
Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble? - pcvarmint
https://www.sfchronicle.com/business/article/Is-Fry-s-Electronics-in-trouble-Company-denies-14945559.php
======
linguae
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 state that it’s in. Back in the
2000s it was a really nice store, but recently it has fallen on hard times. I
went to the Sunnyvale store a few months ago to try to find a TV antenna, and
the selection was a bunch of beat-up boxes, some of them with discount
stickers indicating that they were returned items, which left me not confident
about the whole lot.

Meanwhile, I’m a little envious of the electronics stores of Tokyo,
particularly Yodobashi Camera and Yamada Denki. I travel to Japan regularly,
and every now and then I check out these stores. Their Akihabara flagships are
a nice mix of Fry’s selection and Best Buy’s presentation. Sometimes I wonder
why we don’t have that in Silicon Valley, but then I remember that Tokyo’s
density and transit-oriented planning makes such retail operations more viable
than Silicon Valley’s largely car-dependent, US suburbia-style planning, which
favors online shopping. Still, these flagship Akihabara stores are wonderful
places to shop.

~~~
duxup
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.

~~~
macintux
Reinforces Apple's decision to launch their own retail business. Circuit City
was where I rediscovered Macs after having been away for a decade.

~~~
bluedino
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....

~~~
plerpin
Not surprised. Apple spent most of the 90's cranking out one turd after
another. There were a few hits for well-heeled professionals, but their
consumer offerings were generally a bunch of fatally compromised Road Apples.
[https://lowendmac.com/2014/road-apples-second-class-
macs/](https://lowendmac.com/2014/road-apples-second-class-macs/)

MacOS was behind the times vs. Windows. Still sticking with cooperative
multitasking until 2000. Crazy!

iMac was the start of something different, but Apple had a decade of second-
class product to atone for, first.

~~~
chipotle_coyote
> Still sticking with cooperative multitasking until 2000. Crazy!

To be fair, sticking with it until 2000 wasn't Apple's intention; they'd
expected to bring the new "Copland" Mac OS to market by the end of 1996.

I don't know how well the iMac may have sold at the OP's Best Buy, but my
recollection -- and a web search just now seems to back this up -- is that the
iMac sold _very_ well pretty quickly after its 1998 introduction. For
instance, a NYT article from January 1999 which begins:

"Apple Computer Inc.'s popular iMac desktop computer was the No. 1 selling
machine through retail and mail-order channels in the 1998 holiday season,
according to the research company PC Data.

"In overall sales, the iMac fell from the top spot in November to No. 3 in
December. It is still the top-selling computer since its mid-August
introduction and led overall sales in the fourth quarter, PC Data, of Reston,
Va., reported."

[https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/22/business/apple-s-imac-
led...](https://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/22/business/apple-s-imac-led-quarter-
computer-sales.html)

------
whalesalad
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 processor boxes. It’s
tough to not build a monster rig. I’m even considering heading there as I
write this comment - to pick up a water cooler for an old i7 3770k so I can
clock it to the moon and revitalize it. (If any hackers here have a 3770k and
tips, please share)

I love being able to go there to grab UniFi gear right off the shelf. Being
able to walk into a physical store that’s a ten minute drive from my house to
grab SFP transceivers and fiber cables is kind of unreal to me.

~~~
jedberg
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).

~~~
whalesalad
I'm in Southern California, Costa Mesa to be exact (near Irvine and Huntington
Beach). Microcenter is in Tustin.

~~~
leovander
I just wish it wasn't next to the 5 entrance on the 55. Maybe that is a good
thing, if not I would make my way there more often. Reporting from Costa Mesa
as well.

------
blantonl
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 had older model sets and speakers strewn about.

It was nothing like the late 90's when the place was an absolute zoo, and you
could be guaranteed to have every gadget known to man on display. Christmas
time at Frys was waiting in a checkout line 100's deep. It was a fun time.

That last time I visited is the last time I'll ever visit. It's clear Amazon
and online retailing has decimated them.

~~~
rossdavidh
How is the Micro Center in DFW doing? I see other electronics retailers doing
ok, so I think Amazon is just the coup de grace.

~~~
ajflores1604
Microcenter is doing great, at least from the point of view of a frequent
customer.

The Fry's in Plano is in a similar state to what parent comment is describing.
It's an incredibly weird feeling walking thru. They've stopped restocking, so
anything I remotely could use or need isn't there. What's left are things that
nobody really wants. I have lots of memories growing up in that store, sad to
see it like this. I definitely recommend hitting it up before the inevitable
shutdown, it's quite the vibe to take in.

~~~
BitwiseFool
It's mostly school supplies and pallets of bottled water now.

------
ping_pong
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 what I was interested in, was empty and no one showed
up. The car stereos themselves were older models. Nothing worked.

Why on earth would I ever return? The entire shopping experience at Fry's is
worse than clicking through on Amazon.

Fry's is dead. Chalk one up for Amazon and automation a-la Andrew Yang. 30% of
retail stores will close in 5-10 years and it's because of online stores like
Amazon, that suck money out of local stores and diverts all the money to
Seattle, except for the local warehouses where minimum wage workers are being
worked like robots. This only gets worse unless we figure out how to rejig the
economy with 21st century solutions like UBI.

~~~
jcranmer
> Fry's is dead. Chalk one up for Amazon and automation a-la Andrew Yang.

It's easy to say that, but then the retort is why _isn 't_ Micro Center
suffering the same issues? The two should be facing exactly the same pressure
from Amazon, so the reasons for Fry's failures has to be more nuanced than
"internet retailers are sucking everyone dry."

For my part, I'm much more willing to buy computer parts in person because a)
I get to walk out with it and set it up that day and b) I'd rather carry
>$1000 worth of equipment on my person than hope no one steals it between its
delivery time and my getting off of work.

~~~
ping_pong
I've been to a Micro center once in my life, in Sunnyvale, in Mercado. The
prices were worse than Staples for computer equipment so I never went back. I
don't even know if it's still there anymore.

I have no idea which part of the country you live in, but I would be shocked
if in the Bay Area, Micro Center would be considered a "success". I can see
how some stores, depending on their business agreements, might be able to stay
alive through support, etc.

But for example, last year I ordered a graphics card on Amazon and it arrived
on a Friday. I tried installing it on Saturday, and discovered it was broken,
so I ordered a new one on Saturday afternoon. It arrived on a Sunday, before
9am. It was the most amazing experience.

~~~
jcranmer
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.

~~~
ping_pong
Are the prices better than Amazon? I've never been to an electronics store
that is doing better since 2000 except for the Apple Store, but I live in CA.
Even Best Buy in CA is empty and more expensive for the most part.

~~~
lozaning
The prices, especially if you're going to buy a mobo and a CPU at the same
time in a combo deal are frequently the lowest you can find.

