NorCalBusa
Member #294
Hearing most all the store shelves are bare...and three dozen registers staffed by two people.
Is Fry's Electronics going OOB?
- Thread starter NorCalBusa
- Start date
mean dad
Well-known member
I was at the Concord store a week or two ago, looked like business as usual... except they didn't have stuff in the middle of the main aisle for sale like they normally do. Staffing levels were down a little bit.
I need a cable splitter anyway, maybe I'll swing by there tomorrow and see what's what.
I need a cable splitter anyway, maybe I'll swing by there tomorrow and see what's what.
Abacinator
Unholy Blasphemies
I was in the Concord store several weeks ago and it looks like they aren't restocking when stuff runs out. :dunno It's been like that for a few years. It's like a sad shell of what it used to be. All happened after they changed their employee compensation scheme.
FXCLM5
bombaclaud
Naw I blame amazon and online buying, they shutdown circuit city, CompUSA, good guys, and my local bestbuy downsized to 1/2 the floorspace to split with PetSmart, and magnolia HiFi had its own store but now moved into bb with atiny showroom now, so naturally Fry's is next :thumbup
ctwo
Merely Rhetorical
I don't see any benefit to the four founders to close shop. They've always run the business quite lean, extracting everything possible from their employees and suppliers.
BTW, John Fry is a mathematician: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Institute_of_Mathematics
BTW, John Fry is a mathematician: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Institute_of_Mathematics
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I had some unique experiences with Fry's.
My Dad did the Architecture for their first store on Lakeside Drive.
He used to do a lot of the the brothers Dad's Fry's super markets.
Dad Fry gave a store to each son when they graduated college or there abouts. The sons were into electronics and sold the stores to start Fry's Electronics. Heard it pissed Dad off! :laughing
I got to do there first store.. Palo Alto, then Fremont, then Sunnyvale, Malibu and then got the shafty from the developer on the Campbell store.
Palo Alto had their corp offices in the adjacent suite and it had a full professional Bball court in it too. Lots of professional athletes went to play pick up games there. It was fun because each store had a theme and we worked with a movie set designer on concepts and then had to figure out how to implement the magic into a real world build.
Come to think of it I have not heard their ads on the radio for a while.
"Your best buys are alwwwwwwwwwwwwwways at Fry's"
My Dad did the Architecture for their first store on Lakeside Drive.
He used to do a lot of the the brothers Dad's Fry's super markets.
Dad Fry gave a store to each son when they graduated college or there abouts. The sons were into electronics and sold the stores to start Fry's Electronics. Heard it pissed Dad off! :laughing
I got to do there first store.. Palo Alto, then Fremont, then Sunnyvale, Malibu and then got the shafty from the developer on the Campbell store.
Palo Alto had their corp offices in the adjacent suite and it had a full professional Bball court in it too. Lots of professional athletes went to play pick up games there. It was fun because each store had a theme and we worked with a movie set designer on concepts and then had to figure out how to implement the magic into a real world build.
Come to think of it I have not heard their ads on the radio for a while.
"Your best buys are alwwwwwwwwwwwwwways at Fry's"
mikev
»»───knee───►
Magnolia whatever the hell is crap, as is most of the stuff at Best Buy. They sell lower models of electronics for more than the higher end models are available online.
NorCalBusa
Member #294
Didn't the Merch head guy clean their clock a decade or so ago- embezzled money for gambling debt, some sort of vendor rebate deal that got diverted to, well, him. Got busted when a subordinate went trash can diving and found a paper trail.
Bud- do John/Randy own the real estate? Now there'd be some gold...
KWeezyXB12
SKRRRRRRRRRRRT!!!!!!
i think they also have their own private golf course in the morgan hill gilroy area. also a girl i went to highschool with is married to one of the sons.
NorCalBusa
Member #294
They owned the majority of Cordeval (sp?) in San Martin, but not for some time now. Also owned The Flying Lady, east side of 101- was a tiny airport, golf & restaurant and a couple homes. Never grew into anything.
Not that I am aware of.
I know Campbell and Palo Alto are a no unless they purchased in the last decade or so.
TheRobSJ
Großer Mechaniker
Worked at store #9 San Jose/Brokaw Rd. many moons ago. Helped set up the Sunnyvale store with the tile floors off Arques Rd.
They...like Best Buy, have more or less become a showroom for Amazon. People go in, poke around and touch, maybe even waste a salesperson’s time by asking questions about the product...then use the Amazon app right there in the store to see how much cheaper it is and buy it on Amazon.
Plus, a good portion of the footprint of retail space in most Fry’s are media. Not a good business model to keep going in the day of being able to download/stream pretty much everything now.
They have appliances, but are not competitive, plus they’re poorly presented/merchandised.
Some of the stores have a cafe inside. But the food sucks, and it’s mostly just employers that use it on a discount.
So there’s a lot of essentially wasted space in those stores now. They’d be a lot better off in stores that are maybe half as big as they are now. Because there’s still a use for brick and mortars like them. Sure, some people are willing to trust Amazon for a 60” tv. I don’t think I will. If I see the box is smooshed on a corner in a store? I get another one. Not a luxury you get when you order online.
They...like Best Buy, have more or less become a showroom for Amazon. People go in, poke around and touch, maybe even waste a salesperson’s time by asking questions about the product...then use the Amazon app right there in the store to see how much cheaper it is and buy it on Amazon.
