
The Fry’s Era - mpweiher
https://mondaynote.com/the-frys-era-8709a7e602eb
======
InTheArena
I was in San Jose, and visited their store there (Which I believe is also
their headquarters / central distribution point), and it was just sad. The CPU
section / MB was completely bare. I hadn’t heard of what was going on, so I
assumed that they were revamping the area or something.

That said, I am not sure we can put the blame only on Amazon. I was in
Microcenter the day after, and it was stupid busy - took 30 minutes to check
out and was packed to gills. They crammed all of the good stuff of Frys into a
much smaller space - mostly focused around PC electronics.

~~~
teuobk
Microcenter is a great counterexample. The one here in Denver is always full
of customers, and it's stuffed with all manner of computer parts, hobby
electronics, and so on. It's how I too remember Fry's being back in the day.

I don't really understand how Microcenter does it, but they often have equal
or better prices than Amazon, and in any case, they'll price-match. Also,
there's no worry about whatever I buy turning out to be counterfeit.

The one slightly odd thing about the Microcenter experience is how all of the
salespeople have little stickers to take credit for when they help a customer
find something. Are they on commission? Is this Microcenter's way of
identifying the most useful floor staff? They're never pushy about it, but it
does stand out in stark contrast to pretty much every other retail shop I can
think of.

~~~
mc32
Fry’s have always had the stigma that they hired unknowledgeable floor staff.
If you knew what you were after you were fine. On the non technical side, half
the time the staff didn’t know where to find items and would take you on wild
goose chases.

The stock was better than Microcrocenter or Central Computers (when they were
relevant), and their sandwiches weren’t held bad. But the floor staff and that
stupid thing where they have people at the exits pretend to check receipts on
the purchase side. On the return side it was just awful. Today in age their
return policies are just bad. On some items they have restocking fees.

~~~
Stratoscope
If you ever do visit a Fry's again, the trick for that "let me check your
receipt and mark it with a pink sharpie" person is to just smile and walk
right by. They won't stop you or question you, because they have been trained
that it would be unlawful to do so. They can _ask_ to see your receipt and
check it, but they can't _demand_ it.

More than once there has been a line of a half dozen people at the pink
sharpie exit, and I've just walked on by, much to the amazement of the people
waiting in line.

Note: I'm talking about Fry's, not Costco. I'm told Costco is different
because it's a membership club and you have to agree to their terms and
conditions to shop there. (I'm also told that even Costco can't _demand_ to
see your receipt, but they can cancel your membership if you don't show it.)

~~~
hollerith
>even Costco can't demand to see your receipt, but they can cancel your
membership if you don't show it

How does Costco figure out which membership to cancel? Surely they don't
detain you if you refuse to show your receipt.

~~~
pinkythepig
Pretty quick to watch the tapes and see what register you bought from. You
have to scan membership id at checkout, so then seeing whos membership was
used is simple.

------
bcrescimanno
Not mentioned in the post: Fry's web presence has always been terrible.
Absolutely, hopelessly, utterly terrible. A lot of people in this thread have
brought up MicroCenter as a strong counter-example--I'd also throw Best Buy
into that mix. Different product line at Best Buy; but, if you look at the web
presence, these companies are doing great with Buy-Online-Pickup-In-Store. I
often use Best Buy for items that I can't (or just don't want to) wait for
even the 2-day shipping from Amazon.

I cannot recall a single time that I was able to find what I was looking for
on the Fry's website--including many times I was able to walk into the store
and find an item sitting on the shelf. That was even 10-15 years ago and it
never improved.

There are a whole lot of reasons that Fry's is on its death-bed; their clear
lack of commitment to a strong web presence to drive instant-gratification
shopping is an important lesson for other brick-and-mortar retailers.