I also shy away from amazon for some computer components because of all the
fake stuff Amazon is now filled with. At MC you're much more likely to get the
actual real part you ordered.

~~~
mailslot
I used to love opening things from Fry’s and discovering that it was an
unmarked return & not the actual product at all. Sometimes: empty box.

------
sn
SF Bay Area folks: for buying new your options (depending on what you are
trying to buy) are now
[https://www.centralcomputers.com/](https://www.centralcomputers.com/) for
enterprise/personal computers,
[https://www.bestbuy.com/](https://www.bestbuy.com/) for consumer electronics,
[https://anchor-electronics.com/](https://anchor-electronics.com/) for
electronic components.

Central computers just opened a store almost right across the road from the
Sunnyvale Fry's.

~~~
Stratoscope
Yet another Central Computers fan checking in. Besides computers, they have
all kinds of networking equipment, cables at decent prices, etc.

I haven't been to Anchor yet but several of my ham radio friends have
recommended it.

Jameco in San Carlos also has a lot of components. It's not a retail store,
other than a small display up front of mostly closeout stuff, but you can
order online for will call and they will have it ready by the time you get
there.

One more Bay Area source I like a lot is SF Cable. As you can guess, they have
mostly cables. The ones I've bought from them have been good quality at a good
price. I particularly like their flat Cat 6 Ethernet cables. I don't think
they have a retail store at all, but if you're in the Bay Area it's overnight
shipping.

[https://www.jameco.com/](https://www.jameco.com/)

[https://www.sfcable.com/](https://www.sfcable.com/)

------
mu_killnine
I live in the midwest and there's a Frys up by Chicago. I drove up there
during the holidays in hopes I might be able to snag my wife a nice monitor
off the floor.

I was absolutely gutted to see the state of the store. It's immense, which
makes its hollowness even more shocking. I remember when the store opened
during my highschool years (2004'ish?) it was a pilgrimage to go there and see
double-stacked shelves of every part you could imagine.

The employees (probably a 15-20 in the huge 400K sq.ft. store) looked
shellshocked and didn't seem to have any inclination to ask me how they could
help. I talked to a security guard who was maybe 17-18 and he mentioned
something about renegotiating contracts with vendors or something, but I could
tell even he didn't buy it.

I don't think there is any question of whether Fry's is in dire trouble.

~~~
organsnyder
The one near Indianapolis is like that, too. I'd never been in one before
(none anywhere near me in Michigan), and was excited to experience it when
vacationing with my family last year. Was shocked at how bad it was—it looked
like it was in the process of being liquidated (huge empty spaces), and the
merchandise was mostly garbage. It was like a junky flea market without the
energy.

~~~
macintux
Watching that store spiral downhill has been very depressing.

The roof leaks water everywhere, so they have shopping carts with buckets all
over the store; the computer section is now entirely empty ("we're switching
to a consignment model") is what one employee told me; just very, very sad.

I'd guess perhaps they spent too much on real estate (that store could be
1/3rd its size and still fit everything) but no idea.

~~~
logfromblammo
That location used to be an AutoNation used car megastore, and its only
advertising-friendly feature is being visible from I-69.

Since Fishers succumbed to Carmel disease and started putting traffic circles
in everywhere, it's even more difficult to get to from the north.

I'd say they spent too little on real estate, and tried to repurpose a bad
building in a bad location. They would have done better in the old shuttered
Marsh supermarket on 96th St., if it had closed up shop before they moved in
to Indy. Actually, they could probably move right now, for all the shelf-stock
they're likely to still have on hand. The old building should just be razed
and replaced with class-B office park offices. It has never had enough casual
traffic to be good retail.

~~~
macintux
Are you aware of any real alternatives for electronics hardware in the Indy
area? With RadioShack dead and Fry's dying, I honestly have no idea where to
go.

~~~
logfromblammo
If you absolutely need it ASAP, drive the 3 hours to Riverfront Plaza in
Chicago.

Otherwise, plan ahead and use online retailers.

~~~
macintux
It’s more the browsing factor. I typically don’t know what I need, and it’s
much easier to get a feel for my options when I can see the variety up close.

~~~
logfromblammo
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 the only
place in town you could get a real gyro. I guess it's about the same for
electronics.

You could maybe ask around the IUPUI or Purdue electronics engineering
professors, or the robotic therapy/prosthetics lab at the IU hospital.

~~~
lotsofpulp
> and the windmills give you a nice eco-green feeling,

Lol, driving 6 hours to browse a store and getting an eco-green feeling.

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

------
taborj
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 ditched all the
theming (side note - this store never got a unique theme like many other Fry's
stores; it was always promised to be "coming soon" but never did), and changed
the layout to be a bit of a hodge-podge by comparison.

I really miss Incredible Universe's "bent and dent" room, where they sold
items that were missing bits, slightly damaged, unboxed, etc, at a pretty
steep discount.

~~~
steeef
I have vivid memories of the demos at Incredible Universe, including an early-
stage VR setup. It's also the place I was able to try out crappy consoles like
the Atari Jaguar and the 3DO Interactive.

~~~
wj
I also remember demoing the 3DO at Incredible Universe. What an incredible
store design they had. I believe I also bought my copy of OS/2 there.

------
theYipster
As many have already pointed out, the answer to Fry's in 2020 is Microcenter.

I'm fortunate to live 15 minutes away from the only Microcenter in California,
which has really picked up business over the last year. Every Fry's in our
area is in thes same sad condition (the Fountain Valley and Anaheim Hills
Fry's are both ghost towns.)

The folks who work at our nearby Microcenter are all enthusiasts, and the
store has a similar vibe to the golden-era of Fry's stores in Silicon Valley
(this is despite CA's Microcenter being in Orange County, about 400 miles
south of Silicon Valley and the broader Bay Area.)

One thing I noticed even a decade ago is that Microcenter did a much better
job catering to high end computer builds than Frys, which over the last decade
felt like it had too much breadth of product at the expense of useful depth in
any one area. For instance, Microcenters have long had full isles dedicated to
water cooling. Back before AIOs, you'd be able to find parts you'd only
otherwise get at online specialty stores -- Newegg didn't even cary them.
(Today, the selection is smaller but that is mostly due to the proliferation
of AIOs.)

~~~
agoodthrowaway
Used to be a Microcenter in Santa Clara. It was a good store and huge. But it
closed a few years back. At the time it seemed like it suffered from the same
problem as Fry’s. Sounds like maybe they regrouped and are doing better now.

~~~
techslave
I never found it to be good. With Fry’s and central computer (not to mention
Al’s or whatever that place is that I can’t quite remember ... the legendary
one) nearby, there was no need to go into overpriced Microcenter.

Of course that was then ...

------
LaMarseillaise
I visited Fry's last week.

The shelves in most of the store were empty. Much of the store was blocked off
with caution tape, with buckets out to collect rain water dripping from the
ceiling. I looked for graphics cards, but the aisle was completely bare. There
were very few workers in the store, and even fewer customers.

In the front, I found fragrances. DVDs and Blu-rays were mainly obscure or
poor films priced as high as $40. The only computers I could find were
antiquated machines for the workers running Windows XP (or possibly Windows
2000) with 4:3 monitors.

One of the workers said that they were 'restructuring' their supply contracts
- a clear attempt by management to keep up morale in a failing business. A
store that size does not move to a consignment model.