Plus, a good portion of the footprint of retail space in most Fry’s are media. Not a good business model to keep going in the day of being able to download/stream pretty much everything now.
They have appliances, but are not competitive, plus they’re poorly presented/merchandised.
Some of the stores have a cafe inside. But the food sucks, and it’s mostly just employers that use it on a discount.
So there’s a lot of essentially wasted space in those stores now. They’d be a lot better off in stores that are maybe half as big as they are now. Because there’s still a use for brick and mortars like them. Sure, some people are willing to trust Amazon for a 60” tv. I don’t think I will. If I see the box is smooshed on a corner in a store? I get another one. Not a luxury you get when you order online.
Ducky_Fresh
Treasure Hunter
Bro, you need to buy a TV from amazon then! :laughing
I got two on a prime day because I wasn’t sure which had a better display. I kept one returned the other. Both came in great shape. Return policy was FREE. How they make that work, no idea!!!
FXCLM5
bombaclaud
exactly, i dunno how amazon does it, free shipping on like furniture too.... its bizzzzzzzzare
ctwo
Merely Rhetorical
Omar was a director with buyers and store managers under him - the issue was a bit more extensive, but dealt with quickly. Not a clock cleaning.
Nobody but the top brass will know what's going on.
They own the majority of the real estate but not all. I don't know which stores. Bud seems on track with that.
TheRobSJ
Großer Mechaniker
Oh I know how they make it work. They put it all on the retailer who’s selling through them. They don’t get hurt. Want to sell on Amazon? Then you take back stuff even if it means you’re going to lose money on it.
Bought a cheap LED bulb one to replace a 50w pendant light bulb. Plugged it in and of course it wasn’t even close to being bright. I submitted a return request and the retailer said here’s your refund, just keep it since it’ll cost me even more to pay to ship it back and try to resell a used bulb.
My dealer’s part department has tried to maintain an Amazon store. It’s petty shit like oil filters and wiper blades. People claim they never got it or return it “because it’s wrong” and we get back well used brake pads. Plus Amazon takes a cut of every sale. We lost money on the endeavor. So no more Amazon store for us.
Bay Arean
Well-known member
Yeah, John Fry went to Alhambra High in Martinez becuase they lived in Alhambra Valley. I was a casual friend. He was into math even then. He palled around with another friend who I was closer to, Lenard Sabatini, who I think is down there in the Valley now. I remember he had a brother but I can't remember ever meeting him. I have to look in my yearbooks but John is definitely in there.
John brought this guy home once to Lenard's house who was one of those savant guys that went to a college when he was 14 and had some Defense Dept tie-in. Man, they were talking about de-materializing shit. Since I have severe math anxiety, I nodded and smiled.
John was class of 74 (I was 73 but skipped a grade so we were same age). Only kid to take prom date to dance in a Caddy, which was impressive in those days in our blue-collar town..
John was a very nice guy, very respectful and understated person which was rare in those days when everybody was kind of acting out; that's how I remember him at any rate.. I have no idea whats he's like now. Doesn't come to our reunions and such (Mtz has a multi-decades reunions that's a blast). I have kind of followed the fortunes of his operation for years. To me, it has always reminded of the days when people used to build their own PCs. Never was a Mac-type of place. I always thought the service was kind of bizarre because there were tons of employees but I never could get any help except in the big appliance dept.
I dont know what it takes to stay in business, frankly, in the brick and mortar mode. If it goes out, it just limits us more and more with having any possible hands-on exposure to products. Best Buy sucks. Radio Shack has always been a pathologically damaged and limited operation that I never understood, selling mostly crap but sometimes something I needed. I don't know where else you can go for electronics shit. I figure there must be some store down in Silicon Valley that the computery dudes know about that is super rudimentary but I have no idea if it actually exists. I know that's the place to get office furniture and such.
John brought this guy home once to Lenard's house who was one of those savant guys that went to a college when he was 14 and had some Defense Dept tie-in. Man, they were talking about de-materializing shit. Since I have severe math anxiety, I nodded and smiled.
John was class of 74 (I was 73 but skipped a grade so we were same age). Only kid to take prom date to dance in a Caddy, which was impressive in those days in our blue-collar town..
John was a very nice guy, very respectful and understated person which was rare in those days when everybody was kind of acting out; that's how I remember him at any rate.. I have no idea whats he's like now. Doesn't come to our reunions and such (Mtz has a multi-decades reunions that's a blast). I have kind of followed the fortunes of his operation for years. To me, it has always reminded of the days when people used to build their own PCs. Never was a Mac-type of place. I always thought the service was kind of bizarre because there were tons of employees but I never could get any help except in the big appliance dept.
I dont know what it takes to stay in business, frankly, in the brick and mortar mode. If it goes out, it just limits us more and more with having any possible hands-on exposure to products. Best Buy sucks. Radio Shack has always been a pathologically damaged and limited operation that I never understood, selling mostly crap but sometimes something I needed. I don't know where else you can go for electronics shit. I figure there must be some store down in Silicon Valley that the computery dudes know about that is super rudimentary but I have no idea if it actually exists. I know that's the place to get office furniture and such.
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Bay Arean
Well-known member
Okay, there's an answer. And lordy, you changed your avatar to that guy. OMG.