Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

kr.abs.swy
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Re: Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

Post by kr.abs.swy »

I was in the Fry's on Las Vegas Boulevard in Paradise, Nevada, last week.

There was a bit more stuff in the store compared to my visit to the Wilsonville, Oregon, store earlier this month. That's not to stay it was the right stuff, or that conditions in the store weren't still really bad, or that anyone was buying anything, or that there was much more stuff … but there did seem to be a bit more inventory.

Where Wilsonville didn't even have any display model smartphones, this store had a few display models. Where Wilsonville didn't have any TVs, this store had boxes of generic flat screens on the tables where displays should have been. Where Wilsonville didn't have any computers at all, this store at least had a few floor models. There were a few more appliances.

But conditions were still bad. TV selection was poor (dozens of boxes of generic flat screens, but I didn't see anything else). Several aisles had been removed. In some cases the entire bottom shelf on a row of shelving was completely empty. Much of the merchandise there had a close-out feel (an entire aisle of just a few models of boxed computer or gaming chairs, outdated hot-to manuals, cheap smartphone accessories). An entire aisle of beverages. A large section of an aisle that was nothing but reams of printer paper. Entire tables that should have been full of floor models of computers were empty. The backstock area was essentially empty. If you were looking for a specific item, the odds were that you weren't going to find it. If you were looking for a computer chair at full price that probably should have been marked down by 50% at Big Lots, a generic flat screen TV or a how-to-use MS Office 2016 book, you just might get lucky.

There was no sign of any sort of new merchandising strategy taking place.

It was sad. The store physically was in good shape. I wish I had seen it in its heyday.
Fry's paper.jpg
Fry's missing shelf.jpg
Fry's computers.jpg
Fry's chairs.jpg
klkla
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Re: Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

Post by klkla »

I wonder how long they can keep going on like this? If their strategy of only selling items on consignment was going to work I would think they could have found some vendors at this point. I think it's time stick a fork in it and call it a day.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

Post by steps »

klkla wrote: February 24th, 2020, 6:37 pm I wonder how long they can keep going on like this? If their strategy of only selling items on consignment was going to work I would think they could have found some vendors at this point. I think it's time stick a fork in it and call it a day.
It's really a sad site. I used to go to Fry's in the early 2000's and found all kinds of stuff I needed. Ram, CD-R drives, Palm Pilots (remember those!?).

As recently as a year ago, I purchased a desktop computer for under $100 with same day delivery from the Manhattan Beach store. My first purchase in years and was very pleased.

One major thing that really turned me off was the receipt check at the door. I remember just walking out and was chased down by the person checking the receipts. I refused to show him my receipt after he literally saw me checking out and paying. He then began to argue and curse as I continued to walk away. That was probably the last time I went in one (around 2005). I never really saw a reason to check receipts, it's not like they ever looked in the bag to verify anything.

Not sure what went wrong with them but it seems like mismanagement and lack of passion with whoever runs the company now.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

Post by Alpha8472 »

The receipt checkers were all fired. There are just a couple cashiers left at most stores.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

Post by arizonaguy »

Looks like the Anaheim, CA store is closing on March 2:

https://venturebeat.com/2020/02/25/frys ... till-bare/
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Re: Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

Post by Super S »

I am wondering how the Coronavirus situation is affecting Fry's. Haven't really heard about much..seems like this situation could push them over the edge though.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

Post by storewanderer »

They were doing so little business before the Coronavirus I am not sure how much worse it could have made things for them.

Weren't many of their stores closed due to being a non-essential business?

Though Target and Wal Mart got to keep selling electronics across the west coast no problem.

Not that Fry's had much left to sell anyway...
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Re: Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

Post by Alpha8472 »

The stores are doing curbside pickup only. Their stores were virtually empty anyway.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

Post by kr.abs.swy »

I stopped in the Wilsonville, Oregon, Fry's store on Friday. I only had a few minutes, but the main thing that I noticed was that they seemed to be buying a lot of closeout merchandise and trying to sell it at regular price. There was no evidence whatsoever of a sublease program.

I noticed that there were two models of off-brand flat-screen televisions, generally near the entrance. This was a brand I had never heard of. There was no traditional selection of televisions, just these two models that they must have bought through some kind of liquidation channel.

They had made some attempts to make the inventory seem to fill the store. In one case, they had some Energizer solar backpacks that had been spread out to take the majority of one side of an aisle section. There was another aisle with a spectacular spread of some kind of cheap or disposable glassware. Some of the stuff they had really had no place in an electronics store.

What was particularly odd (beyond the fact that these stores are even still open) is that they didn't seem to be offering any discounts on this liquidation merchandise. They seemed to be trying to get full price.

There were no PCs and very few appliances. There was a display of Samsung phones with the Note 10 line, but no floor models of the S20 line.

They had reduced store hours and were closing at 7 p.m.

There can't have been 10% of the inventory that these stores would have had in their heyday. Given that they had so few big-ticket items, it was probably closer to 3-5% by dollar value. There probably weren't a dozen customers in the store (this was at 3:30 p.m. on a Friday).
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Re: Fry’s Electronics on Life Support

Post by Alpha8472 »

They are also trying to be the COVID-19 headquarters. The stores have masks, hand sanitizer, thermometers, and other made in China products. It looks really random now. It is more like a really bad flea market now.

I am surprised that I did not see any made in Mexico toilet paper. At least that would sell.
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