RIP Fry's Electronics?

23,505 Views | 175 Replies | Last: 3 yr ago by lb3
BadMoonRisin
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Couple of news stories came out in the last day or two about there bare shelves in Fry's electronics stores:

https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/10/07/frys-electronics-empty-shelves-customers-concerned/

A co-worker of mine posted some pictures on facebook of the North Austin location with most of the aisles being completely barren and rifled through. It looks like a Soviet grocery store. When he asked some of the employees about it, they said they are not going out of business, but having "supply chain issues".

In the article it says that they are shifting a lot of their suppliers from Net 30 terms to consignment (meaning that they dont actually pay their supplier until the inventory has been sold off of their shelves).

Looks like the suppliers arent willing to do that for Fry's, concerned that they may just declare bankruptcy and they would have to just get in line behind everyone else as the company was liquidated to see if they ever got pennies on the dollar for the inventory that Fry's had to fire-sale.

Sad times. I loved Fry's.
I know I ain't leavin' you like I know He ain't leavin' us
I know we believe in God and I know God believes in us
Proposition Joe
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Surprised they have lasted this long. The only niche they currently fill is "same day pickup" on computer hardware... Everything else is done better by Amazon (who can actually get much of the stuff to you same-day as well).
spanky
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They are still sending out secret codes to use for "name brand" 75" TV
Bodie Broadus
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Noooooo!!!!! I loved this place
jm94
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Fry's used to be great. When the local one opened some 17 years ago, the line wrapped around the store. For years, it was a good place to get deals, there were plenty of cashiers, DVD aisles for days, etc. I used to check the weekly ads pretty eagerly.

I've been a couple of times in recent years, and whoa is it different. It's nigh on depressing.
Aggieangler93
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Once I quit building desktop machines, Fry's lost interest to me. Last time I was in, I was not impressed any longer. Most pegs were empty.

Expecting suppliers to sell to you on consignment is an idiotic idea, that would require massive overhauls to inventory and control systems from many vendors, so I can see how that would fail.

Whoever thought that up, must be only an accountant, and have never dealt with a vendor or supplier. If that is truly what is going on, they will fold soon.

Imagine telling Energizer you want to consign their batteries, or a massive company like Intel, that you want to consign their CPUs. Why would they re-invent their process of selling you a product at a wholesale price, to consigning something to you? Now Intel has to be responsible for accounting for their inventory, that is on your shelf, instead of Frys? How would that ever even work with a product line?
Class of '93 - proud Dad of a '22 grad and a '26 student!
Jasomania
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I went to one in Houston two weeks ago for the first time in a few years and it was shocking how little inventory they had. Even aisles that had merch were at most 1/4 to 1/3 full. Some aisles had nothing at all and there was huge areas of just bare floor. Entire areas dedicated to tech demos were empty. The only things they seem to have full stock of were "as seen on tv" items and cases of water and pepsi.

It was a Sunday afternoon and there may have been 10 customers total in the store. There were two cashiers out of the 40+ registers that was open and it was plenty to handle the customers. If they make it to the end of the year i'll be amazed, it looked like week 8 of when Blockbuster was liquidating inventory.

MGS
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The one in Plano is the same way. The funny thing is that the Microcenter just a few miles south is still going strong.
Pman17
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MGS said:

The one in Plano is the same way. The funny thing is that the Microcenter just a few miles south is still going strong.
I love Microcenter! I got the parts for my PC build at that Richardson location.

I went to the Nasa Fry's a few months ago, saw nobody there. Sucks they may go. It's the best place to shop for parts in person. Microcenter is too but there's only two in Texas.

But I can see them going. I remembered when they were late to Gift Cards. They had these printed gift certificates that were a pain to get redeemed. Their e-commerce isn't good as well. Website looks like something from the early 2000s.
tamusc
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Yeah, was in the North Austin location a few weeks ago and it was laughable how empty some of the aisles were, particularly for anything that might actually interest me. They still had plenty of cheap gadget crap to sell when you first walk in though or where you wait in line to check out.

Sad because I always enjoyed going to buy PC parts there to build mine or my friends PCs. Fry's hasn't been competitive on pricing or Cartier of parts in years though. Heck, Best Buy has better PC parts selection (outside of PC cases) last time I looked.
AtlAg05
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Microcenter has been hit of miss for me.

Just went in last Friday for a new GPU, took a while to get help and all he did was bring it out of the back and take it up front. Didn't get to ask any questions or look to see if he got the right one.

Went to the front and got a manager, on their website Microcenter was showing 1 year parts/labor warranty while Amazon/Newegg were 2 years. He spent time trying to find any additional info from the manufacturer etc but ended up just saying sorry it's only 1 year.

I made the comment about getting the same product for the same price elsewhere and get 2 years. His response was just "sorry".

