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Just went to Fry's Electronics...

Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
25,830
and they were completely desolate.

Haven't been there for quite some months, and was dreading trying to find parking, but arrived at the parking lot and there were may be a dozen cars in total in the front lot where customers parked.

Thought this was strange, so walked inside, and some of the lights in the building weren't even on, and there were like three employees in total working on one side of the building, and the back I swear I saw a tumbleweed roll by.

And when I got to the gaming section, they were completely empty, and looked like someone had ransacked the aisles.

From the looks of it, my local Fry's it would seem is quickly dwindling to a close, as this has always been a super busy location in the past, but now, it looks like a ghost town.

Which is too bad, since I grew up with Fry's, and had been going there for several decades now, but doesn't appear they're going to last much longer.

Anybody else with a Fry's nearby that's is seemingly empty now?
 
neonglow

neonglow

Member
Oct 25, 2017
790
Most locations are like that now. They're shifting most of their inventory to the most popular location in each region and leaving the other locations without inventory.
 
Joshua

Joshua

Member
Oct 27, 2017
3,709
Yeah went to one recently and it was so depressing compared to what it once was. What I observed:
  • there was a perfume aisle in midst of their technology/computer stuff (wtf??)
  • Most of the tech aisles had very few things in them and they were greatly spread out and it looked so weird. Kind of like the retail equivalent of a hair combover I suppose?
  • Most tech things only had 1x stock of each thing there (like WiFi cards or graphics cards)
  • I went to pay for something and there were zero cashiers. I waited 10 minutes for someone to show up, not exaggerating.
 
fick

fick

Alt-Account
Banned
Nov 24, 2018
2,261
That's depressing. I still remember walking into a Fry's for the first time...shit was unreal.
 
nilbog

nilbog

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,035
So sad.

I freaking loved Fry's, it was my favorite store when I lived in Sacramento.

This was in the early 00's when they had nothing but giant PC box racks of greatness.

I wasted many an hour just scouring over games, dvd's and electronics. But it's been a good decade since I've been in one.
 
StopMakingSense

StopMakingSense

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,714
Been going less and less as time goes on... Mostly because of the Newegg Will Call desk now in Industry I might as well just use them. Just a couple more minutes to drive and won't run into the 'fuck they don't actually have it' problem now that their inventory reports online seem to be make believe.

Also Best Buy getting their shit together has really eaten into the 'last minute need' shopping.
 
Sei

Sei

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,707
LA
I went in there recently trying to pick up a PC case. They had no cases anybody would ever want to buy. Most of the display cases were in bad shape, all were outdated models that had old USB front connectors, most side panels were missing, some were just broken. I don't know how they intent to sell anything DIY PC related.

The same wasn't for the prebuilt and laptop section. Those were pretty neatly kept.
 
NSA

NSA

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
3,892
I hit up frys when I see a killer deal but that's about it. They never have stuff I'd want just by browsing, it's always some weird off brand nonsense.

I've gotten a TV, a receiver and some speakers there this year.
 
FernandoRocker

FernandoRocker

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
7,987
México
StopMakingSense said:
Been going less and less as time goes on... Mostly because of the Newegg Will Call desk now in Industry I might as well just use them. Just a couple more minutes to drive and won't run into the 'fuck they don't actually have it' problem now that their inventory reports online seem to be make believe.

Also Best Buy getting their shit together has really eaten into the 'last minute need' shopping.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It is incredible how well Best Buy got their shit together in a relatively short time.
 
OP
OP
Squarehard

Squarehard

Member
Oct 27, 2017
25,830
FernandoRocker said:
It is incredible how well Best Buy got their shit together in a relatively short time.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...
It's one of the few retailers that are more than willing to completely change their business model to fit with the times.

Not perfect of course, but they do pretty well considering how B&M retail chains have been going in recent years.
 
Avitus

Avitus

Member
Oct 25, 2017
12,904
They stopped paying their vendors IIRC so the vendors stopped letting them run up a tab and stopped shipping them product. All they can get now is stuff like fragrances and other weird shit.
 
Tagyhag

Tagyhag

Member
Oct 27, 2017
12,472
I wonder how the one in Burbank is doing. Haven't been in years, and I loved going as a kid but now Amazon offers much better options/deals.
 
Rellodex

Rellodex

Member
Oct 29, 2017
2,160
I went a couple months ago to help my parents buy a TV and was sort of taken aback by what I saw.

At first I was thinking, yeah, all the square footage that used to be devoted to home video and music has to shrink. Fry's used to be the place to go for cult, niche, or hard-to-find media, but now all that's available online so people aren't making the trek any more.

But then their TV section had a total of like 12 televisions and all their PC hardware stuff was completely sold out.

Employees acted like something was up too - they were literally sitting around the store using their phones and stuff.

