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  • Author Author: ralphjy
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Goodbye Fry's - You'll be missed

ralphjy

I just saw the sad news that electronics retailer Fry's Electronics is going out of business after 36 years: https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2021/02/24/frys-electronics-has-gone-out-business-after-36-years/4572429001/

 

Fry's is is probably only well known on the West Coast although they had an online presence.  They started in Sunnyvale, CA and I used to go to the stores in Southern California when I lived down there and then continued to shop in the Wilsonville store when I moved to Oregon.  I mostly frequented the store at Burbank Airport in SoCal shown below and also spent a lot of time in the San Jose store in the Bay area because I was always traveling between those locations for work.

 

Fry's was well known for their amazing electronics inventory - everything that a hobbyist could want.  And every store had a theme - like the spaceship at Burbank.  I haven't been to the Wilsonville store for over a year because of the pandemic, but I've ordered stuff from them online.  I guess I won't have the chance to visit them again.  I will definitely miss them.....  Another victim of the pandemic image.

 

 

image

  • in reply to fmilburn

    I don't recall inventory issues pre-pandemic in the Wilsonville store, but I'll admit to being interested in only a small corner of the store.  I didn't shop much for toys, games, home appliances, or home electronics - although I could never pass up a good deal image.  And I don't recall ever buying candy in the checkout line...  But, I did buy a lot of hard drives, memory, SD cards and misc computer and electronics items.  They used to have a great assortment of wire, connectors, and components, so I'll miss the convenience of being able to get stuff immediately.  With the pandemic I haven't been able to do that anyway, but I don't think that local electronic parts stores are coming back anytime soon.

  • I don't think we have a chain of electronics shops in the UK since Maplin closed a couple of years ago now. Everything is online - which is good as you can get pretty much everything you want - unlike in a shop. I used to buy a fair bit from Maplin as they used to have electronics toys and robots, often discounted which I would buy for work in quantities of 20s and 30s. I had 20 BigTraks at one point and probably 30 of the robot arms. I left them all on campus when I retired, probably all been disposed of now.

     

    Dubbie

  • Really sad news. I visited every Fry's that I could find on each visit to the US, and me and my work colleagues would come away with so much cool stuff including gifts for family members. I have happy memories as a result. The US has cool shops. I also like CVS for some reason, and some kitchen store whose name eludes me right this minute.. begins with W.

    And Gymboree.. can spend hours choosing cool kids clothes there.

  • When I lived in California, Fry's was my go to computer store.  I had the opportunity to visit several of their locations (San Jose, Sacramento and Concord), which were near businesses that I worked with or in locations near my children's colleges.  It had gone through so many changes through the years, starting with a lot of electronic components and then shifting more and more into mostly office supply and games, etc.

     

    The company did have some unusual business practices, driving really tough terms on their suppliers, until a lot of companies just refused to do business with them.

     

    A great idea and a fun place to go, but in the end their business plans and competition killed them.