I thought they would try to get a sale but he didn't seem to care.
nai06
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I ran into a frys last week and was shocked at how empty it was. Hardly any employees and the components section was maybe 1/4 full of product.
hph6203
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Not surprised. Surprised it wasn't sooner. They were great back in the day when they were one of the few ways to get PC components, but nothing differentiates them now.
.
fig96
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Proposition Joe said:

Surprised they have lasted this long. The only niche they currently fill is "same day pickup" on computer hardware... Everything else is done better by Amazon (who can actually get much of the stuff to you same-day as well).
I didn't realize they were even still around.
Proposition Joe
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fig96 said:

Proposition Joe said:

Surprised they have lasted this long. The only niche they currently fill is "same day pickup" on computer hardware... Everything else is done better by Amazon (who can actually get much of the stuff to you same-day as well).
I didn't realize they were even still around.

I didn't either until a few years back I needed some high end hardware and didn't want to wait 2 days for Amazon or NewEgg to get it here so I drove out to Fry's to get it.

It's essentially what happened with Best Buy 10 years ago where many people started using it as a rental store to have something for a few days until it got delivered. Best Buy actually made the only real move they could and embraced it -- marking up their "I need it today" items significantly and using the rest of the store basically as a showcase and cell phone store. Toss in the Geek Squad and their managed to make hold death at bay for a while, but it's coming for them shortly.

I imagine Fry's attempting the consignment route isn't them think it's a good idea, it's them having no other options that work financially for them so this is the big hail mary before closing.
Duncan Idaho
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Frys stopped being frys when they stopped selling porn and making themed stores
flintdragon
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The thing I hate about Fry's is that they treat you like a criminal when you return something. I think it is because they want to put the item right back on the shelves with a $3 discount for being open box.

They will dump the entire content out of the box and scour every tiny thing given you the impression that you are out to scam them. Always hated that feeling.
Decay
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Fry's was the best. I grew up in Austin before that store opened by Wells Branch so the closest was in Irving. I remembered begging my parents every time we were in the Metroplex to stop in while we were visiting family. They had all of the things you read about in the PC magazines, right there on the shelves!

Then a few years later, I practically built my first PC in the aisles of the Austin store since I was there so often.

Nowadays I stop in like once a year for a miscellaneous cable, or <$20 electronics item, and each time walked out less impressed. I've found Microcenter, Altex, even something like Graybar all better options for the stuff I need now... Aside from Amazon or newegg of course.

I'll pour one out for you Fry's. Joining Blockbuster and the Sub Shop that used to be by my house as great companies that made dumb decisions and died a painful, inevitable death.
Bodie Broadus
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Microcenter to boom on this bust? Or will Amazon or Newegg eat away at their margins too?
Proposition Joe
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Why would any brick and mortar store for items you can increasingly get delivered in < 48 hours have a boom?

Advanced warehousing and cheap shipping have made large stores like that obsolete.
Bodie Broadus
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People like me prefer picking the hardware out? I honestly prefer going to these types of stores. I have built a few PC's ordering off Amazon and Newegg and I was not a fan.
nai06
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Proposition Joe said:

Why would any brick and mortar store for items you can increasingly get delivered in < 48 hours have a boom?

Advanced warehousing and cheap shipping have made large stores like that obsolete.
because sometimes amazon isn't fast enough. Sometimes I need something right now and not tomorrow.
AtlAg05
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Bodie Broadus said:

Microcenter to boom on this bust? Or will Amazon or Newegg eat away at their margins too?


On my trip that I mentioned above I did notice people asking questions to some to the employees and the most common thing I heard was, "Oh you'll need someone from BYO to answer that". Probably heard that half a dozen times to different customers.

I assume BYO is the Build Your Own, which seems like the target customer for Microcenter but it seems they are staffing towards the prebuilt side.

I don't remember having heard that distinction before. It'd be interesting to know what the breakdown between BYO and prebuilt customers they have.
SF2004
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Proposition Joe said:

Why would any brick and mortar store for items you can increasingly get delivered in < 48 hours have a boom?

Advanced warehousing and cheap shipping have made large stores like that obsolete.
Because when I need a part on Friday I don't want to wait until Monday to have it delivered. I have then lost the weekend to do whatever it was and would have to wait the entire week to have time again.

I would gladly pay a little more to get it today. Unfortunately this type of customer can't sustain a B&M entirely.

That and I noticed that even if Frys has what I need they will generally only stock the one with terrible reviews for some reason.
Proposition Joe
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nai06 said:

Proposition Joe said:

Why would any brick and mortar store for items you can increasingly get delivered in < 48 hours have a boom?

Advanced warehousing and cheap shipping have made large stores like that obsolete.
because sometimes amazon isn't fast enough. Sometimes I need something right now and not tomorrow.