Is Fry's Electronics in trouble? Yes.

~~~
spookthesunset
> The only computers I could find were antiquated machines for the workers
> running Windows XP (or possibly Windows 2000) with 4:3 monitors.

Somewhere there will be a chapter in the book of Fry's demise about how they
never modernized their point of sale system. That thing is fucking ancient and
looks like some kind of weird homebrew monstrosity that the owners nephew (you
know, the one who "knows computers") cooked up for them way back when they
started. That thing has to have been a boat anchor that kept them from
tinkering with their business model.

~~~
adrr
They never focused on online sales. Bestbuy was facing a similiar decline But
Bestbuy modernized their online experience and added a price guarantee which
made them competitive against amazon and other online merchants.

------
unlinked_dll
The Fry’s in Burbank won’t even keep all their lights on during the day. I’ve
had to bust out the flashlight on my phone while browsing there.

I just think they’ve got too much crap in there at RadioShack prices. It’s
hard to find something I’m looking for and when i do find it, have to make the
mental choice to pay twice as much for it in store or wait 2 days for Amazon
Prime to deliver it.

So just anecdotally as a guy who shops there, I’m not surprised they’re
struggling.

~~~
Diederich
> The Fry’s in Burbank won’t even keep all their lights on during the day.
> I’ve had to bust out the flashlight on my phone while browsing there.

Seriously?

~~~
dougbarrett
Right, I find that hard to believe. I worked in the Oxnard location for a
short time in 2007 and that has never been my experience. They'll dim the
lights well after store closing, but it's never been dark enough that I felt
like I couldn't see what I was doing.

~~~
unlinked_dll
I'm 100% serious. I have been in there maybe two dozen times in the last 2
years. The audio area in particular is quite dim, there are ceiling lights
that are never turned on (underneath the weird UFO shaped outcropping).

~~~
whyaduck
Maybe they're not bothering to replace burned out bulbs? Neither's a good
look, though.

------
djsumdog
I don't want to see retail outlets go away. There is sometime important about
being able to physically check out things like keyboards, gaming mice and
headphones. I'll pay the extra premium at a BestBuy just because I can
actually paid each bluetooth headphone with my device and try it out and
actually hear the sound-stage and quality.

I remember when MediaPlay and Circuit City went away. So are we just down to
BestBuy and MicroCenters if you want to actually look at things before buying
them? How long until all we have are YouTube videos by Markus/Dave2D/Linus to
judge products by?

~~~
beatgammit
I feel the same way. I don't have Fry's/Microcenter near me, so my choices are
BestBuy (overpriced, poor selection) or the internet.

I try to buy from Newegg instead of Amazon because I don't want Amazon to
essentially have a monopoly (not to mention that Newegg seems to package
things better). I'll buy from BestBuy only in an absolute emergency, though I
used to shop at Fry's and RadioShack quite a bit when both were good.

I hope Microcenter can reinvigorate the enthusiast electronics retail market
and expand since apparently Fry's isn't going to do it.

~~~
craftinator
From a nostalgic point of view, I agree. Browsing, interacting, and being
critical of suppliers are all important things to take into account. But, from
an economic point of view, I disagree. The market has chosen the better
course. I can browse online, without wandering isles; I already know what I'm
looking for. I can read other customers questions and reviews; can't do that
in stores. I can see how other customers have reviewed the seller; Fry's has
never offered that. They don't make, nor sell, buggy whips anymore. Fry's is
just another iteration of that effect. It has not followed market
optimization, so it has failed.

------
ulkesh
Part of the issue is that their quality of service has gone down. 10 years
ago, most people who worked there were knowledgeable in their respective
departments, but now it is quite often the opposite. I don’t exactly blame the
workers, it could simply be that circumstances have caused training to become
nonexistent.

I remember the holidays at that time with the checkout line being so long that
they couldn’t keep up with even 30 registers open. Now, they have maybe two
registers open at any given time and the checkout line is never more than a
few customers long.

I find it sad and disconcerting. But I have to admit to being part of the
problem: I haven’t bought much at Fry’s since I built my last PC 2-3 years
ago. Every time we go now, it’s depressing and we end up only buying a cable
or a memory card.

~~~
dsfyu404ed
10yr ago those people had just got laid off from all their IT jobs and
whatnot. Now they all have real jobs again and you've got lower quality labor.
The same thing happened to Autozone, Home Depot and every other place a laid
off skilled worker wound up getting a job to make ends meet.

~~~
ulkesh
That is a good point. I was lucky to get through the recession without being
laid off, but so many others were certainly not as fortunate.

------
redsymbol
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 rig, or whatever.

Have spaces where people can assemble their gear. With a few knowledgeable
staff around - plus the friendly neighborhood volunteers who will be naturally
attracted to just come hang out at this space - to help out. And since it's
right there, they can just walk over to the store and BUY ALL THE PARTS.

Make it FUN. Family friendly. A place where people want to come and just hang
out, to be around other technical hobbyists...

A place where local tech enthusiasts go to meet their friends, and make new
friends. _And spend money._

(Heck, Fry's could even sell food and drinks. Popcorn. There would be people
there who need to eat and drink; why not?)

Would this work?

Maybe. Maybe not.

But I bet it has a better chance of working than the direction they're heading
now.

~~~
zootam
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.

------
wil421
Fry’s in Alpharetta is one step away from being a Brandsmart. The store is
lackluster and not stocked very well. Thankfully I moved close to a
Microcenter. It’s rare you can beat Microcenter’s Intel cpu prices for non-
niche cpus.

The employees at both places are only really knowledgeable about gaming stuff.
As soon as I ask them about other things they have a deer in headlights look.

~~~
ulkesh
This is my Fry’s as well. A very sad state.

------
upbeatlinux
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 modems, no other routers, nothing. The only stocked shelves were
media (CDs and Blu-ray). The Christmas shoppers were disgruntled they had made
the trip.

A sales associate I talked to was confounded. When asked whether Fry's was
going out of business he said they were told no. He mentioned there had been
no deliveries in months and the storage they did have was empty.

I don't think it can be attributed to just Prime or better service at Best
Buy. The market is saturated with tech. Everyone has a cell phone,
laptop/desktop, TV, smart-device, etc. Fry's should've been downsizing about
10 years ago. It's possible they could've done more with their service
department (the tire, car audio system installers always seemed busy)

I'll always remember Fry's as

\- being packed during the holidays

\- having ridiculous long checkout lines b/t 1998-2016 even an hour before
close

\- being able to find cool/rare last minute gifts

\- massive selection of photography equipment

\- in recent years (?) having price-match guarantee

~~~
grendelt
> 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.

~~~
toast0
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.

------
wyldfire
> Fry’s has adamantly denied the rumors, saying the shelves are empty because
> it has shifted to a consignment model, meaning that suppliers get paid for
> goods only after a store has sold them.

Sounds like Fry's asked themselves, "Why are Amazon's inventory carrying costs
so low?" or "How come we can't do like FBA?" Their suppliers clearly are not
onboard.

When I went to Fry's in Austin a couple of weeks ago I saw very close to no
inventory in many of the product categories I looked at. I'm not sure I'll go
back. While I'm sad to see Fry's go, I understand that it's partly due to my
fondness for Amazon.

