One of Bay Area's few Fry's Electronics stores closes (5 Stores remaining)

[SpikeSpiegel]

 

Quote

 

The Bay Area will begin 2020 with one fewer Fry's Electronics store.

The chain's Palo Alto store, located on Portage Ave., announced its closure on Dec. 27. Palo Alto Online first reported a sign on the store's door that reads:

"To our Valued Customers: Due to the end of our lease, our Palo Alto store will close permanently on December 27, 2019. It has been a pleasure serving you at this location these many years, and we stand ready to provide all your electronics needs at Frys.com, or one of our five other Bay Area store locations. Thank you!"

The Palo Alto location was Fry's oldest; the company was founded in Sunnyvale in the mid-1980s. Each Fry's has a distinct theme. The Palo Alto store was Wild West-themed, with wooden signs, cowboy mannequins and green-shaded light fixtures.

A company representative told Venture Beat in September the closure is due to the location's lease expiring. Palo Alto Online notes the store is part of a 60-acre area "the city is eyeing for redevelopment."

 

 

 

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There has been widespread speculation about Fry's closures across the country. Shoppers at Fry's around the Bay Area have recently commented on empty shelves, as it seemed the company was no longer restocking many items. The company has steadfastly denied the chain is going out of business, chalking up blank spots to simple restocking delays. Company spokespeople have also pointed to business moving online to their website.

The Bay Area now has five Fry's left: Campbell, Concord, Fremont, San Jose and Sunnyvale.

 

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Source:  https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-locations-Frys-Electronics-closed-14939907.php

 

[Letgomyleghoe]

R.I.P i guess its only a matter of time before the one nearest me closes, it's extremely sad, i remember picking out the parts for a phenom 9550 build and feeling like hot shit, as well as buying appliances, and what not there. last time i was there it was mostly empty, almost no pc parts to be found, mainly just old stock, some fridges and miscellaneous items, i may have to go there and take some pictures in the future.

[DrMacintosh]

it's unfortunate. Luckily I live near a MicroCenter though soooooo....

 

Competition is gonna compete. 

[Letgomyleghoe]

14 minutes ago, CalintzJerevinan said:

Campbell, Concord, Fremont, San Jose and Sunnyvale.

hold up, YOU'RE MISSING ONE, there's one in wilsonville oregon

 

https://www.frys.com/ac/storeinfo/wilsonville-location-frys-electronics-hours-maps-directions

 

7 minutes ago, DrMacintosh said:

it's unfortunate. Luckily I live near a MicroCenter though soooooo....

 

Competition is gonna compete. 

sadly when the frys opened, it drove out almost all of the competition, and now theres very few tech stores left in my area, and tend to not keep stock. I would kill for frys to restock, or for a micro center to come in.

[Electronics Wizardy]

Welp that sucks. Have a lot of memories going there as a kid. Probably  gonna go one more time. 

[SpikeSpiegel]

Quote

 

Updated News from SF Gate

 

Bay Area institution Fry's Electronics closed another location, leaving just four open in the region.

"To our valued customers, our Campbell location is permanently closed as of today," Fry's posted on Twitter on Nov. 10. "Fry's will repurpose this space in the near future."

The company was founded by the three Fry brothers, who invested their cut of the profits after father Charles sold California's Fry's Supermarkets chain in the early 1970s. They opened their first electronics store in Sunnyvale, and it would bill itself as a one-stop shop for Silicon Valley types in the '80s and '90s.

Each Fry's has a distinct and sometimes elaborate theme. The Campbell store was on E. Hamilton Ave., and decorated with an ancient Egypt theme.

 

This is the second Bay Area closure in less than a year. The chain's Palo Alto store, located on Portage Ave., announced its closure on Dec. 27, 2019. The Palo Alto location was Fry's oldest; the store was Wild West-themed, with wooden signs, cowboy mannequins and green-shaded light fixtures. A company representative told Venture Beat the closure was due to the location's lease expiring. Palo Alto Online notes the store is part of a 60-acre area "the city is eyeing for redevelopment."

There has been widespread speculation about Fry's closures across the country. Shoppers at Fry's around the Bay Area have commented on empty shelves, as it seemed the company was no longer restocking many items. The company has steadfastly denied the chain is going out of business, chalking up blank spots to simple restocking delays. Company spokespeople have also pointed to business moving online to their website.

The Bay Area now has four Fry's left: Concord, Fremont, San Jose and Sunnyvale.

 

 

Quote

Source:  https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/Bay-Area-Frys-Electronics-closed-Campbell-15728726.php

 

[StDragon]

Frys was on borrowed time. Anyone who stepped into one of their stores recently have seen empty shelves and open spaces. I'm amazed they managed to keep the lights on frankly.

 

For all their faults, they did really well in the late 90s and early 2000's. But somewhere along the line the industry changed.

• No one purchases physical media (CDs, DVDs) much anymore.
• Fry's wasn't the place for appliances.
• Their computer section sucked for sales support
• Rarely did I see anyone walk the aisle of the electronics section (think Radio Shack back when people actually picked up a soldering gun).
• Their video game section was ok at best. Though I do miss the days of boxed PC games; it was the artwork.

Micro Center on the other hand turned around well. It's now the geek mecca of America! Just about everything I'm looking for can be found in that store.

