Wow, Fry's closing all their stores

[Easto]

I can't say it wasn't expected. The online industry was almost built to take places like Fry's down. Last February we needed to buy a CAT 6 cable (50 ft). I think we got the closest parking space available to the front door. When I entered the place it was almost a ghost town. Sorry to see them go.

[Humboldt]

Never made it into this area.

Retail is shifting, that's for sure.

We sell a 20lb bag of reptile excavator clay, add water and sculpt it with hills, dens, etc...

Sold over 2000 lbs last year, 99% online. Most random product.

4qt magnolia leaves for terrariums? Maybe 20 leaves.

We buy our supplier out on a regular basis, have almost matched 2020 sales so far this year already.

Pandemic sure, but it started before that. People want the convenience of home delivery and physical stores are having a hard time if they don't adjust.

[Philip]

Best Buy seems to be the only big electronics retailer that remains.. Fry's followed CompUSA, TigerDirect, RadioShack, etc.
Seems at this pace we'll end up only with the big wholesale clubs like Costco, Sams, Walmart, etc.

Sometimes I like being able to see what I'm buying (or hear it), especially when it is a big purchase like UHD TV, audio receiver, etc. Without local specialized stores it is harder to compare (you have to rely on peer reviews), and more of a hassle to do any returns, especially if the item is not defective and just doesn't meet expectations. It's easy for small ticket items, Amazon seems to have it figured out with their "Amazon lockers" and such.

[Easto]

Fry's just meant a lot to me. Back in the day when I first started here at SG was when I was totally geeking out on computers. Going to Fry's was almost a religious experience. I really miss those days when everything was new to me and it seemed like you could take this hobby as far as you wanted. Going into a Fry's just fueled those thoughts.

[MadDoctor]

Fry's just meant a lot to me. Back in the day when I first started here at SG was when I was totally geeking out on computers. Going to Fry's was almost a religious experience. I really miss those days when everything was new to me and it seemed like you could take this hobby as far as you wanted. Going into a Fry's just fueled those thoughts.

I agree.

[BaLa]

I went into Frys once a couple years ago..
Not very busy.

But it was a mess.
Not at all organized they had little of everything scattered through the whole store.

[Easto]

I went into Frys once a couple years ago..
Not very busy.

But it was a mess.
Not at all organized they had little of everything scattered through the whole store.

Yeah, the last handful of years it started to slide into disrepair. Back in the day they had about 15 open checkout stations and they still had a line of 50 people waiting to pay for their goods. On any given Saturday or Sunday the parking lot was almost completely filled. There must have been 300-400 people in the store at any given time.

[Easto]

Best Buy seems to be the only big electronics retailer that remains.. Fry's followed CompUSA, TigerDirect, RadioShack, etc.

Wow, I had almost forgot about TigerDirect. Back then I worked for a Logistics company and we shipped for virtually everyone in Southern and Northern California. Not only did we handle the big manufacturers like EVGA, MSI, ASUS, Super Micro etc we also handled a lot of smaller sized companies that were either selling grey market or just acting as middle-men and trying to flip whatever they could for a buck. 30 years ago it was like the Wild West when it came to selling computer parts.

[YeOldeStonecat]

Speaking of old computer parts resources......something had me doing a Google search for an old computer part. Just for conversation purposes...I think the model of a certain motherboard that was an overclockers dream.
Google led me to some thread ...over on ARSTechnica, where I was in it, and the subject of PCNut came up. PCNut was an online computer parts place I used to use in the late 90's, early 2000's... Guy who owned it was Humphrey Chen....was known as the "Head Nut". I used to buy a lot of computer parts from him when I built custom gaming rigs for people...he was a great resource.

So I did a search for him to see where he was, found him on LinkedIn, he's some supervisor at Amazon now, had a history in their IT departments.