Fry's Electronics is no more

[derf]

I fully expected a brick and mortar store like theirs to fall victim to the changing retail landscape, given that they didn't chase the online market like they should have.  I shopped there back when I lived in California for a bit.  It appears that Covid shutdowns just made the inevitable happen that much faster.

 

It's too bad.  They could have competed with places like New Egg if they had gotten their stuff together back in the 90's.

 

https://www.frys.com/

[89 MJ]

That's too bad. I've always preferred going into brick and mortar stores. I'm just too old school for my own good.

[Jesse J]

Yeah brick and mortar are just way better. hand's on and actual people to talk to 

[eaglescout526]

Dammit!!

[derf]

I used to like going to the store and grabbing what I want when I needed it.

 

But the quality of retail stores has gone way down overall.  In a lot of stores, the employees are less than helpful.  The lack of inventory meant that I had to special order a lot of stuff.  And the things they stocked tended to be less than high quality.  And the prices of everything is so much higher.

 

I remember going in to the parts store and the guy behind the counter didn't have to look in a computer and ask you about whether it's 2wd or 4wd to find the light bulb or wiper blades.  And the parts you got at the local store actually lasted.

 

Given all that, it's cheaper and easier for me to just buy things online more often than not.

[Pete M]

I am a little surprised that a tech store didn't more fully embrace the internet. 

[89 MJ]

2 minutes ago, Pete M said:

I am a little surprised that a tech store didn't more fully embrace the internet. 

It's a little ironic for sure

[derf]

1 minute ago, Pete M said:

I am a little surprised that a tech store didn't more fully embrace the internet. 

It's like Sears.  They had a perfect business model to move the Sears Catalog to a website and use their stores as a distribution chain.  All of the infrastructure was there.  But the management was focused on protecting the retail outlets so they dropped the ball entirely.

[fiatslug87]

I remember going to their Sunnyvale store when it opened!!! Haven't been in one for a few years.

[Jesse J]

yeah it's so weird the decisions those companys make

[derf]

4 minutes ago, Jesse J said:

yeah it's so weird the decisions those companys make

It's not easy to predict the future.

 

Still, there comes a point when you need to realize and admit you guessed wrong.  Trouble is, far too many people take the attitude "don't bother me with facts, I've made up my mind" so they refuse to admit that they should change course.  So they continue to drive the company into the ground rather than admit that they were wrong.

[fiatslug87]

Nothing lasts forever, I'm sure someday Amazon will be gone (not anytime soom or in my lifetime).

[mnkyboy]

That's too bad but not surprising, even before Covid our local store was already dead.

 

The place was always empty no matter when you went and they always seemed to have less and less stuff, my son is an engineering student and really into robotics, automation,computers, ect.. so I've spent many hours wandering the Wilsonville Oregon store.

[jdog]

1 hour ago, derf said:

But the management was focused on protecting the retail outlets so they dropped the ball entirely.

Sadly that was the death of a lot of stores