~~~
patbaker82
Frys purchased outpost.com which was based on 90s tech. I believe their
ordering system was called MACS. They never maintained the site.

~~~
bcrescimanno
Yep--I remember that, for a very long time, trying to go to Frys.com would
simply redirect you Outpost.com. Even when they changed that, it went on for
several more years that if you went to frys.com you would find yourself on the
Outpost.com site with the logo replaced with a Fry's logo. The online
selection was useless. It had little to no understanding of local store
inventory. But the worst part was that the search function just fundamentally
didn't work. You could type the exact model of a part into the search and it
would give you random, unrelated things and not give you the part itself.

~~~
kn0where
The Frys.com search is still terrible.

------
freetime2
I built a PC once from parts that I bought at Fry's. It was a really fun
experience going down to store, seeing what parts were on sale, chatting with
a no-nonsense saleswoman, walking out with a big shopping cart full of PC
components, and assembling it and booting it up that same day.

Some quirks of shopping at Fry's that I remember:

* The sales associates always insisting on printing me out a fairly meaningless "quote" that matched the sticker on the shelf, and having me present it at the register. I'm not sure if their sales commissions were tied to printing out quotes, or if it was intended to prevent pricing mistakes, but any interaction with a sales person always resulted in a quote.

* Watching people at the returns counter navigate through their completely arcane computer system (a text-based "green screen" in the age of the iPhone) with surprising grace.

* Perhaps the least atmospheric cafe ever built, placed smack dab in the _middle_ of the store with no windows to the outside world or natural lighting. I don't think I ever saw anybody eating there.

* The loud background music that would play... some kind of (classical?) solo piano music that didn't fit either the Western theme or the general feel of the store. Between the lighting and the music I always left the store with a headache

Despite some of the negatives above, I always really enjoyed shopping at Fry's
and would try to buy things there whenever I had the chance. What eventually
ruined Fry's for me though was just the lack of inventory. I would want to buy
something and Newegg or Amazon would have it in stock, but Fry's wouldn't. A
couple times their website would even list an item as being in stock, and I
would brave the 101 traffic to drive down to Palo Alto only to find it was
actually sold out. I also eventually switched to using mostly Apple products,
which offer fewer choices, are harder to tinker with, and are priced pretty
consistently across all retail outlets (with the exception of Microcenter who
used to run some pretty decent in-store-only sales on MacBooks before their
Santa Clara store closed down).

~~~
Stratoscope
The "quote" was always about getting a commission.

When I used to shop at Fry's, if I knew the product I wanted I made it a game
to avoid getting a time-wasting "quote". I would avoid making eye contact with
any salesperson, grab the product I wanted, and make a mad dash out of that
aisle.

Of course even if you got a "quote" you could crumple it up and just go to the
register with your product. It would be the same price to you either way.

One time I picked out a $20 camera case without any help from a salesperson -
I didn't need a discussion of the features of each case, I had my camera with
me and just wanted to try them out to see which one I liked that fit the
camera!

When I started to walk away with my choice, the salesperson flagged me down
and insisted that I needed a quote. And then they wrapped it around the case
and taped it down on all sides!

At that point I didn't have the heart to tear the quote off the case and deny
them their fifty cent commission.

------
usrlocaletc
I've built clone PCs since the early 80's, and worked at Egghead Software in
San Jose as an assistant manager in high school. I remember the Fry's grocery
store and the original Sunnyvale Fry's way back and the multitude of
independent shops, WeirdStuff Warehouse, MicroCenter, Central Computer, JDR
Microdevices, Pixel USA (did a lot of business with Tony). There were a
zillion independent shops' ads listed in _Computer Shopper_ (it was a good
1.5" / 4 cm thick).

CompUSA (a big, hypermart-style tech and electronics retailer) came in and
killed Egghead (the shops were just too small to compete) and most other mom &
pop's; I was there at the closing firesale. And later Comp USA also succumbed.
Fry's was more of a pseudo-flea-market with cheezy looking price signs, and
full-page ads in the San Jose Mercury News... their big draw was the Black
Friday deals where people line up like people line up at Walmart.

Nowadays: NewEgg, PriceWatch.com, FindChips, OctoPart, Halted (HSC),
AliExpress, eBay, Amazon

If you want to save some money, bargains can also be had traveling to a
certain building or two in Shenzhen / Huaqiangbei; and it helps to have a
friend who speaks fluent Mandarin. See also:

\- [https://strangeparts.com](https://strangeparts.com)

\- [https://youtu.be/sZs4NDC4yrI](https://youtu.be/sZs4NDC4yrI)

\- [https://youtu.be/tUXIzJpjEuU](https://youtu.be/tUXIzJpjEuU)

PS: The Fry's pictured in the story is the Campbell location where it was fun
to run up/down the flat "escalator" as it was like an airport's people-mover,
but much bouncier.

