Fry’s Electronics out of business

bryceleinan
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Fry’s Electronics out of business

Post by bryceleinan »

I’ve seen a ton of posts on Reddit and Facebook about Fry’s closing after tonight… site is down and they did recently close their distribution center. Can’t say I’m surprised in the least based on my last experiences in Wilsonville and Sacramento.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.shackn ... famphtml=1
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Re: Fry’s Electronics out of business

Post by Alpha8472 »

This is sad. Fry's was well known for each store having a theme such as a Mayan Temple or Alice In Wonderland. I do hope that people are taking photos of these buildings as they could be dismantled very soon.

It was not that long ago when Fry's was doing good business. People would drive from miles around to shop at their stores and marvel at the huge selection of products.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics out of business

Post by bryceleinan »

…and it’s official:

https://www.frys.com has the following:

After nearly 36 years in business as the one-stop-shop and online resource for high-tech professionals across nine states and 31 stores, Fry’s Electronics, Inc. (“Fry’s” or “Company”), has made the difficult decision to shut down its operations and close its business permanently as a result of changes in the retail industry and the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Company will implement the shut down through an orderly wind down process that it believes will be in the best interests of the Company, its creditors, and other stakeholders.

The Company ceased regular operations and began the wind-down process on February 24, 2021. It is hoped that undertaking the wind-down through this orderly process will reduce costs, avoid additional liabilities, minimize the impact on our customers, vendors, landlords and associates, and maximize the value of the Company’s assets for its creditors and other stakeholders.

The Company is in the process of reaching out to its customers with repairs and consignment vendors to help them understand what this will mean for them and the proposed next steps.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics out of business

Post by veteran+ »

Sad to see them go in such a shameful way.

I would have preferred them to have thrived rather than Best Buy.

Now Sears and Kmart..................please go away now?
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Re: Fry’s Electronics out of business

Post by arizonaguy »

They've been on a downward trend since about 2016 or so (I wanted to buy a Stereo receiver there but their pricing and selection was starting to go down so I ended up getting it from Amazon instead).

The problem is that in the end Amazon sold everything Fry's did for about 1/2 the price and once Amazon Prime took off with fast shipping the delay in getting items from Amazon versus going to Fry's to get the item immediately for more money tilted the scales towards Amazon.

In their heyday they were my go to store.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics out of business

Post by wnetmacman »

This is sad, but the writing has been on the wall for some time. The switch to consignment sales were the biggest clue; no vendor trusted them with credit.

In their heyday, they were an impressive store, but the last two visits I had were enough to drive me away. Low stock and hard to find help; that's a recipe for disaster. Combined with the fact that they only operated in a few markets, and usually had too many stores in them; Houston had 3, Dallas/Fort Worth had 4. Outside large metro areas, none. That just doesn't work well. They had some neat store designs, though.

I just hope Micro Center hangs in there.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics out of business

Post by Super S »

It's sad to see Fry's go away. Up until about 3-4 years ago, the Wilsonville, Oregon store still had very good selection. They had many unique items you could not find elsewhere. A few years back I replaced my home stereo and was looking for a receiver, but also wanted a new cassette deck (I still have many cassettes). Fry's was the only place where I found both. They also had a good selection of outdoor TV antennas and accessories, which I could not find elsewhere in the Portland area.

Last time I was in there, about 2-3 years ago, I was looking for a new Blu-Ray player. They literally had 2 to choose from and as I recall they were off-brands. Lots of empty space at that point. I actually ended up at Best Buy.

Electronics (specifically more expensive items) are a product category that I don't like ordering online. I don't really like those items sitting outside when my work schedule varies. Online doesn't work for everybody.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics out of business

Post by retailfanmitchell019 »

I'm not surprised. I thought that Fry's would go out when the pandemic started, as more people were turning to online shopping. There are plenty of options out there to buy electronics. The last time I went there, there were very few customers inside, and some of the shelves were empty.
Fry's was a very unique store however. The store near me (San Marcos, CA) had an Atlantis theme. We bought a lot of computer parts from that place. It was a great store for DIY computer builders and gamers. It's sad to see Fry's go out.
At least it ends confusion between the electronics store and the Kroger-owned supermarket chain in AZ. They had a very similar logo and was founded by the same family.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics out of business

Post by storewanderer »

I considered going into the Roseville Fry's quite a few times over the last 3 months as I've driven right by it multiple times. But I just kept passing it up. I didn't really want to see the zombie Fry's.

I wanted to remember Fry's as that buzzing Costco-like electronic store with crazy crowds of people, tons of products, long checkout lines, etc.

This has been a long time coming.
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Re: Fry’s Electronics out of business

Post by Brian Lutz »

I've certainly bought my share of stuff at the Fry's up here over the years, but my last couple of visits to the store, I found it pretty barren. On the "Hardware Junkies" group on Facebook I'm a member of, there's a lot of people who have long lamented the lack of options for brick and mortar purchases of computer hardware around here; I live in an area with lots of tech companies, but right now the only real brick and mortar option for purchasing any computer hardware around here is Best Buy, and their selection is so limited as to be almost useless for building all but a fairly basic system. At one point there were also a large number of local computer stores here as well,. but all of those have closed down too.

Of course there's always online options such as Amazon, Newegg and B&H, but there's so many stories of delayed, damaged or just plain lost shipments on that group (not so much the fault of the online retailers as that of the shippers) that people just don't trust that they'll actually get their order in one piece anymore if they order from those. One common thing I see there is people wishing Micro Center would come in and fill the void, but I don't think they have any stores closer to here than Northern California.
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