Understandable... That's why Radio Shack thrived for so lo.... wait a minute.

People who need things same-day and willing to pay that markup wasn't enough to sustain Radio Shacks which had a tiny real estate footprint.

It's sure not going to sustain giant stores.

Warehousing and shipping are only going to get better. If there's a big enough demand for same-day delivery on items, it will be filled.

And again, I know where you are coming from -- it's literally why I went to Fry's a few years back. But those customers are few and far between and not enough to keep a business afloat.
EastSideAg2002
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Their systems are the worse. I upgraded my phone last year because they had a 300 rebate. It took almost 2 hours because no one knew how to use their systems. I also ordered a receiver from them this year and estimated shipping date was like 5 days. It took almost 6 weeks to get it.
UmustBKidding
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To me trying to get vendors to floor plan merchandise is following in Best buy's footsteps. Their "stores within a store" concept is to get vendor companies to hold inventory, staff and their benefits on their P&L not Best Buys and get paid for it. Only reason I set foot in Best Buy is they now have a better parts inventory and price match Amazon a few others. Actually now seldom have price match they obviously scrape amazon and newegg and automatically match their prices. Fry's was useful at one point but unless they have Jolt in stock I can't think of anything that other places don't have better price and with 1day /same day amazon and sunday delivery little use for frys
UmustBKidding
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Was thinking fry's could convert to the service merchandise model. Have a display of every item all their vendors has back stock of and have clipboard with golf pencils you can go around and write UPC's of what you want and take to the window for fulfillment. Could move to current century and have an app for it.
Actually my dream would be that amazon fulfillment centers would have will call window where you could pickup orders within an hour.

Flashdiaz
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wow haven't thought of Service Merchandise in a looong time.
hatchback
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Duncan Idaho said:

Frys stopped being frys when they stopped selling porn and making themed stores

The country-western themed store on NW Highway in Dallas is absolutely ridiculous. As others have pointed out, the store is empty of both product and employees. The knucklehead visitors who turn up the display stereo/theater equipment to full volume are still there, though.
aezmvp
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I mean the selection was, was, great. But mostly the people there were awful. Never cared for the store much. Love MicroCenter though, they're pretty great!
Proposition Joe
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hatchback said:

Duncan Idaho said:

Frys stopped being frys when they stopped selling porn and making themed stores

The country-western themed store on NW Highway in Dallas is absolutely ridiculous. As others have pointed out, the store is empty of both product and employees. The knucklehead visitors who turn up the display stereo/theater equipment to full volume are still there, though.

Hah, I didn't realize that was a theme I just thought that was how they all were.
TMoney2007
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Aggieangler93 said:

Once I quit building desktop machines, Fry's lost interest to me. Last time I was in, I was not impressed any longer. Most pegs were empty.

Expecting suppliers to sell to you on consignment is an idiotic idea, that would require massive overhauls to inventory and control systems from many vendors, so I can see how that would fail.

Whoever thought that up, must be only an accountant, and have never dealt with a vendor or supplier. If that is truly what is going on, they will fold soon.

Imagine telling Energizer you want to consign their batteries, or a massive company like Intel, that you want to consign their CPUs. Why would they re-invent their process of selling you a product at a wholesale price, to consigning something to you? Now Intel has to be responsible for accounting for their inventory, that is on your shelf, instead of Frys? How would that ever even work with a product line?
It works for many products in retail... Basically all of the tools in a Home Depot are sold on consignment.

One company trying to get vendors to switch to consignment just for them isn't going to work unless the company is significantly bigger than Frys. Also, it likely flat out doesn't work on small things like connectors and whatnot.

I knew Fry's was in a bad place when the Webster store didn't fix the water damage in their entrance for several years.
BadMoonRisin
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Bodie Broadus said:

Microcenter to boom on this bust? Or will Amazon or Newegg eat away at their margins too?
Microcenter will take their market share for sure, as they are the closest "big box specialty" store out there, and their customers are extremely loyal.

However, the market share they will swallow is not as big as it used to be.
I know I ain't leavin' you like I know He ain't leavin' us
I know we believe in God and I know God believes in us
OldArmyBrent
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Proposition Joe said:

hatchback said:

Duncan Idaho said:

Frys stopped being frys when they stopped selling porn and making themed stores

The country-western themed store on NW Highway in Dallas is absolutely ridiculous. As others have pointed out, the store is empty of both product and employees. The knucklehead visitors who turn up the display stereo/theater equipment to full volume are still there, though.

Hah, I didn't realize that was a theme I just thought that was how they all were.

Wait are there other themes? I went in there looking for something a few months ago when I wasn't going to be near the Plano store. The whole thing was odd with the dynamite boxes and such. It also felt like they were saving money on electricity by keeping half the lights off.

Maybe I can get one of those electric folding bikes on clearance now.
 
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