~~~
watersb
Fry's is still a grocery chain in Arizona, though now it's indistinguishable
from any other Kroger's brand.

Weird Stuff, I miss you.

My Fry's was the Palo Alto store, the truck painted with the Fry's logo parked
at that parking lot on El Camino Real showing when to go.

~~~
rbanffy
I wonder where did all the weird stuff in Weird Stuff end up. Haven't visited
the Valley since their demise was announced. I'd probably find a way to go
pick up an IBM Selectric and a couple RS-232 terminals. You never know when
you'll need those.

------
dunkelheit
> ...he opened a safe in his office and showed his collection of original
> letters from Georg Ohm to Einstein

My bullshit detector immediately went off :) How could Ohm (1789–1854) write
letters to Einstein (1879–1955)?

~~~
phonon
"[covering the gamut from] George Ohm to Einstein" perhaps?

------
thomble
As a counter to this, my local Micro Center is absolutely booming. I built a
fast gaming machine earlier this year, and found all of my desired components
in-stock there, with no compromises. Their prices were identical to the lowest
prices online, and they offer price match anyway. All of my Ubiquiti stuff I
got there as well. They have an expanding hobbyist electronics section that
consumed the old physical software/gaming space. They have other great
hobbyist stuff like retro gaming and drones. I've just taken it for granted,
not realizing that many people consider Micro Center a PC builder "Mecca".[0]

[0]
[https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/search?q=micro+center&...](https://www.reddit.com/r/pcmasterrace/search?q=micro+center&restrict_sr=on&sort=relevance&t=all)

~~~
DrScump
Where?

~~~
thomble
Fairfax County, VA.

~~~
rootbear
I shop at the other DC area MicroCenter, in Rockville, and have had similar
positive experiences. It's the closest thing I know of to the Fry's shopping
experiences I had in the late 90s when I lived in the SF Bay Area. The biggest
difference between the Rockville MicroCenter and the Fairfax one is that
Rockville has more stuff locked up for theft control.

------
bluedevil2k
I went to the Fry’s in Austin a few nights ago and knew something was up when
the parking lot only had 10 cars in it. Normally there’s 50+. Walking into the
store was eerie - no one inside, no one in line. The shelves, especially in
the computer section, were totally empty. Where they once had stacks of
graphics cards, they had nothing. They had a couple desktops and a few high
end monitors. The TV section was similar, a few high end big (75” and more)
TV’s and empty shelves. When I asked an employee what happened they said the
trade war in China. (Not believable cause Sony and Samsung are not Chinese)
Kind of sad, it was always a fun 1-2 hours every time I went there.

~~~
_JamesA_
I had the same experience just a couple of weeks ago. Even the center aisle
where they used to keep the baskets of miscellaneous cheap stuff was empty.

At least it's only 3 hours to Micro Center.

~~~
pixl97
Love the DFW Microcenter, always seem to find some discounted item there for
cheap when I go.

------
lambdasquirrel
Another thing that happened is that not as many folks build their own
computers. It used to be a rite of passage to build your own gaming rig, and
your own linux servers.

Fry’s was indispensable because out of the ten to twenty parts that went into
your machine, one would invariably be a dud. If you ordered on Newegg you’d
have to wait for returns, wait for delivery, etc. At least this particular
system-builder turned to Fry’s because turnaround was so quick with a physical
storefront.

