EEVblog Electronics Community Forum
General => General Technical Chat => Topic started by: Sal Ammoniac on September 21, 2019, 07:21:43 am
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We have half a dozen Fry's in the SF Bay Area and all of them have been like ghost towns recently with nearly bare shelves and very few employees to be seen in the vast expanses these stores occupy. Are they going out of business? It sure seems like they're circling the drain.
Anyone have any definitive info on why the shelves are bare? They've been an icon here in Silicon Valley for 35 years, but given the current state of the stores, I don't give them long. Looks like they'll soon be joining Circuit City, CompUSA, and Radio Shack in oblivion.
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I was surprised at the variety of electronics stuff they had at the time, but that was a long time ago. Yeah the stores are huge, must be worth fortune to rent, or maybe they own them?
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Yes they're circling the drain now...
https://www.tweaktown.com/news/67191/frys-electronics-stores-soon-close-seeing-same-fate-toysrus/index.html (https://www.tweaktown.com/news/67191/frys-electronics-stores-soon-close-seeing-same-fate-toysrus/index.html)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzNe1OO3n1s (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzNe1OO3n1s)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8bEcgJRShw (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8bEcgJRShw)
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The last time I visited their Sunnyvale store, admittedly a few years ago, it seemed to be a woeful collection of fairly mediocre stuff but the locals seemed to rave about it. The one thing it had was floorspace. Their small electronics components / test gear section made even our local Maplin store look good (maybe a little harsh).
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All I can relate to is what has happened to me and friends at Fry's in the past. I would buy computer hardware at the local store in Sunnyvale at the time, but not at the present location. I needed a 5.25" diskette drive (yes this is how far back I go with Fry's). So I drove around 15 miles from South San Jose to the store, got a drive and came home. I couldn't get it to work no matter what I did with the jumpers. The drive didn't look new at the time but was "shrink wrapped" but not in a box. So I drove back to Sunnyvale, went to returns and got a voucher so that I could get another drive. No problems at the returns. So I pick out another drive from the stack they had on the shelf and went to checkout. While standing in line I was looking that the "new" one that I had selected. On the side of the drive someone had written "BAD" in felt tip. But still it was shrink wrapped? So I asked to see the store manager who told me to get yet another drive. At least this one did work when I got home.
My guess is that the returns "checkout" tech gave my original one (which was probably bad to start) a quick check and declared it "good" and shrink wrapped it even though someone else had returned it before I got it because it didn't work.
A friend who I worked with wanted a TI laptop. He went to Fry's and bought one in the original packaging. He got it home and began to use it when it suddenly crashed and then rebooted. He went through several iterations of this and then called TI support to get it fixed. When he gave TI support the serial number the tech asked for his name. But this TI laptop had already been registered to someone else before him. So again Fry's had gotten back a bad unit, did a fast checkout and then shrink wrapped it and sold it again to my friend as brand new. I had a few other incidents with Fry's and equipment before I realize that they were, shall we say, less than honest. I bought an inverter (12V to 110V) got it home and hooked up the 12V battery, turned it on and it immediately started to spark and smoke. I went back to exchange it and inspected a few others that were on the shelf. One had a rattle inside when shaken so I didn't take that one. But again all in the original packages and shrink wrapped.
Bottom line here is that Fry's was investigated by the Santa Clara County District Attorney for reselling returned equipment as new and using the shrink wrap to fool customers into believing that they were getting a brand new unit! This was more than a few years ago but I simply quit buying ANYTHING from them because I couldn't trust what I was getting. I wouldn't even buy magazines for fear that they were defective somehow.
Bottom line Fry's may well be going out of business because they have lost ALL customer confidence and trust and no one will buy from them. I am surprised that it took this long for people to realize how bad they really are!
Just one man's experiences,
Bill
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Fry's was always a strange beast. At it's heyday, it had a great selection of computer parts, an OK selection of electronic parts, and a non-zero selection of test equipment -- but this was more than anywhere else, I guess. Customer service was always lousy, and the store was pretty famous for putting returns back on the shelf. This was not entirely irrational because it was not uncommon for people with short-term needs to make use of the "Fry's rental plan" by which they bought something like an oscilloscope, used it for a week, and returned it. For a long time Fry's had porn out in the checkout line. You could pick up some Jolt Cola and a Hustler on your way out after getting some DRAM sticks.
It was great to have around when you needed a specific thingamajig to connect the whatsit to the doohickey, especially before the Internets, but overall, I didn't do much shopping there except in "emergencies."
One thing they did do nicely was have an efficient checkout system: one line and multiple tellers, with a dispatcher at the front of the line to send customers to the next open cashier. That was great. Of course, they were one of the first stores to have a security guard at the door to look at your receipt. Always hated that.
A fun thing about Fry's is that the stores were themed. I think the one in Palo Alto has gigantic components on the wall, so it's like you're inside a computer. The one in Campbell is Egyptian themed because why not. They also have random "exhibits" of old SV stuff, including an Apple I under glass and some interesting power tubes for radar applications.
I haven't been in a Fry's in years. I won't miss it, but I do have some nostalgia for when it was new (to me). It sort of went with a different Silicon Valley than we have today; scrappier, grimier, nerdier.
