Frys Goes Belly Up

[DLD]

The historical cycle for electronics store was to start in small/mom and pop boutiques, then go larger, lager and larger. In the 1980's, there were still a bunch of smaller chains around the US. By the mid-1990's, they were mostly driven out of business by the mass market chains, who were subsequently driven out by the megastores. And then by the internet.

My take that it'll soon come back to the boutiques because one ain't getting no service with the online sites. But it's going to have to again start with the high end/high margin products. And it's unlikely to be in consumer audio and video, since that has become a disposable product.

[chris f]

Every time I walked into Fry's I always said to myself "This is like the internet, but in real life"

[filmguy123]

Every time I walked into Fry's I always said to myself "This is like the internet, but in real life"

Hah! You can tell which generation someone is from based on whether they think the internet is "like a retail store, only digital"; or if they think a retail store is "like the internet, but physical."

But I hear you, Fry's wasn't anything like Bestbuy with a slim smattering of highlighted products, it felt more as if the product existed, you could simply wander the cataloged aisles until you found it.

[puredrifting]

Hah! You can tell which generation someone is from based on whether they think the internet is "like a retail store, only digital"; or if they think a retail store is "like the internet, but physical."

But I hear you, Fry's wasn't anything like Bestbuy with a slim smattering of highlighted products, it felt more as if the product existed, you could simply wander the cataloged aisles until you found it.

That's what I'll miss the most, just cruising the aisles there and coming across some weird, random thing. The first consumer drone I ever saw was for sale at Frys quite a few years ago.
First LED ribbon lights I ever saw were at Frys. It was a cool place in it's day. Where else could you buy Jelly Bellys along with a Wolf Industrial Range to compliment your PC motherboard wiring
retention clips? ;-) Truly a one stop shop for Christmas shopping, I could find something for EVERYONE on my list there, from Luddite to ultra nerd.

[scorsesefan]

My local, pretty big camera shop went out of business before the pandemic.

Competition seems so brutal...just a grind to get by now I imagine versus easily selling a few trucks of $75K betacams back-in-the-day.

Which one was that, Norbro?

[NorBro]

Cameta Camera

[scorsesefan]

Cameta Camera

Oh. That was in Amityville, right? Is Berger Brothers still around?

[NorBro]

Yeah. BB closed a couple of locations over the last 10 years and has their solo HQ in Syosset. Not sure if they are still open but I think they are (was there last summer).

[Batutta]

Thankfully down in OC we have MicroCenter. The “mini” Frys.

Canada has Memory Express, which is similar, a smaller chain store focused only on computer components. The also have a good online site. This is probably the way forward for electronics retailers, smaller targeted stores instead of giant box stores.

[cyvideo]

When all the brick and mortar are gone, we may realize just how much we missed wandering these museums of products with a bunch of geeks to point us in the right direction. I'll be telling my kids about it someday and they'll look at me like I used to look at my dad talking about an 8 track tape.

Hey I remember them! 8 tracks were all the go there for a while. My first real electronic day of wonder was around '62-'63 when a friend of mine put a new 45 RPM record player in his car. Everyone wanted to tool around in his wheels. I knew from that moment on the future world of electronics was going to be a blast.

Chris Young

car record player.jpg