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.
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.
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.