~~~
erik_seaberg
I knew Fry's by reputation but they weren't nearby. I used to drive to
[http://www.infotechnow.com/](http://www.infotechnow.com/) because they would
POST new CPUs and mobos at the counter. Got my first SMP app server (two
Durons!) for a startup from there and squeezed it into the server room (AKA
founder's guest house coat closet, where the DSL terminated).

But now we'd rent instances instead of buying on-prem hardware only to get rid
of when the company either dies (and no longer needs it) or lives (and
outgrows it). Which makes two ways Amazon outran Fry's.

------
aazaa
This store has changed a lot. A friend and I visited the Fry's on Lawrence
Expressway back in the late 80's. Across the street from WeirdStuff.

I'd never seen anything like the selection of stuff. We bought several 256-bit
memory modules and a six pack of soda. It carried the biggest and only
selection of electronics components and equipment/supplies for
assembly/testing I'd ever seen. It also had candy and sodas. That was about
it.

A few years later I visited again and couldn't believe: (a) how big it had
become; and (b) how many finished products it was selling.

~~~
mark-r
I wonder if that was the same one I went to for the first time back in the
80's? I was kind of blown away by a store that both chips (potato) and chips
(silicon).

~~~
mtviewdave
The very first Fry's was at 541 Lakeside Drive in Sunnyvale, on the east side
of Lawrence Expy. Sometime around late 1990 that store moved to 1177 Kern Ave
in Sunnyvale, and then by the late '90s moved again to the current location at
1077 E. Arques.

The second store to open was in Fremont (though not at the Fremont store's
current location), and the third was the Palo Alto (at the current location).

Source: I worked some summer jobs at the Lakeside Dr. store in the late '80s.

~~~
DrScump
Wasn't the Lakeside store a converted Fry's grocery store?

------
ryanmarsh
Fry's took nerd mecca from Radio Shack. I have ... memories...

1\. Arguing with an employee over signal loss over different types of antenna
connectors after I had just installed and analyzed my umpteenth outdoor
network. He insisted I was full of shit.

2\. Seeing (who I believe to be) Linus Torvalds in a BMW. I had a minor _fan
moment_ , girlfriend was like "who's that".

3\. Being treated like a potential thief every single time.

4\. My two year old having a melt down in one of the isles because dad had
been geeking out for too long and it was way past nap/snack time.

~~~
xellisx
Sound like the one time my dad and I, who where Whiterock Networks employees
at the time, overheard some misinformation about about some wifi router, and
we interjected and the sales kid was saying we were wrong.

~~~
FullyFunctional
When I came from Europe (~ 2000) for an interview, the hiring manager took me
to Fry's to impress me (something like "you seem like the type who'd
appreciate this" \-- I did).

One very Silicon Valley story he related was a guy correcting a sales guy (or
shopper?) with the words "No! I know because I designed it!"

We asked for about something and the sales assistance gave useful information
-- to which my manager quietly added after he left "He won't be here next week
... he will have found a better job". The job market was really good.

------
kabdib
Fry's looks essentially done in Renton, WA. Little to no new inventory in
months, many bare shelves, lots of shelf space filled-in with cheap goods (I
saw 30 linear feet of crepe paper, I guess it was cheap or they found a
supplier who fronted them merchandise). For some reason they added gardening
and lawn maintenance equipment (shovels, rakes and hoses . . . because I
always think of Fry's when I think of yard work /snark).

I've been going to Fry's since the early 80s, when they were a supermarket
that had started carrying computer stuff. It was a place to take out-of-town
visitors, especially for the first couple of themed Fry's.

It's never been a really great place to actually buy stuff; you had to be
careful that what you chose from the shelf wasn't returned and repackaged, for
one thing. For a while you couldn't buy a laptop from them and take
immediately delivery, they had to "test" new machines, and I remember telling
them that _I_ would let them know if a serial port was bad, and to get their
mitts off of my hardware.

They no longer check receipts at the door in Renton. This truly is the end
times.

~~~
MarkSweep
For the Sunnyvale store, I knew it was a bad sign when they had a perfume
isle.

