RIP Fry's Electronics -- the end of an era

[mdlbear]

Today I was shocked to read that Fry's Electronics has gone out of business, as of midnight last night (February 24th). Their web page has the announcement:

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.

It's a sad, sad day. Their first ad, a full page in the San Jose Mercury-News, was like nothing seen before (or since), listing computer chips and potato chips on the same page. (Its relationship to Fry's Food and Drug, which had recently been sold by the founders' father, was obvious.) As time went by the groceries largely disappeared, but soft drinks and munchies remained, and some of the larger stores included a cafeé.

I (snail) mailed a copy of that first ad to my father, and that first Sunnyvale store was one of the tourist attractions we visited on his next visit to the West Coast. I have no idea how much money I spent there over the years.

After I moved to Washington in 2012 my visits to Fry's became much less frequent, and more of my electronics started coming from Amazon. It's been years since I saw the inside of a Fry's store.

I'll miss it.

Another fine post from The Computer Curmudgeon (also at computer-curmudgeon.com).
Donation buttons in profile.

Comments

[dreamshark]

OMG, I had no idea. Sad. I'm not West Coast so didn't shop there often but I remember being on a business trip in the Bay Area and making an emergency run to Fry's because some electronic do-dad had failed at a crucial moment while setting up a network test.

[ravan]

I'll miss Fry's. Sure, sometimes their quality sucked, and the lines before Giftmas were horrible, but...

Now there are multiple online retailers of electronic doodads - Amazon, Tiger Direct, Newegg, Microcenter, etc.

[mdlbear]

Not to mention eBay (where I obtained the laptop I'm typing on now)

[madfilkentist]

I've never seen a Fry's. My impression is they never went east of Illinois.

USA Today recently ran an article informing us that the economy is booming. They must have meant it in the sense of blowing up.

[andyheninger]

It's sad, but not unexpected. Even before the pandemic, through 2019, the stores were ghost towns, with mostly empty shelves and almost no customers. I'm surprised they held on as long as they did.

[mdlbear]

I don't remember seeing that, which I guess shows how long it's been since I went to a Fry's.

[danceswithlife]

One of my earliest outings with Leonard Zubkoff, after we started dating, was to Fry's. :-)

[mdlbear]

What a wonderful memory! The quintessential geek date.