------
carapace
If you're in the SF Bay Area, and you like electronics, do yourself a favor
and check out Al Lasher's Electronics in Berkeley:
[http://allashers.com/](http://allashers.com/) "Family owned and operated
since 1960."

------
badrabbit
I get less variety at microcenter than Frys. I use to frequent both, fora long
time I just put up with bad customer service and atmosphere (hostile at
times!) At both establishments but somehow, microcenter just changed last
year, and now I either get it at microcenter or order online and wait, fry's
is my last option. Part of me wants to feel sorry for retail workers but I
think it's a management issue.

One time I had to get a laptop last minute, they (fry's) tried to get me to
buy one laptop, told them I will look around first, which I did and foud what
I wanted, asked them to help me get that model after which they basically
ignored me and refused to interact with me for like half an hour to 45 minutes
where finally a manager stepped in and personally helped me.

Another time, I wanted to buy some game I think as a gift. I declined to give
my name/address since I was paying cash and suddenly I needed to show my id
and a credit card or else I'm committig fraud or some ridiculous thing.

I've seen them make nasty comments about a customer's appearance to the
customer's face too.

And this is at different locations. Microcenter started to get their way,but I
was so shocked how they turned around. It's hard to explain,like the sales
people will helpfully just ...help you find things without being rude. The
cashiers will ask for an address (and get pushy at times) but they are fine
without one.

I will just buy online if I have to give up my name anyways. Cash gift cards
and deliver it to a trusted person. All the variety I want too. The one
advantage aside from accessibility retailers had was privacy and that's outthe
door now. Amazon/newegg does not do facial recognition,gait analysis and track
my phone in order to buy something in their site.

------
spookthesunset
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?

\- Their Point of Sale software seemed to be the most antiquated homebrew
garbage on earth. The thing would print out a mile long receipt, even in their
cafe. Like, to order coffee the cashier had to do a bunch of steps in on the
terminal just to complete the transaction--super bizarre. I'm pretty sure some
owners nephew "who knows computers" must have programmed that thing way back
in the day and the owners never bothered to modernize.

\- The stores always seemed depressing, even ten years ago. Shelves were
always dirty with crap strewn about. The isles always had some shelves that
were empty with no inventory, or the majority of the inventory out of stock.

\- Years ago my monitor crapped out on me and I had an extended warranty. The
cheap fuckers didn't replace it but actually wanted to spend several weeks
somehow repairing it. I still have pictures on my phone of the absolute
mountain of paperwork they gave me for this processes. It was completely
insane.

\- All the people working there never seemed happy. Several times I overheard
employees yelling at each other in neighboring isles. I always got the feeling
store management was running the place like a pressure cooker--"gotta sell XYZ
of whatever or you are fired" where "XYZ" was some product nobody on earth
wanted.

In short, Fry's always had a weird vibe to me. I'm surprised they managed to
make it this far.

~~~
Stratoscope
> _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 saying "just browsing", and as soon as
they left the aisle I would grab my item and make a beeline out of that area.

One time I bought a $20 case for my compact camera. I told the guy I would be
a while trying different cases to see how they fit. As soon as I picked one
and started to walk away... Yes, you guessed it, "I need to give you a quote."
And he wrapped it around my little case and taped it all over the place to
make sure I wouldn't throw the quote away.

~~~
spookthesunset
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.

------
aazaa
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 an attempt to source an item from a
local store isn't worth it to most people. So they go with Amazon, where they
find exactly what they're looking for, at a rock-bottom price, often delivered
within a day.

With each iteration, another layer of soil gets thrown on the coffin of local
retail.

That said, I'm not entirely sure this is a bad thing. Driving around burns a
politically and environmentally harmful resource. Freeway congestion is a
blight on on cities everywhere. Big box retailers and shopping malls destroy
wildlife habitat and pervert the local tax base.

~~~
lowbloodsugar
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.

------
paulmendoza
Every time I go into one now I am shocked at how much open space there is on
the floor and the shelves. It is super depressing. I have been seeing this for
the last year or so at the San Marcos store near where I live. Frys has been
going downhill for years though. But I mostly notice this empty space in the
areas where they sold toys or books. The super technical areas of the store
are still fully stocked where they sell CPUs or computer cases or
motherboards.

------
pacetherace
Nobody but they themselves are to be blamed.

I don't think they revamped their business model as much others who survived
did. Their website and newsletter feels like it is from the 2000's.

The stores are just too big and unintuitive.

Most useless products are at the entrance.

The checkout takes ages even if there are only 2-3 customers in the line.

------
S_A_P
this article made me think of 2 experiences at big box stores I had this
weekend.

At Lowe's, I had to buy a few things for a desk Im building. I noticed the
following: 1) the staff size was the same, but 2) I had to check out my own
items at the self checkout which is 3) user hostile and requires assistance
for about 30% of the items. 4) they only had 1 person for 8 self checkout
stations and this person was super busy and checking out took unnecessarily
long

I vowed then to never go back. It just so happens I had a plumbing issue, so I
went to home depot. As luck would have it, they have done the same thing.
However, their self checkout was reasonably polished and more user friendly.
That said, I still was not happy with the process and will revert to going to
one of the fewer and fewer ACE hardware stores whenever possible. I shouldnt
have to know any code or special information about a product to buy it. If I
have to check out my own items I shouldnt see 15 employees loitering around
the store chatting.(true at both Lowes and Home Depot). I shouldnt be paying 8
dollars for a 25 foot roll of painters tape if I am checking out my own items.

~~~
spookthesunset
Dude, the new self checkouts at Home Depot are the bee's knees. Huge, bright
and very responsive display. And best part is they actually let you hold a
barcode wand so you can scan all your stuff while it is still in the cart!
Makes it much, much faster to use because you aren't getting constantly
blocked on the machine between each item you ring up.

Unlike every other self checkout, I actually had fun using it!

------
_bxg1
It's tempting to say "well it's just because of Amazon and Newegg", but Best
Buy and (from what I've heard) Microcenter are doing just fine. I'd be really
curious to see a post-mortem on what went wrong at Fry's.

------
Majromax
> Fry’s has adamantly denied the rumors, saying the shelves are empty because
> it has shifted to a consignment model, meaning that suppliers get paid for
> goods only after a store has sold them.

... so it's in trouble, because it is no longer considered creditworthy enough
to obtain net-day financing terms from its wholesale partners.

------
Animats
I'm not surprised that the Palo Alto store is closing. It was built in an
abandoned warehouse, and the land is now far more valuable than the store.

It hasn't been a useful place for electronic parts for ten years. For computer
components, try Central Computer. For electronic parts, DigiKey or Mouser.

------
Sylamore
The Layoff page for Fry's ([https://www.thelayoff.com/frys-
electronics](https://www.thelayoff.com/frys-electronics)) is full of reports
of empty stores, no restocking deliveries for months and empty parking lots
and has been for a while now.

------
beardedProgmr
I'm 99% sure the Austin one is slowly closing. Less stuff every time. No
graphics cards last time. I stopped going. Microcenter come to Austin. We have
money. Please!!