Part of it is several types of media used to take a bunch of shelf space but
is now sold digitally. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s there were two whole
isles of PC games, plus isles for consoles. Now in the world of Steam, there
is half of one side of an isle. It is a similar story with PC software, music,
and video.

------
smsm42
They say it's Amazon that killed Fry's. Maybe, to a measure, but also not. One
thing Amazon can't do is human contact. When I first came to Fry's, sometime
in 2000s, attracted by its still living image of a store for geeks, and tried
to ask for a finer details of this and that camera and this and that laptop -
both available on Amazon, but I needed some help figuring out which one I
want, and if they helped me I'd buy one there and then, even if it would be
slightly more expensive, because only thing that beats 2-day delivery is
0-second delivery, I already hold it in my hands!

But most that I got from the local store workers is "huh, I'm not sure, let me
check the manual" and "well, this says it has got these specs, and that one
got those specs, and the price is different, so that's the difference".
Thanks, helpful workers, I can read too, I was looking for something that
isn't in the label directly in front of my face. Looks like you're not paid
enough to care.

There are only three things that brick-and-mortar retailers can compete with
Amazon and other online shops now - being able to physically touch the
merchandize before buying, being able to get it immediately and being able to
talk to a human that can answer questions and provide advice. Unfortunately,
it looks like the majority of retailers still do not realize this, especially
the last one. Maybe they just don't have the money to hire somebody who would
know and care - but in this case there's no reason to prolong their suffering
by shopping there, just let them die and release the real estate for more
productive uses. I, however, while being an extreme introvert, would still
would like to have some stores where I can talk to a knowledgeable human. And
yes, I'd pay a reasonable money for it, if only there would be somebody who
wants to earn it.

~~~
skinnymuch
You might want that. And I do too. But that doesn’t mean there’s actually a
profitable market in 2019 for what you’re seeking.

------
dehrmann
I moved to the Bay Area in 2006. I'm now appreciative that I got to experience
things like Weird Stuff Warehouse, Fry's, the Electronics Flea Market, and a
less than booming tech scene. Someone I work with who's been in tech longer
commented that now there's a lot of people just going into it for the money.
Before, maybe even in the 90's, people went into it because of a passion for
technology, and all these things popped up to support it.

------
cowmix
A good example of the decline are these two pictures seven years apart that
documents the recordable media section of the Phoenix area Fry's.

[https://photos.app.goo.gl/hNzNhmX9TTSnCaqPA](https://photos.app.goo.gl/hNzNhmX9TTSnCaqPA)

~~~
Stratoscope
I just have a little house, but I have hundreds of blank CD-R and DVD-R-
whatever discs that I will never use.

Does anyone want them?

~~~
hyperdimension
Yeah, I mean I burn stuff to disc all the time. Mostly Blu-Rays, but DVDs and
CDs for smaller content.

Tip: use dvdisaster when recording to fill up the empty space on the iso file
for error-correction later, and time and date-stamp the disc so you know when
to reburn it.

------
agrippanux
Surprised there is no mention here about the physical state of the products at
Frys - I stopped going back around 2005 because I was burned too many times by
resealed boxes that where obviously returns and missed basic things like power
cables.

~~~
dehrmann
"Returns."

------
rongenre
Oh that return policy.

When I was working at a startup in the early 90's, we decided we needed to max
out memory for a demo to a big potential customer. They sent me to Fry's in
Palo Alto to get the module.

After the demo -- boss decided it was too expensive and I needed to return it.
Slightly horrified (although I think the module was a couple thousand 1994
dollars and we were... bootstrapped) I went back.

"What's wrong with the product?" "Um... wrong color?"

And they did the refund.

------
stareatgoats
Brick and mortal shops for almost all categories of goods will have a hard
time competing with the breadth of products, convenience and the price that
web shops will be able to offer.

The consequences of this, together with the rise of remote work will most
probably affect the process of urbanization itself to the extent that it will
even have a 'revolution' name of its own, like the preceding 'agricultural', '
industrial', 'internet' etc.