Pretty wild. Times change. I swear I visited less than a year ago and the place was as packed (both merch and people) as it's ever been.

If anyone has a store in their area, it's worth checking out just for how surreal the experience is.
 
NinjaScooter

NinjaScooter

Member
Oct 25, 2017
54,117
Considering the footprint of Fry stores and what they sell it sort of was inevitable. I don't think you can sustain stores of that size selling shit people are increasingly more comfortable buying online.
 
taro

taro

Member
Oct 25, 2017
625
I love Fry's. My TV, washer/dryer, and refrigerator came from Fry's a decade ago when moving into a new home. Nowadays, it's looking bleak. I hope but don't imagine they'll be able to turn it around without a miracle.
 
Yokijirou

Yokijirou

Member
Oct 27, 2017
663
It was bad when I worked there about 10 years ago. They have outdated tech for a tech store and most of the associates have no idea about building PCs.

I miss incredible universe. I was a kid though so maybe it was fantastical to me.
 
djplaeskool

djplaeskool

Member
Oct 26, 2017
19,732
Same for the stores in Georgia (Milton/Duluth).
Went to try to pick up a Mini-ATX case that was on sale, and the place was so barren.
Unfortunately it seems like they're operating on a drastically reduced stock on everything. I didn't even get what I was looking for because despite showing in stock at my store online, no one could find the case i was looking for.
Even noticed a huge reduction in staff too. No one greeted me on the way in, and no one was doing loss prevention at the door
I've been going to Fry's locations here for years, and that was a first.

As mentioned, I don't think the warehouse-sized superstore model for electronics is really sustainable anymore.
 
Rodney McKay

Rodney McKay

Member
Oct 26, 2017
12,186
I love Frys, but I've only ever been to one 3-4 times over the last 10 years.

It was great when I was building my PC for the first time, but now I have it and I know what I need, it's easier to find exactly what I want (in stock) online.

Last thing I got at Frys was my CPU, and I ended up getting a slightly less powerful one because they didn't have the exact chip I wanted.
Actually, I did get some Hdmi optical adapter there, but that's about it.

The stores are so gigantic that I really don't see how it's sustainable.
 
thewienke

thewienke

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,930
I liked the stores in Texas I went to but I feel like it's been years and years since they had some "can't miss" deals like they used to do on video games in the early 2010s.

There's one here in Indianapolis but I haven't been yet.
 
Septimus Prime

Septimus Prime

EA
Verified
Oct 25, 2017
8,500
The last Fry's I visited was that Palo Alto one, about a year and a half ago. It was about as busy as any other Fry's I'd been to at that time, and now it's closed. Wow.
 
Whitemex

Whitemex

Member
Oct 27, 2017
15,425
Chicago
I thought this was gonna be about the porn blurays being out in the open. But yeah, I have one near a Best Buy and I'm surprised it's still in business
 
Remmy2112

Remmy2112

Member
Nov 5, 2017
1,139
Fry's Electronics is circling the drain and may very well die at the end of the year. They were having significant problems paying their suppliers and have switched to a model where they only pay if a product actually sells from their store, rather than paying the vendor upon delivery to the store. Employees are also reporting layoffs and cut hours in large numbers.

If you're buying tech goods and like extended/enhanced warranties do not buy from Fry's. If they are in as dire a situation as they seem then they are going to remain in operation through to black Friday for a last cash grab then go out of business, voiding all the warranties they just sold.
 
Merriweather

Merriweather

Member
Oct 29, 2017
480
The one in Downers Grove IL used to be absolutely hopping 10 years ago. The last time I was there, about a year & a half ago, it was a total ghost town.
 
J_ToSaveTheDay

J_ToSaveTheDay

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
18,789
USA
RastaMentality said:
There can't possibly be anything that's cheaper inside Fry's / Microcenter vs. online right?
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

My personal experience is that CPU and memory pricing at Microcenter has been competitive with online, assuming you're only looking at New condition products, at least. Only downside is that I have to travel about an hour by interstate to get to the closest Microcenter, so there is a fuel and convenience cost for me to factor, but I'm a bit old-fashioned and still personally prefer to go to a store staffed by people and kinda have the item "right there and then," and despite the drive I still feel like Microcenter delivers that whenever I need new tech.

I've never had a Fry's but I remember being amazed by the one in Las Vegas when I visited in 2010. There was an unreal amount of stuff that I just wasn't used to seeing in a physical store.

Despite my quirk of actually still preferring physical retail, I absolutely cannot deny the appeal of online ordering. It's sad that it's decimating some of the more specialized retailers to me, though. :(
 
NR1

NR1

Member
Oct 25, 2017
225
Dallas, TX
I went to my local Fry's last month in Dallas and took these photos Of their
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