------
dexwiz
Fry's is undergoing the same warehousification as the rest of brick and mortar
retail. Going to an electronics store used to be an event: new models,
attractive displays, knowledgable staff, clean stores, bright lights. I
suspect MBA management has squeezed every margin not directly connected to
profit. This leaves the inventory, but removes any expense wasted on the
experience of the store. New models? No, just the ones that sell the most.
Knowledgable staff? No, only those willing to settle for essentially minimal
wage. Clean stores? No, we cut the staff and only sweep as needed. Bright
lights? No, turn off every other bank to be "green" (and save on electricity.)
So the stores have become a step above warehouses.

When the most attractive feature of a store is in-store pickup, it is no
longer an event to go to a store, but a logistical footnote in your day. Items
are no longer sold by staff, environment, and experience, but instead as a
commodity. While many people here may say they want to shop undisturbed, a
large portion of purchases, especially high dollar ones, are made with the
help of an eager sales person who is encouraging you to spend money.

~~~
onlyrealcuzzo
MBA's aren't to blame for everything.

Margins used to be skyhigh on electronics. Things were new and hot and
changing rapidly. People didn't know a whole lot about what they were buying,
they needed educated. And it required educated staff, and the margins were
high enough to afford them.

Electronics are mostly a commodity now. There's less of a difference now
between a TV store and a shoe store.

~~~
lotsofpulp
Yes. What more selection in TV do you need than Costco? They’re all made by LG
or Samsung anyway with some diff software, at the price levels most people can
afford.

------
banana_giraffe
This was the hard drive section at my local fry's a couple of weeks ago:
[https://imgur.com/a/fptZufK](https://imgur.com/a/fptZufK)

At this point it's probably a better business move to close the store till
they're able to stock shelves. No one walks into that store and thinks "oh,
this is somewhere I should come back to for my tech needs in the future".

~~~
geerlingguy
Wow, that looks like what most places look like after a couple weeks of 'going
out of business' sales, when they start selling shelves, light fixtures,
desks, trash cans and the like.

------
aatharuv
I dropped by the Fremont Fry's the past weekend to see if the "inventory
issues" I'd seen in September had gotten any better. They were worse.

From 2004 till about a year ago, I'd never seen any inventory problems at any
of the Bay Area Fry's. Starting around June (I think), I'd noticed inventory
issues at their Fremont and San Jose locations.

By September, it was very noticeable -- I couldn't even find a basic plug
converter in preparation for an international trip a few months back, finding
Target had better selection. When I asked if the store was closing, they said
something about some inventory changes, presumably the move to the consignment
model the article spoke about.

A few commenters mention that Fry's seemed to be adding more kids toys
sections giving that as a potential reason for Fry's demise. Many retailers
started stocking more kids toys as Toys-R-Us fell victim to vulture capital. I
suspect Fry's was trying to cash in on the sudden market like many other
retailers.

Well, it's certainly a reason for geek parents to give as an excuse to drop in
to Fry's. Or was at this point.

------
hobojones
Once I became aware of Newegg and other online retailers, and trusted shopping
form them, it was the end of Fry's for me. The Fry's close to me always had
terrible products - off brand motherboards, orange stickered components, etc.
For a period Fry's was my place to pick up emergency Cat 5 and other random
components, but Home Depot/Lowe's sells quality product at far more convenient
locations. I last visited the Renton store a few years back, hoping to find
some unnecessary necessity and left disappointed. The store was under stocked
and in disrepair. The general quality and quantity of goods had diminished
remarkably. I was near the San Diego location a few months back with time to
kill and decided it wasn't even worth it to wander around in the air
conditioning for a few minutes.

Thinking back, Fry's was a perfect place to spend my teenage years - I had
little money, and not enough technical knowledge to be a discerning consumer.
As an adult it no longer serves its purpose - I can afford to buy higher
quality goods, and have the time and knowledge to find them.

~~~
DonHopkins
>In the mid-1990s, before high-speed internet connections made software easy
to download, the stores served as a teenage hangout, allowing customers to
play video games and try new hardware.

>[link:] PAGE ONE -- '90s Kids Find New Hangout -- Computer Store

[https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/PAGE-
ONE-90s-Kids-F...](https://www.sfchronicle.com/news/article/PAGE-ONE-90s-Kids-
Find-New-Hangout-3025706.php)

>Harrison's one complaint is that the game manuals are not near the
demonstration computers. "You have to figure out what weapon to kill what
people with on your own, and that's hard to do without the manual," he said.

In the late 70's - early 80's, I used to hang out at the mall Radio Shack
after school with a few other regular kids, where we played games and learned
to program BASIC on the TRS-80's.

They had a similar attitude about kids hanging out there, and gave us a place
to store our cassette tapes, because it helped sell computers to the adult
customers, who we would demonstrate the computers to all the time.

Plus we got to listen to great music (like "My Sharona" by The Knack, who were
supposed to be the next Beatles) as the Radio Shack sales people sold stereos
and speakers to customers.

Kids these days know "My Bologna" better than "My Sharona" and Weird Al better
than the Beatles. (And JavaScript better than BASIC!)

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hxLaFJf9Jk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1hxLaFJf9Jk)

------
blhack
How is it possible that they've been running in this zombie state for so many
months now? The amount of money they have to be spending things like power to
keep the lights on and the air at a comfortable temperature must be
astronomical with almost no revenue coming in.

If they were going to switch to this model, why not just lock the doors for
the months where the transition is happening? Very very weird.

~~~
craftinator
They've been keeping about 40% of the lights at the nearest Oregon store
turned off for the last 6 months or so....

------
abalashov
I've patronised the Atlanta (Gwinnett) store since the mid-2000s. It was a
very important base for hardware of all kind, to the degree that we would
regularly drive from Athens, GA (60 mi E) to Fry's for parts. The last few
years, it's been a gradual deterioration toward exactly the kind of empty-
shelf phenomenon described in the article. By now, much of the stock seems to
be gone, what remains--which is definitely not the most updated and trendiest
items--is disorganised and poorly attended-to, and the place has almost no
staff. One can hear a pin drop in there most days. It's eerily still,
bizarrely empty yet formally open, like the setting of a postapocalyptic video
game.

Last time I walked in there was a few months ago, and I assumed they were just
trying to clear out what remains of inventory before closing the store. It has
been very unclear to me under what economic principle it remains open, given
that there is little merchandise, almost no staff, and no customers.

------
techslave
Fry’s was in a tough position. Expand, or risk leaving not just money on the
table, but being swamped by expansion of others. In the short term it was a
good move for them, but they became Best Buy (the failing version).

They are at a crossroads. Give. Best Buy’s apparent comeback (I am surprised
that I like shopping there now, after detesting it for so long) signals that
Fry’s could do it. But Fry’s themselves seems to be denying it. They need to
aggressive make signs of life. Close half the stores for chrissake.

I’ve actually had 2 “once removed“ encounters with Randy Fry.

1\. almost bought the house next door to his in Los Gatos.

2\. DMV guy asked if I knew him. I don’t remember why exactly ... it was
either that i’d bought the same car or he recognized my address as being near
to his house. apparently Randy had just been in the DMV (I guess he doesn’t
have people) and the DMV guy remembered him due to his local prominence. Turns
out, as the DMV clerk told me, his real name is not Randy. For privacy reasons
I guess I’ll not share it.

------
ninguem2
I wonder what that means for the American Institute of Mathematics
([https://aimath.org/](https://aimath.org/)). It is partially sponsored by
John Fry.