------
hakfoo
I've had some issues with my router lately (an aging Mikrotik 802.11n box
whose mediocre wireless performance is in play now that on of our main PCs has
been switched to wireless). It's time; the damn things bake themselves to
death every few years regardless of brand, firmware, etc. Was looking at one
of the $50-60 TP-Link 802.11ac jobs.

I figured I'd check Fry's since they've started advertising "Local same-day
delivery for $3" when the best Amazon can do for a lot of stuff is $13 for
two-day delivery. Plus, I honestly hate dealing with Amazon and their six-
times-a-week solicitation for "Prime Student" considering I graduated 15+
years ago. This would not be a hard sale for them to win. They sell the right
type of goods, tyhey have the infrastructure to deliver it to me as fast as
the competition, and the listed prices weren't wildly out of line with online
dealers.

They didn't have the router I wanted. Hell, expanding the search to a generic
"AC1200 router" revealed well more than half of the items as "out of stock for
pickup/local delivery; we'll mail it to you in a week.". A few had "same-day
delivery for $70" (maybe this is some weird surge pricing from the firm they
contracy same-day delivery to?) It wasn't even obviously a bait-and-switch
play (where the $50 units are out of stock so you'll buy the $150 ones)-- both
cheap and expensive gear had hugely erratic stocking.

It almost felt like they were trying to pivot from a retail place where the
web storefront was a way to reserve or order local-delivery of retail stocked
goods, towards a conventional mail-order house. Seeing the 200 "order now for
dispatch Monday" buttons doesn't look weird on Newegg because it's not being
contrasted with big red "Not available for pickup at City, ST", but here it
looks sad.

------
imroot
The Palo Alto Fry's electronics was the first Fry's electronics that I ever
stepped foot into...and I was mesmerized. They had everything that I could
have ever really wanted -- oscilloscopes, meters, computer goodies, and a wide
array of electronic components.

I made a "traffic light" for our cruise control (powered by the parallel port)
that sat in my cube when I wasn't in the office (I worked from home 3 weeks
out of the month) that stayed in that cube until I left CollabNet in 2010...

I'll never forget that first feeling that I was in my own little heaven when I
stepped into that Fry's, and even after being to a few Fry's near me --
Atlanta and Indianapolis -- and seeing them in their current state, it's a
little bit sad.

It makes me wish that they could still be as relevant today as they were when
I first saw them, but, I understand that retail changes.

------
pro_zac
Fry's always brings one story to mind for me. I used to work for a video game
studio that was around the corner from a Fry's. So, we made frequent visits on
our lunch breaks. I don't recall what the item was, but a coworker had
purchased some electronic device of about $300. Probably an HD-DVD player or
something based on the time. He ended up returning the item, but they would
only give him store credit. So, he took a shopping cart to the electronic
components aisle and proceeded to fill it with $300 worth of 5 and 10 cent
resistors and other items. Went to checkout to spend his store credit. Then
immediately went back to customer service to return his items. At that point,
they decided they could make and exception and give him cash back!

------
abbyhe
I went to their Palo Alto store after being told by my Uber driver that it's
like an amusement park for techies. What I saw, however, is exactly like what
the article described - empty shelves, almost no customers, staff who had
little knowledge of the products they were selling. The store is like its
Western themed decors - a fading glory.

------
ridaj
Blaming it all on Amazon feels a bit quick. Silicon valley has grown insanely
in economic strength and purchasing power; with Arduino, Raspberry Pi, drones,
VR, 3D printing etc, plenty of folks in that area still like to toy around
with new technology, hobbyist style, and now have no place to go satisfy their
retail urge. I went to Fry's hoping to purchase hobbyist components which it
turns out they didn't have; the level of knowledge from staff was dismal. I
heard of someone who went to Fry's expecting to find a USB micro cable - and
that relatively standard if aged connector cable wasn't in stock. There has to
be a thought to the business's strategic management before declaring it by
default as "killed by Amazon"

------
nullc
The last several times I went into Fry's in palo-alto I was accosted by
aggressive comcast salesmen.

