely baffled to see geeks lining up for a Costco-like experience to get stuff that you can easily get online without needing to get into a car. For me, big box stores just mean markups + staff that know less than most tech reviewers on YouTube. All in an introvert's nightmare. What's the upside?

I bought a 3D printer from my Denver Microcenter a few weeks ago. It's not available on Amazon, and only ships from China (it's a BambuLab H2D). It gives peace of mind that if something goes wrong I can just return it locally rather than deal with shipping a 50 pound printer back to China. Same goes for a MinisForum NAS I bought a few months ago. Plus, whenever I need a one-off USB cable, thumb drive, or printer fila…

Good reply, thanks.

Here in Canada, the BambuLab stuff seems to ship from local-ish warehouses... but I get it. Tariffs might also be a factor in this.

Amazon is a reprehensible company that I absolutely order from 3-4 times a week. That 15 minute drive requires a 15 minute drive back, plus a car + insurance + gas. It's 8:59pm local as I type this. If I need a thumb drive, I can order one that will be here by noon tomorrow with free shipping.

TL;DR that hour of your time plus driving surely cancels out any potential savings.

I guess it's good to have options, and late stage capitalism is happy to give them to us.

H2D looks like an amazing printer. I have a P1P and it's great for my needs, but the Bambu stuff is just on a different level from the others I've tried.

Re: Photos: New Phoenix Microcenter is a 'tech-heaven' for geeks

#50

Post by peteforde »

mastazi wrote: post #32
peteforde wrote: post #26

Can someone offer an explanation of why this is popular? I don't mean this in a crass way, I'm actually genuinely baffled to see geeks lining up for a Costco-like experience to get stuff that you can easily get online without needing to get into a car. For me, big box stores just mean markups + staff that know less than most tech reviewers on YouTube. All in an introvert's nightmare. What's the upside?

Ironically the reason why it's popular is that it's got many items that otherwise you can only get online, which is also the reason why you find it useless since you prefer the online experience. Speaking as an Australian, to me it would be a dream to be able to drive to a place like that and getting those things in store as opposed to ordering online then waiting days or sometimes weeks for delivery. There is also t…

If only you could actually hold things in your hands, though. To me, bringing a shrink-wrapped box to a checkout is like buying food at a grocery store to drive to a food bank, when you could just give them cash.

At least record stores let you listen to an album on headphones before you buy it.

Still, I appreciate your perspective. Different strokes for different folks.

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