~~~
williamstein
Having worked with AIM a lot over the years, I'm also very curious about this.
In my experience, the people who work at AIM fulltime are very professional
and experienced at putting together high quality grant proposals, and already
receive substantial NSF funding. I'm thus optimistic that they can survive
longterm without the direct support of John Fry.

~~~
ninguem2
Yeah, but right now their location is in Fry's headquarters and their promised
permanent location (that Fry was building) is far from finished.

------
lukewrites
When Fry's opened up here in the PNW I was looking forward to seeing what
theme the store would have - it was a bummer when it wound up being a generic
big box store. But still, Fry's was Fry's, and we got some great deals there
(mostly thanks to their price match policy) and found some really neat stuff.

One of the things I was looking forward to in fatherhood was taking my kid to
Fry's. They always had really cool science/tech toys.

We've now got a two year old, and a month ago we went to the Renton Fry's for
the first time in, well, probably two years, and it's absolutely desolate.
There were still a few cool toys, though - I got him a Soccer Hoverball [0] -
so at least I got to do that once with my son.

0 -
[https://www.frys.com/product/9768454](https://www.frys.com/product/9768454)

------
hosh
The store in Phoenix not only had bare shelves, but the extra warehousing
space in the back corner was all empty.

I went there on Black Friday this year to find the shelves still empty.

~~~
brewdad
So sad to see this. The Thunderbird store used to be about midway between work
and home when I lived in AZ, 20 years ago. I'd often stop in just to walk
around and see what was new.

Now, the nearest Fry's is 45-60 minutes away from me, so I've only been in
about 3 times in the last decade. The most recent was equally depressing. We
didn't find what we were looking for and it probably would have been damaged
even if we had.

~~~
hosh
Leading up to the New Year's, I was watching the CNN history documentary on
Netflix. It was the one executive produced by Tom Hanks, and covers the 70s,
80s, 90s, and 2000s. I went backwards and have just finished the 80s.

I know the history of computing technology pretty well... but it was striking
to see it laid out like that, in the context of changes with art, culture,
domestic and international politics.

Retrospecting on that, in the heyday when Moore's Law was so visible, before
the PC revolution gave birth to the Internet revolution, new computing devices
were changing so fast. You could go into a store a month later and see a lot
of things that are new. I remember the Columbus OH Microcenter. There was a
tiny used computer store nearby. Both were packed. That business worked
because there was so much turnover.

You don't really see that nowadays. The most exciting thing that come out
tbese days is the Threadripper, but for most consumers, it isn't necessary
anymore.

Most of the rapid changes are taking place where people can't really see it
anymore (unless you are an insider) -- in the cloud, with AI.

Even though changes are still happening rapidly, I think the _visible_ changes
have petered out for the consumer.

What I am saying is that, even if Fry's were able to compete on price with
internet retailers, something more fundamental has shifted.

Now maybe I am just saying this from the perspective of the US. I hear that in
China, the development and competitiveness of smartphones is a lot greater
there than in the US. Apple has a difficult time competing in China because
there are many stylish, hot smartphones within that domestic market. If so,
then perhaps it isn't that changes are no longer being visible ... but that
the US is no longer the focal point of consumer product innovation that it one
was.

------
mikey_p
I'm a huge nerd and I loved just wondering around the store getting ideas for
projects, etc, but I can't help but think that the overall shopping experience
was terrible. Wonder in past random bins of laptop fans and USB desk lamps
through an outdated books section. Find something that you want, and half the
time you had to have a sales person write up a sheet on it so that they'd get
their commission, and then go stand in line, just go have to get the thing
from a giant chain-link security cage, and then when you finally leave the
store someone has to look through all your bags and check the stuff against
the receipt.

They might have had selection when no one else did, but the experience was
practically designed to be as annoying and uncomfortable as possible.

------
craftinator
All of the Fry's locations in Oregon had a similar feel to other commenters.
The one thing I'd like to add: many of the overhead lights were off. Like, at
random. My best guess is direction from the top to save on electricity costs.
At first I thought they were turned off in areas without merchandise, but
ended up finding what I was looking for in those dark nooks and crannies. The
lighting made the area look oppressive, and the "As Seen On TV" just gave it
an acerbic vibe. The employees actively walked away when I approached them
asking where things were, and the one I finally cornered (after chasing him to
the checkout counter) had no idea where their electrical tape was. Verrrrry
sad :/

------
duelingjello
I remember Fry’s original, non-tech retail store at Camden & Kooser in San
Jose before they opened the first Fry’s Electronics in Sunnyvale.

Also, in high school, I worked at Egghead Software which was killed off by
CompUSA, NCA Peripherals, MicroCenter and other large retailers, most of which
have been since killed off by online retailers.

For the past 15+ years, I’ve used pricewatch.com to shop for computer parts
because they tend to scrape more sites than Google Shopping does.

Fry’s Electronics anecdote from 1996:

So Fry’s Electronics used to buy full-page ads in the San Jose Mercury News
where they would advertise their sales and loss-leaders. In red, 192 point
font, Fry’s advertised the launch of OS/2 4 “WRAP [sic]” on three (3) separate
lines. Ooof IBM.

------
IronWolve
The Seattle frys has been dead for 2 years. Both times I needed a usb drive or
power supply and the had none. Found a local mom and pop up near mill creek
that had seasonic power supplies in all sizes (wanted an 850), and a
collectibles shop. Thanks @
[https://computerconceptsbothell.com](https://computerconceptsbothell.com)

Back in the day, compusa was the place, then it went oob. Then hard drives
northwest bought compustop and closed them.

For a tech town, this place is missing good computer hardware stores, little
strips of computer stores in Redmond just disappeared in the early 2000's. Use
to call it little silicon valley (near hdnw).

------
tombert
I had to fly to California for work a few months ago, and made a trip to
Fry's, since I usually have fun there, and it was one of the most depressing
things I've seen in my entire life.

This was a huge one, and I think I might have actually been the only customer
walking around, and it was weird...For a moment, there was a part of me that
wondered if the store was closed and they forgot to lock up, but then I bought
something without any problems.

I grew up in Florida, where there aren't any Fry's, but whenever we went to
Texas or California I always looked forward to going, and when I lived in
Dallas I went almost every weekend. Pretty sad to see that it's basically
dead.

------
madengr
Micro Center seems to be going fine. Fully stocked (with the exception of CPU)
and always busy. No issues price matching online either.

~~~
mikelward
The one in the Bay Area (Santa Clara Mercado) closed years ago and became a
Walmart.

As far as I know, there's only one in SoCal still open (Tustin).