It made the experience significantly less enjoyable. For me, personally I
can't say that amazon replaced frys-- after all I was already purchasing many
of the things I'd go to frys for via newegg for many years before. Fry's was a
go to for things I didn't care to wait for shipping, for oddities found
browsing, and things low enough in value to not be worth shipping.

I'm typing this on a computer I purchased at that store, in fact. But with
experiences like the comcast sales people I would have said that it would have
likely been the last even before hearing that the store would be closing.

------
skybrian
What are good places to buy electronic components now?

~~~
pkaye
Anchor Electronics on Walsh near Nvidia. I haven't gone in a while though.
Sadly Halted is gone. As is Wierd Stuff.

~~~
happycube
Much of Halted's inventory wound up at Excess Solutions, definitely worth
dropping in on.

But I still miss Weird Stuff, and I was just a bit too far out of the loop to
get there before they closed.

------
rmason
Every single trip I've made out to Silicon Valley has always included a visit
to Fry's. Because it's every couple of years you'd think I'd see the changes
but I haven't.

Bought my last laptop at MicroCenter in Detroit. It's the best there is in
Michigan, but sorry it doesn't even compare to Fry's.

I do miss Computer Literacy bookstore and it's demise is definitely
accountable to Amazon. BeOS was pretty damned cool but Jean-Louis do you ever
wonder what would have happened if you'd ever taken his offer and created
Fry's of France?

~~~
happycube
It didn't help that Barnes and Noble bought Computer Literacy and seemingly
had no idea what to do with it.

~~~
rmason
If Fry's really has all that open space perhaps they ought to drop a bookstore
along the likes of Computer Literacy into their existing stores?

They're already carrying some books and magazines. The only reason I can think
of them not doing it is because the margins would be lower.

~~~
happycube
Even if they wanted to they have no money/credit to order much of anything...

I was at Oxnard Fry's yesterday and their magazine selection was at best
20-25% of the shelf. And there were only two network switches in that whole
section... :(

~~~
DataJunkie
The Oxnard store is just sad. We were very fortunate to get one, and then
everything went downhill.

And the farm theme sucks. I liked the Alice and Wonderland theme at the
Woodland Hills one I used to shop at before the Oxnard one opened.

------
alyandon
With the end of cheap international shipping from China via USPS looming on
the horizon, I wonder if we'll start to see a resurgence in specialty
electronic stores like Fry's.

~~~
xref
That may affect people buying onesey twosey bits off AliExpress, but that
stuff is still available on amazon from resellers who buy and ship it
stateside to a fulfillment warehouse in bulk.

~~~
alyandon
Yeah, now that I think about it I suppose it is natural for businesses to find
ways to minimize those types of costs. I guess part of me doesn't want to see
Fry's become another Radio Shack.

~~~
mjcl
I think Fry’s is more likely to turn into a bunch of 5 story podium-style
apartments and condos.

------
grogenaut
Fry's in Renton is still a great place to get stuff same day. Lots of parts
available and the employees generally know their stuff. Many of them have been
there several years since I started going there. Just be sure to online price
match with Amazon direct only.

Micro center was insanely over price when I went a few times in St. Louis in
June. Like $70 keyboard for $147. Razor chroma ($140 elsewhere) for $240. I
basically cut my prices in half on several trips just price matching.

~~~
jvolkman
When did you last visit the Fry's in Renton? I was there yesterday and it's
pretty grim. Here's a description from one of the employees:
[https://frysforum.com/discussion/5261/my-store-is-going-
down...](https://frysforum.com/discussion/5261/my-store-is-going-down-fast-
heres-what-its-like/#Item_1)

~~~
grogenaut
like 1.5 months ago. They had really cut down on the number of tellers was the
main thing I had seen.

------
CogitoCogito
I went to a Fry's recently to buy some breadboards and simple chips and was
pretty surprised to how hollow (the article's choice of word is totally right)
they've become. I was surprised at first, but then realized it really made a
lot of sense given how commerce has changed. Seeing it gave me a sad childhood
nostalgia I never expected when going to an electronics store. I guess change
really is the only constant.

~~~
BrentOzar
Fry's is the new Radio Shack.

