I loved that place when I lived in Silicon Valley back in the late '80s and early '90s.
They were on Kern Ave just west of the Lawrence Expressway. Nearby on the other side of the street (where Sports Basement is now) was Fry's flagship store. Across Lawrence from the Fry's, there was the original store for Computer Literacy Bookshops, and right near that was a Togo's.
A perfect geek Saturday afternoon for me was to go hit Weird Stuff and Fry's, then Computer Literacy to check for new books and pickup the latest tech magazines, then read those magazines while enjoying either a cold #2 or a hot #7 from Togo's.
And if it were the second Saturday during summer months, the foothill electronics flea market. Still going strong by the same name, but for some reason now held at de anza college in Cupertino.
Down the street, just off central near Lawrence is halted specialties, which sources a lot of new components in addition to to surplus relics. They windup with a lot of test equipment and working fab equipment.
A lot of Fry's are very much like a second-tier Best Buy with a longer/weirder impulse/checkout aisle.
If it opened in the last ten years and doesn't have a motif that embarrasses you more than the fact that you're going to an electronics store, it's No True Fry's.
"it's an era when RAID controllers were the size of a modern day sound card"
That doesn't make much sense to me. For those that don't just use what's on the motherboard, even PCI cards are pretty small. RAID controllers that I remember, OTOH, were pretty beefy.
Regardless, cool looking place. I'm glad they're able to make a go of it.
I love that comparison. "Wait, sound card? Don't those come on the motherboard? Isn't the RAID controller on the motherboard, too?"
In five years, add video cards, RAM, and SSD to the list. Only old people (you will be assimilated) and nerds beyond gamers will understand the references.
They were on Kern Ave just west of the Lawrence Expressway. Nearby on the other side of the street (where Sports Basement is now) was Fry's flagship store. Across Lawrence from the Fry's, there was the original store for Computer Literacy Bookshops, and right near that was a Togo's.
A perfect geek Saturday afternoon for me was to go hit Weird Stuff and Fry's, then Computer Literacy to check for new books and pickup the latest tech magazines, then read those magazines while enjoying either a cold #2 or a hot #7 from Togo's.