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

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

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

------
raintrees
Fry's was a great place to shop for electronics, back when the only
alternatives was WeirdStuff and Quements, both in San Jose/Santa Clara area. I
was always entertained by the spill-over merchandise (personal care, snacks,
etc.), reportedly from the founders' Dad's grocery store line...

I still hit the stores in Campbell or Sunnyvale, as needed, although we got to
referring to it as the "F" word due to the frequent trips to have to return
"re-certified" parts. Their testing of returned merchandise frequently left
much to be desired. I learned to avoid those stickers ("... Frys warrants this
product...").

------
dboreham
I go all the way back to when there was only one store, on Lawrence (near the
current big brown box, but they moved twice between the original one with IC
legs painted on the side and the current location). I also lived a couple
blocks away for a few years in the 90s.

For me it went downhill at the time they bought Infinite Universe (or whatever
that store they acquired was called) and expanded nationwide. Actually it was
kind of going downhill by the time they opened a store in Campbell.

I think the Fry's unique proposition was that it sold the stuff the folks
inside the industry used, but retail. I remember being amazed the very first
time I entered the store (when there was only one, remember) that they sold
heat shrink. All sizes. All colors. They carried products that otherwise the
only way to get was to order from a distributor, which was a pain because you
had to know exactly what you wanted, or trawl through paper catalogs, wait for
delivery, all that. Or you could get in the car, zoom round to Fry's and pick
up what you needed.

Then over the next few decades two things happened: first, in order to keep
making more and more money Fry's expanded both geographically and with more
product lines. This took them outside the bubble where orange 5mm heat shrink
off-the-shelf is something people want, and into competition with Costco and
Walmart for basic computers, fridges, etc. Second the differentiation vs old
line distributors eroded as everyone bought everything online with next day
delivery. If you want orange 5mm heat shrink today, Jeff can get it to a
locker near you in 1/2 a day[1].

In addition, Fry's became just a painful place to shop. e.g. since the early
1990s if you tried to buy DRAM modules there, the sales person would give you
hassle about being an idiot for wanting tin plated contacts vs gold. They
began strip-searching customers on exit when they moved into the brown box.
They stopped carrying most professional products: e.g. if you wanted the
simplest thing for a data center cage such as a shelf or a 4U ATX case, they
probably wouldn't have that.

[1] [https://www.amazon.com/16-Heat-Shrink-
Tubing-1-100FT/dp/B06Y...](https://www.amazon.com/16-Heat-Shrink-
Tubing-1-100FT/dp/B06Y26JF2M)

------
mmanfrin
My mom, in 4th grade, dated one of the Fry boys. Back then the family had a
grocery business that the father of the family ran. He sold it to help fund
Fry's Electronics. Sad to see it crumble.

------
adamzegelin
Just got home from a visit to my local Frys (East San Jose) (tonight, around
7pm). My wife and I were probably 2 of 10 customers total, if that.

So many empty shelves. Every isle was capped with stacks of boxed paper reams.

Apple section had one MacMini and a broken Macbook. Car audio section was
basically an empty shell, with only a few demo stereos and speakers left. The
home theater section was an empty room. Toy section was empty.

The place is dead.

[https://imgur.com/a/Ewfphsm](https://imgur.com/a/Ewfphsm)

------
taxicabjesus
I noticed the shelves at the Phoenix Fry's starting to get bare a year ago. In
November an employee said they were "renegotiating" with their suppliers. This
article explains "the shelves are empty because it has shifted to a
consignment model, meaning that suppliers get paid for goods only after a
store has sold them."

Fry's was the only store I visited on "Black Friday". Some of the other
customers were looking at the bare shelves, like "what happened"? I bought a
few items I thought would be useful, but I was not in the market for any big-
ticket items.

On that day I overheard one of the employees say the "trade war" was the cause
of the company's problems. Partially, I'm sure, but not totally. I'd read
about an employee at the Fry's corporate office who was caught lining his own
pocket with company money:
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14906339](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14906339)

I think Fry's has a chance because it owns most of its buildings, and it's
presumably not being looted by vulture capitalists (as happened to Sears). The
stores have been well-staffed for months in spite of their having little to
sell.

I still shop at Fry's because I don't always know what I'm looking for, and
it's nice to be able to browse.

~~~
Macha
If there's anything to browse beyond water bottles, VGA cables, phone cases
and year old DVDs, then your local Fry's is doing much better than the one I
visited in early December.

------
kabdib
The Fry's in Renton, WA doesn't have much stock, and what they do have is
mostly very bad quality off-brand stuff (e.g., the keyboard section has just
one or two brands of keyboards, I'm guessing from suppliers that weren't smart
enough to ask for cash up front). They had a section of garden tools at one
point.

Employees appear to be well trained not to say anything negative, mumbling
vague promises of restocking soon.

It's been this way for months. I am surprised they have not shut the doors.

~~~
testingworks1
Used to love Fry's in Renton. Was great to go down and see what they had and
browse all the items and options. I went to buy a new Ryzen build for my
stepdaughter after the old AMD bulldozer I donated to her bought the farm
(turned out to be the video card, all other parts recycled into my other
ancient AMD bulldozer. Long story short, I had $2500 in my pocket to spend on
this build so we could build it together. The MOBO shelves were empty. So were
the vid card shelves. I walked out with 50 cents worth of shrink tubing for a
different project. Told the cashier "you just lost a $2500 sale". She was
indifferent. Stopped at costco on the way home and found an acceptable HP
gaming machine for ~1000. The fire for a big build was gone, but the step
daughter is happy. It's truly sad. I used to love ComputerStop and HDNW back
in the Microserf days. I'm also of the point of view that I don't want to
order thousands of dollars of parts without holding them in my hand in the
store. Gen X here. We're the last to appreciate that experience I think.