I felt the same nostalgia when Radio Shack started folding up, but then I went
to one of the stores and realized they'd become a hollow shell of their former
greatness - just hawking cell phones. Just as Radio Shack couldn't compete
with Amazon, neither can Fry's.

We're going to have the same nostalgia about Best Buy when that shoe drops. I
was in a Best Buy recently when I forgot my headphones on a trip, and I was
dumbfounded at how bad the gear was. It's less about good gear now, and more
about Beats headphones and gold-plated cables. The writing's on the wall.

~~~
dimator
Best buy was much worse off a few years ago. The company and the stores are in
much better shape these days, they hired a CEO that did many improvements.

~~~
mbreese
I agree. It seems like BestBuy is really adapting to the changing market. Then
when you couple online purchasing with in store pickup, it seems like they
might just make it.

I think the parent comment about headphones isn’t a BestBuy problem — its a
universal headphone problem.

------
yowlingcat
Wow, this takes me back to the era of building my own machine. I had an old
clunker of S478 Celeron eMachines and upgraded the motherboard, case and video
card. I still remember getting a great Black Friday deal on a Nvidia 5900SE at
an otherwise barren CompUSA and finally being able to play almost any game in
2005 that I wanted to with what amounted to a $220 upgrade. Good times.

------
remote_phone
I was a heavy buyer at Frys until Amazon got really good. Especially these
days, when a NAS drive fails, I can order one and it comes in one day. I once
bought a video card and found out it was bad on Saturday. That evening I
ordered an exchange on Amazon and on Sunday morning it came before I even got
out of bed.

Frankly Amazon is so much better than Frys in so many ways.

~~~
toast0
> Amazon got really good. Especially these days, when a NAS drive fails, I can
> order one and it comes in one day.

Amazon is on my never buy spinning drives list until I have evidence that they
will pack them appropriately and not just toss the manufacturer's box inside a
much larger box with maybe two air pillows so the drive can slosh around.

------
ohazi
There were some rumors a few weeks ago about whether Fry's was going to close
for good in the next few months (unrelated to the lease ending at the Palo
Alto store).

I think the instigator was this video:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgzDiMp4uY0](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QgzDiMp4uY0)

------
Cyder
Loved Frys when i lived near one. When we moved, i tried to order parts
online. It was pittiful. Their sakes didn't apply to online and not all stock
was available to be delivered or sold online. They were completely blind to
the online insurgence and get what they deserve. They're the Sears of tech
parts.

~~~
dehrmann
They really dropped the ball on e-commerce with outpost.com and frys.com being
entirely separate. They eventually fixed this, but it was too late.

------
52-6F-62
That was a fun read. Kind of nostalgic and jealous. I dreamed of places like
that as a kid in rural Ontario. The closest we had was some receding Radio
Shack that carried a small selection of parts and had 0 knowledge or
enthusiasm for any of it. Back home even that is gone now.

------
xigency
The trend varies. We have one Fry's location and two MicroCenter stores in the
Chicago area. All of these stores seem to be doing well. They are the only
places to walk in and buy motherboards, CPU's, GPU's, etc. and people here
take advantage of that.

------
redsparrow
I grew up in Canada in the 80s. Moving to Germany a few years ago I discovered
Conrad. It's like stepping into another dimension where the RadioShack from my
youth is alive and well...

------
whalesalad
Fry’s is a sad story, but not remotely as tragic as what has become of
RadioShack.

~~~
skinnymuch
Isn’t RadioShack completely dead? Its name and brand were sold of for chump
change a few years ago. Anything after that isn’t actual RadioShack. Or is
that what you meant by “become”! That they completely died out.

~~~
whalesalad
Yep. It’s dead. It died a long time ago though, before it went belly up.

------
kraig911
Thee Fry's in Austin is empty. Rumor has it that haven't paid rent for awhile
too. I really want them to succeed. So much of my interest in electronics and
computing started there staring at components.

------
mruniverse
I was just wondering the other day, how Frys can still have such large stores
in the Bay Area.