[PianoPlayer88Key]

I haven't been to the Fry's near me (Stonecrest Blvd in San Diego) since before a certain thing started .... (Hey what's the name of the city in southern California where Interstate 15 and state route 91 intersect, and what's the name of a type of computer software that copies itself and injects its code into other programs / files?  (Also I apparently got it wrong in another place I asked the same thing, now I forget where that was, want to go correct it))

 

I wonder how long it will be until....

[TargetDron3]

2 hours ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

Welp that sucks. Have a lot of memories going there as a kid. Probably  gonna go one more time. 

Don't bother.  It will ruin your memories.

I and several friends fully believe that Frys is simply a money laundering operation at this point. 

 

[Qub3d]

I remember watching a Bitwit video where he talked about all the locations he visited being completely devoid of any stock. He then flew down on a whim to CES to check out the Vegas location, as people had been posting that it was seemingly full of stock.

 

He entered assuming that it was completely stocked and that all the other locations had simply diverted shipments to Vegas so that way CES customers would be presented with a good view of things, but after he walked around for just a few minutes it was pretty clear that the store had basically just taken anything they could get their hands on and threw it on shelves.

 

It was a pretty sad display honestly.

 

[circeseye]

yea fry's in cali have been going down hill for years. 10 years ago they always had stock, were the go to's. 8 years ago stock had diminished. actual empty sections. 5 years ago you could barely find anything, and been that way since. what little stock they had was usually old stuff, literally over half the store was bare shelves.

[GDRRiley]

last thing I bought was a laptop there 7-10 years ago. man 600 mobile and 2nd gen intel were a long time ago

[Dabombinable]

A local arts shop said they were having "re-stocking delays" when most of the shelves were empty. They are now closed.

Seems to be the same thing happening at Fry's.

[Mark Kaine]

4 hours ago, CalintzJerevinan said:

The Bay Area will begin 2020 with one fewer Fry's Electronics store.

The chain's Palo Alto store, located on Portage Ave., announced its closure on Dec. 27. Palo Alto Online first reported a sign on the store's door that reads:

"To our Valued Customers: Due to the end of our lease, our Palo Alto store will close permanently on December 27, 2019. 

Ok I have to ask, is this a joke? (because it can't be typos..........) 

[Brooksie359]

3 hours ago, StDragon said:

Frys was on borrowed time. Anyone who stepped into one of their stores recently have seen empty shelves and open spaces. I'm amazed they managed to keep the lights on frankly.

 

For all their faults, they did really well in the late 90s and early 2000's. But somewhere along the line the industry changed.

• No one purchases physical media (CDs, DVDs) much anymore.
• Fry's wasn't the place for appliances.
• Their computer section sucked for sales support
• Rarely did I see anyone walk the aisle of the electronics section (think Radio Shack back when people actually picked up a soldering gun).
• Their video game section was ok at best. Though I do miss the days of boxed PC games; it was the artwork.

Micro Center on the other hand turned around well. It's now the geek mecca of America! Just about everything I'm looking for can be found in that store.

Yeah you can't run a business without inventory. Probably would have lasted a but longer if they had any stock left for people to even buy. I think stores really have to put in the extra effort to complete against online retailers like Newegg and Amazon. Microcenter is very good ar that as I would rather pick up something from Microcenter than order online as they have a fantastic return policy and I can get what I want immediately instead of waiting for shipping. Its super nice when I can just take my stuff back if the product is defective in any way and get a new one instead of waiting to return them to the manufacturer or the online retailer. Its super nice because I don't have to go without a computer like I would if I had to send the part in and have it replaced by the manufacturer or online retailer. The other thing they are super good about is you can order your stuff online ahead of time and go in and pick it up at the store. I look at their website for my local store to see any deals or new items that I want and pick them out if they catch my interests. Its just overall a great place to shop and its sad to see that frys couldn't do something similar. 

[SpikeSpiegel]

36 minutes ago, Mark Kaine said:

Ok I have to ask, is this a joke? (because it can't be typos..........) 

It was an old news report.  I found the latest one here 

 

https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/Bay-Area-Frys-Electronics-closed-Campbell-15728726.php

[LogicalDrm]

-> Moved to General Discussion

 

This thread doesn't meet Tech News guidelines (missing summary and personal take), but also isn't actually Tech News as its about store closing, not even whole company going bankrupt or otherwise stopping business.

[PlayStation 2]

Man, I still remember the Fry's that I tended to pass in the City of Industry back when I lived in California. Sucks to see them fade away, but at the same time, electronics stores have changed while Fry's hasn't.

[SpikeSpiegel]

39 minutes ago, handymanshandle said:

Man, I still remember the Fry's that I tended to pass in the City of Industry back when I lived in California. Sucks to see them fade away, but at the same time, electronics stores have changed while Fry's hasn't.

Sadly mine closed up the week after Christmas in 2019.

[Vanderburg]

There are 4 Fry's near me in DFW and they have been dead for almost 2 years now.

[Dedayog]

17 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

it's unfortunate. Luckily I live near a MicroCenter though soooooo....

 

Competition is gonna compete. 

It wasn't so long ago that I thought Microcenter was going to collapse from Fry's.... prices were too high, no package deals, etc.

 

Microcenter turned things around and Fry's suffered the collapse.  So odd considering Home Depot/Lowes business models work.