(Before anyone gets snarky about substituting an HP for a true custom build...
it was my money not hers and she's happy, so I did save $1500 in the deal.
That makes my wallet happy) :)

~~~
testingworks1
(Before anyone gets snarky about substituting an HP for a true custom build...
it was my money not hers and she's happy, so I did save $1500 in the deal.
That makes my wallet happy) :)

------
taurath
I subscribe to the theory that they're trying to set up a model where they own
most of the checkout employees and the building, and rent the shelf space to
subcontractors who are financially responsible for inventory. This would be
interesting and would take a lot of liability off of their books, but it
doesn't seem to be going well.

------
picantePepper
I live close a fry’s and it’s sad to see how empty the electronic component
section (resistors, small dc motors, sensors, etc) becomes every visit.

Last time I visited there were empty areas in several aisles.

I know someday I’ll have to order all parts online unless I find a local
option.

------
linuxhansl
I first read of Fry's in Douglas Copland's "Microserfs" long before I came to
California.

One of the first things I did after arriving was to visit Fry's in Palo Alto
to soak it all in... I was in the BAY AREA!!

Sad to see them (perhaps, likely) go!

------
logfromblammo
Based on my last visit, yes.

The receipt-check at the exit was already enough to send my business
elsewhere, but the dismal, "perpetually looks like a going out of business
sale", store interior cemented it.

A cancer ward has more hope in it.

------
batt4good
I recently went to the store in Austin TX. Like others are saying - the entire
PC Hardware / sales department was empty most of the store had empty shelves
or shelves that looked very picked over.

The only interesting thing they seemed to have plenty of was UV reactive Sata
cables (so wholesome) and Bawls Guarana energy drinks (a favorite past time of
mine going to MicroCenter in Cambridge MA).

Sad to say but I think the demise of Fry's is close - but boy was their
"western" styled Palo Alto store bizarre and fantastic at the same time.

------
newman8r
I stopped going there after they sold me a previously used item as new (I'd
been a customer for at least 20 years). Kind of gross to get a mouse that
someone else had used, and was DOA anyway.

If they're going to lie and sell returned items as new, they could at least
try to refurbish them and see if they work. As much as I don't like best buy
(and don't go there anymore either), I don't think they'd ever try to pull
that BS.

Going to frys as a kid was a lot of fun, but it would be a last resort for me
now.

------
purplezooey
What are we going to do with all this empty retail. Osh, Sears, K-Mart all in
the past few years. It should probably be demolished for high density housing.

------
Ishmaeli
I only go to Fry's for geeky gifts. My local store seems to always carry a
full selection of "As Seen On TV" merch, for instance. And they have a lot of
video game themed plushies and other toys.

But I haven't bought computer parts from them in years. I think I got a CPU
fan there maybe three or four years ago. Meanwhile I bought a Das Keyboard
from Micro Center in the past year because the price beat anything online.

------
ozzyoli
I’m having a really hard time tinkering away at my beginner electronics
project in San Francisco because I keep sitting down to do it and then realise
I need a new component and then having to stop, place an order on adafruit and
then wait a week for it to arrive.

Online stores aren’t great when you are just in need of a $1 component.
ideally you’d be able to just nip to a real store and quickly get what you
need

~~~
bitwize
There's a solution for that. Move to Shenzhen. Anywhere else and you're mostly
SOL.

------
CalChris
The Palo Alto location is prime real estate. It's a couple of hundred yards
from Wilson Sonsini. So if that lease was up, it is going to be expensive.

[https://goo.gl/maps/bwVeeWYWSNjL1X4dA](https://goo.gl/maps/bwVeeWYWSNjL1X4dA)

Fry's should have been sold to better managers. I go to Central Computer for
what I used to go to Fry's for.

------
perl4ever
The closest Fry's is almost 800 miles away from me according to Google Maps.
Currently if I want something local I go to Best Buy, but I remember the days
of CompUSA...

In its inimitable way, Maps responds to "Fry's Electronics near <my town>" by
crossing out "Fry's Electronics" rather than showing the closest one.

------
dv_dt
It's really odd, their 2018 revenue is reported at 2.3B (though as a private
company, I don't know how one gets believable numbers).

[https://www.forbes.com/companies/frys-
electronics/#469688c75...](https://www.forbes.com/companies/frys-
electronics/#469688c7578c)

------
let_var
Ah miss that Palo Alto Fry's. 2011 or early 2012 was the time when I got my TV
and bunch of other stuffs from Fry's. Not a big TV buff, so the old one still
runs well.

+1 to Best Buy as well, they always surprise me with great customer
experience.

------
tartoran
They have so much space and such few ideas. They could for example organize
hackathons, electronics fairs, gaming conventions, etc.. things that an online
retailer cannot do. Oh well, seems to me that they are poorly managed.

------
gscott
I was just at the San Diego Fry's hoping to pick up a cheap mouse and
keyboard... it was slim pickings for both. Last year the shelves had plenty at
all price points but not anymore.

------
let_var
Amazon is still good for comparison and reviews, sort of. Hard time filtering
the real ones from paid ones. It's no fun buying top line electronics from a
1D scrolling list.

------
izzydata
The Microcenter in my midwest city is doing really well. They recently
renovated the entire store and always have the latest computer hardware and
knowledgeable staff.

------
nullsocket
Given there shady business practices in the past, it's no surprise the company
has been ran into the ground and abandoned. Good riddance.

~~~
defterGoose
It's pretty clear that management has gone AWOL, but what did they do in the
past?

~~~
kabdib
They were well known to re-shrink-wrap defective, returned products and put
them back on the shelves for resale. I'm not sure I've ever followed the logic
of this, unless it was to justify the necessity for a large returns
department. Long-time customers learned the signs of repackaging (sometimes
overt stickers, sometimes more subtle and you had to look for loose plastic
wrap or bent cardboard flaps).

I once bought a PC from them that wouldn't boot reliably. In the process of
trying to get an OS installed on it, I accidentally wiped the recovery
partition on the drive. Eventually I gave up and tried to return the PC.

"Sorry, we can't take this back. We can't restore the OS," said the returns
tech.

"It won't even boot. That's why I'm returning it."

"But it means that we can't put it back on the shelf."

I don't remember what I said to get my money back, but I did, and it was the
last PC I ever bought there.

I've been going to Fry's since they opened on Lawrence Expressway in the 80s.
Fry's was a fun, wacky place to take out-of-town guests to, and they were
great for the occasional emergency keyboard or HDD, but you were taking a risk
on expensive items. Won't miss them much.

------
Aloha
If they can make this shift to consignment, they'd be playing the same game
amazon does, and would arguably more competitive.

------
freepor
If you go into a Fry’s the mystery isn’t whether they are in trouble but
rather how they didn’t go out of business 20 years ago.

------
wiseleo
For things I wanted same day, I now got forced to re-open a Synnex account.
They supply companies like Central Computer.

------
antaviana
I remember going to Sunnyvale’s store in January 1990. It was really, really
awesome back then.

------
sjg007
Fry’s is overpriced.. they should up their Shopify game though.

------
LatteLazy
Sorry to seem all pompous but I can't find another way to say this...

How are brick and mortar stores still a thing for products that are NOT either
things I try on (clothes), things I need to see before they arrive (groceries)
or impulse purchases? The fact that the last one didn't close in 2010 is a
monument to how humans refuse to try anything new past a certain age, no
matter how much cheaper, easier, faster or better quality you make it.

~~~
organsnyder
You're assuming that ecommerce is universally a better experience than brick-
and-mortar. Given the abysmal reliability of Amazon listings these days, I'm
not ready to agree.

~~~
LatteLazy
With the exceptions listed, it is isn't it? When was the last time you could
by (say) computer hardware cheaper in a store than on amazon? You must have
some fantastic local stores compared to me :(

~~~
function_seven
SD cards. You buy those on Amazon and there's a not-so-small chance you're
going to get a counterfeit item instead of the genuine thing. The odds that
Best Buy are stocking their shelves with fake SD cards are much lower.

It's not just about price. Sometimes you want a reasonable assurance that what
you're buying is the real deal. Amazon continues to get worse in that
department.

Brick and mortar is also still faster. Not everyone or every item can be
delivered on the same day, but going to a store can get me that item now
instead of tomorrow or 2 days from now. Usually I'm not in that much of a
hurry, but sometimes I am.

But enough about computers. I think the products that keep Best Buy in
business are the vacuum cleaners, refrigerators, washing machines, and other
large big-ticket items that people would rather not select from pictures on
their phone, let alone ship.

