RIP Fry's Electronics

[Leo Enticknap]

This in the San Bernardino Sun:

SAN FRANCISCO — Fry’s Electronics, the go-to chain for tech tinkerers looking for an obscure part, is closing for good.

The company, perhaps even more well known for outlandish themes at some of its stores, from Aztec to “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland,” said Wednesday in an online posting that the COVID-19 pandemic had made it impossible to continue.

All of its stores ceased operation on Wednesday, Feb. 24 as the shutdown process began.

“After nearly 36 years in business as the one-stop-shop and online resource for high-tech professionals across nine states and 31 stores, Fry’s Electronics, Inc. has made the difficult decision to shut down its operations and close its business permanently as a result of changes in the retail industry and the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the company said.

Early Wednesday, Fry’s official Facebook page had been deactivated, although it still showed up on Google web searches. Fry’s Twitter page was set to private status, which means that the company’s tweets were visible only to followers who were granted permission to see the page.

The company said it is in the process of reaching out to customers with repairs and consignment vendors to help them understand what the closures will mean for them and the proposed next steps.

Customers who have equipment currently being repaired are asked to email customerservice@frys.com to arrange for the return of their equipment.

Customers with items needing repair under a performance service contract should call 800-811-1745.

Burt Flickinger III, managing director for the retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, said the California-based retailer was positioned to fail.

“Fry’s was competitive for a long time,” he said. “They took good care of their customers, but they got eclipsed by Best Buy, Costco, Target, Walmart — and especially Amazon — as they all expanded into consumer electronics.”

Flickinger said the company also failed to install rooftop solar systems at its stores, which could have offset the rising price of products and employee wages.

“Amazon went 100% solar, and that has allowed them to reduce costs and increase wages,” he said. “Target and Walmart are well on their way to doing the same.”

The company closed a number of its stores in recent years, including the Anaheim location, which was shuttered in March 2020.

Fans immediately took to Twitter to post images and memories (good and bad).

Fry’s was founded in 1985 by John Fry, David Fry, and Randy Fry when they opened the company’s first store in Sunnyvale. The chain was concentrated on the West Coast, but had 31 stores in nine states.

The pandemic has done heavy damage to retailers, but Fry’s was already getting hammered by online competition and a battle between heavy-hitters Best Buy and Amazon.com.

The chain’s online presence appears largely to have been shut down.

In some ways unsurprising (especially coming after Radio Shack's demise), but this is a blow. Probably around 3-4 times a year I'm on a service call, need a generic part (e.g. a PC fan for a server, a DVI to HDMI cable, whatever) and go get it at Fry's if there is one within a few miles. I really can't think of any other retail store chain that sells those sorts of components, now.

[Steve Guttag]

A problem with the brick and motor stores in the world of Amazon is that they are only going to get a portion of what they once had. If you need it TODAY, then you venture into such a store. Otherwise, you can order what you need and have it in 2-days...probably for less and with choices in brand/quality. And, for that, they need to keep a good enough inventory for people to consider them at all and pay rent on the off chance someone needs something now. It's going to be dicey.

[Carsten Kurz]

Don't know wether that actually holds true, but it's interesting that some one actually mentions it in a business statement:

'Flickinger said the company also failed to install rooftop solar systems at its stores, which could have offset the rising price of products and employee wages.

“Amazon went 100% solar, and that has allowed them to reduce costs and increase wages,” he said. “Target and Walmart are well on their way to doing the same.”

[Leo Enticknap]

I'm guessing that most Fry's branches were rented real estate rather than owned outright, which might have created obstacles to putting solar panels on the roof.

As well as Amazon and Best Buy, Monoprice was snapping at their heels, too. But apart from a will call at their location in Rancho Cucamonga (and even if you do pick stuff up, there is usually a 1-2 day wait between placing the order and the "come and get it" email arriving), they are also all online.

[Jim Cassedy]

I saw this on the news this morning. A trip to Fry's Electronics was almost as much fun as a trip to Disneyland for me. (And almost as expensive, since Fry's IMO overcharged for a lot of their merchandise, but they had everything, and I often wound up spending much more than I intended- - but, like going to Las Vegas, although I'd sometimes come home broke, it was always worth the trip!)

I'd sometimes take a Saturday morning drive down to the two stores they had in the Silicon Valley area near me in San Francisco. For those not familiar them, each FRY's store had its' own 'theme'. My favorite was their store down in Burbank, CA, which had a giant flying saucer crashed into the front of it, en hommage to "Earth vs The Flying Saucers" (Columbia Pictures, 1958)

FRY's ELECTRONICS STORE IN BURBANK, CA
Frys_1.jpg

The Burbank store theme was "Alien Invasions"
Somewhere, I've got a selfie I took with Gort, from "The Day The
Earth Stood Still" (20th Century Fox, 1951)
CABURufo_mary.jpg
I'm really going to miss this place.

They also had a pretty cool store outside of Phoenix, AZ, that I visited several times, which sort of looked like an ancient Aztec tomb or temple.
.

[Terry Monohan]

Time to bring back Circuit City®, Pacific Stereo® and Good Guys®!

I hate ordering a big screen TV online these days. In San Francisco we have the worst Fed Ex delivery drivers, they are lazy and won't walk up any steps to make a heavy TV delivery to a apartment/house or condo to ring the doorbell or leave outside the front door. The Fed Ex drivers will mostly just leave a expensive big box TV outside near the street and claim they made a door delivery and give the time they say it was left at the door. I don't live out on the street. UPS is way better when making electronic drop offs. I ask now for a signature.

When Best Buy® or Video Only® goes under someday we will not be able to pick up a TV local or any other large electronic item so It won't get stolen or left out by always in a rush Fed Ex SF drivers .i won't order online with Fed Ex involved. I have complained so many times and the Fed Ex office people do nothing.

I drove down to the Fry's in Sunnyvale CA many times and they had a great selection of so many electronic goodies and a ton of DVD's. What was so strange with their stores was the big cyclone fence surrounding the most expensive computer small items in the store, help was needed to unlock with a key to give the item to the cashier. Like Fry's didn't trust their employees?

Thanks Jim for the great outside photo of the Fry's Burbank store. I wonder what will happen to the outside art? We will miss them!

[Mark Gulbrandsen]

I went to the Fry's in Vegas two or three times a year. Used to buy lots of computer parts there and the store was always busy and very well stocked. My two Asus 21" monitors came from the Vegas store back in 2011. I think it was about 5 years ago that they started going down hill and not having the shelf's stocked very well. I also used to go the store near Cyprus, CA when I was attending training at Christie. I was in the Burbank store just once during 3-D training at Technicolor. That store was also well stocked back then. It's sad to see this happen but between Amazon and Newegg type sellers that deliver to your door... I don't think we'll ever see another chain like Fry's again.

[Frank Cox]

In San Francisco we have the worst Fed Ex delivery drivers,

A couple of months back, a store just down the street from me moved to a new location about two blocks away. They have a huge sign on the front door, "MOVED TO (new address)".

I was walking past there today and noticed a Fed Ex "delivery attempted" tag stuck to the door, right on top of their MOVED sign.

Sheesh. I phoned the guy at his new location and told him that he should come and get his Fed Ex tag before it disappears so he can claim his package.

[Marcel Birgelen]

For a brick and mortar store, your location is one of the most important assets. But with the current mindset of property owners, it will simply be impossible to compete against Amazon and other super-sized on-line retailers that can benefit from all the aspects of scale. I guess once leases for those spaces come down a few factors, brick and mortar stores will still have some appeal.

While it's great to have access to almost anything at a click of a mouse-button, I miss the exploratory part of the experience. No matter if it's electronics or stuff like books, nothing really beats seeing and being able to interact with the real thing.

[Kenneth Wuepper]

The trend has been toward making all things common so that the only difference is price. Some of our musical instrument customers said that since all of the makers of this type of instrument did a very good job at making them, the only one factor to use in deciding to purchase one over the other. PRICE!

This seems to have worked its way into almost everything you can buy. The customers go into the local store to check out an item and then go home and order it for less on line.
The brick and mortar stores have only become the show rooms for internet suppliers.

Sad but true.

[Steve Guttag]

There is definitely truth to that (people using real stores to shop but on-line to buy).

And, as far as musical instruments being fungible in quality or tonality...yeah right. While a good musician will make any instrument sound better than a poor one, there is a whole range of quality and qualities (the sound one may be going for) that factor in. Odds are, though, if one cannot hear the difference between the various makes/models of a particular instrument, they are not at the playing level where spending the extra dough will make the difference either. The instrument will not make a low-grade player good.

There are some good videos on YouTube where an accomplished musician will pull out their old guitar or other instrument that they kept from their novice days and will play the exact same song on each and you can definitely hear the differences in the end result. However, as one moves up in quality (perceived or otherwise), the increment of improvement versus increment in cost gets worse as one goes. (e.g. the difference in a $500 instrument versus $50 is huge but the difference in a $5000 instrument versus a $500 one is much less so).

[Harold Hallikainen]

As others have written, the Internet is the Sears catalog of today. There's more variety than any store can have. Improvements in warehouse operations and shipping (automatic sorting), increased volume allowing more warehouses that can now be nearby (we get same or next day delivery from Amazon in the Denver area), have really made Internet shopping worthwhile. On electronic parts, I can often get a Mouser or Digikey order the next day. Even grocery delivery is now quite common (years ago some companies tried that and failed). I used to visit the Bay Area Frys stores whenever I was there visiting family. I still have a Sony laptop and desktop I bought there with Windows ME. Also bought quite a few books there. I used to visit the one in Las Vegas when we discovered we were short something needed for our exhibit at the National Association of Broadcasters. Visited the Burbank one when I needed something for an ISDCF plugfest.

So, in retail, as in cinema, Covid has pushed along the increased migration to the Internet.

[Leo Enticknap]

Odds are, though, if one cannot hear the difference between the various makes/models of a particular instrument, they are not at the playing level where spending the extra dough will make the difference either. The instrument will not make a low-grade player good.

It will do the exact opposite. If you learned to play the piano to Grade 5 or 6 on a bogstandard Yamaha upright of the sort found in elementary school music rooms, and then try a Fazioli or a Blüthner concert grand, prepare for a big shock. To say that they're unforgiving of an unpolished technique would be an understatement. With Murray Perahia or Herbie Hancock playing one, they will reveal detail and color that the Yamaha never could. With someone like me, however, it would reveal rough edges in technique instead.

[Harold Hallikainen]

Internet shopping increases the importance of brands. If there is a brand and model with a good reputation, purchase decision largely comes down to price. And it's easy to price compare on the net using something like https://shopping.google.com .

[Paul Finn]

Jameco Electronics in Belmont,CA has been around a long time and is often overlooked as a source for both modern and historical replacement electronic components.

Paul Finn