I don't live in SV anymore. Is Central Computer still going strong? That was a great place to build a system. Their prices weren't great, but they people there knew what they were doing. You could walk out of there with the parts to build a fully customized system, which was a lot of fun back when building computers was fun.
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Fry's used to be a pretty amazing place, but it's been years since I've bothered to make the 30 minute drive to the one nearest to me. Unless I need something right away it's simply less hassle to order it online and the shipping cost is about what I'd spend on gas to drive there anyway. It's unfortunate but that's just the way the world is these days.
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I noticed a while back that Fry's wasn't restocking shelves at the bay area stores. I asked the the employee that manages the electronics section what the scoop was with all the empty shelves. He stated that Fry's business is not doing well (he mentioned the Amazon effect) and they focus on manly big ticket items now. I suspect, in time, Fry's will go the way of the Sunnyvale's Computer Literacy bookstore (I think that was the name) and close shop.
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You can skip to ~46:00 where Shango visits a Fry's
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IPLSdXuCok (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IPLSdXuCok)
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You can skip to ~46:00 where Shango visits a Fry's
Wow. No customers and empty shelves. A goner for sure. :palm:
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I was at Fry's in Woodland Hills last month to buy a microwave oven. The didn't have stock in the size I wanted so the clerk did a check of other stores. He said no, it would have to be back ordered and would take a while.
Needless to say, I bought the oven I wanted elsewhere.
But yes the store was nearly empty of customers and merchandise. I don't think it's greed so much as disinterest. Whoever manages it, doesn't.
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The frys in that video is near torrance and I went to that store somewhat often a couple years ago and he's right, it was usually packed(and it's a SMALL lot for a frys, and a small frys) although I have no idea when he was there. Woodland hills has usually been about 1/4-1/2 full parking lot. It actually only started going downhill there recently with a bit of the store empty, big sales it still gets pretty busy.
The frys in Anaheim is still usually pretty decent but I haven't been there in a couple months. I really think the thing that kills it, especially now, is the easy returns. At this point you can go and borrow something then if you decide you like it you return it and find the cheapest one online. Their local delivery isn't quick, the good sales aren't often... I've still used it when I needed random things right now but I guess that might not last either.
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Fry’s tries to quell rumors of its demise as customers worry about empty shelves
https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/09/10/frys-tries-to-quell-rumors-of-its-demise-as-customers-worry-about-empty-shelves/ (https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/09/10/frys-tries-to-quell-rumors-of-its-demise-as-customers-worry-about-empty-shelves/)
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They can blame Amazon, but it has been a long downhill slide starting long before Amazon made any real difference. In my mind they reached their apex sometime in the mid 80s and it has been downhill since. It was once shear magic to go into one of their stores and see anything you could imagine stuffing in or around a desktop computer at prices at or below anyplace else I could find. All the other stuff was nice too. The parts. The test gear and so on, which was as said before, not fantastic, but better than anywhere else. As the desktop world began to lose its magic and relatively non customizable laptops began to take over they lost some of their edge, and it just kept going. I have dropped in a few times in the last decade when I am in a city with a store and have only found one thing worth buying in any of those visits.
They are like the DEC of retail electronics. They found a niche, exploited it and then didn't notice when the niche started going away. It will be sad to see them gone, but that is what happens when you don't change with the market.
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The NTE components in Shango’s video surely brought back memories.
Those and Sylvania’s ECGs, were a given on any TV repair shop.
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A fun thing about Fry's is that the stores were themed. I think the one in Palo Alto has gigantic components on the wall, so it's like you're inside a computer. The one in Campbell is Egyptian themed because why not. They also have random "exhibits" of old SV stuff, including an Apple I under glass and some interesting power tubes for radar applications.
The Palo Alto store theme is the Old West. You're thinking of the second Sunnyvale store (there have been three)--that's the one with the gigantic components on the wall.
I don't live in SV anymore. Is Central Computer still going strong?
Yes, it is. They've opened new stores in San Mateo and Pleasanton. The Pleasanton store was very convenient for me, but, unfortunately, they closed it about a year ago. The Sunnyvale store burned down in April and they're about to open a replacement store at a different location in Sunnyvale.
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They can blame Amazon, but it has been a long downhill slide starting long before Amazon made any real difference. In my mind they reached their apex sometime in the mid 80s and it has been downhill since. It was once shear magic to go into one of their stores and see anything you could imagine stuffing in or around a desktop computer at prices at or below anyplace else I could find.
Fry's was amazing when it first opened. I went to the grand opening of the Sunnyvale store (Fry's store #1) back in 1985 and it was like nothing else around. You could pick up all sorts of computer components, from disk drives, memory, and even the little parts needed to put everything together. They literally had it all. You could also pick up a case of Jolt Cola or potato chips while you were at it because they had a big selection of nerd junk food in the middle of the big aisles.
Customer service has never been good at Fry's, even in the old days. It has always mostly been immigrants with poor English skills and even poorer technical skills. Fry's was great if you knew exactly what you wanted, but not so great if you didn't. I've overheard lots of completely nonsense advice given to customers by some of these clueless idiots over the years. I've often stepped in and told the customer the real facts, sometimes to the disgust of the salesdroid.
What people have said about Fry's selling returns is very true. Their shrinkwrap machine in the backroom got a constant workout as they repackaged returns and put them back on the shelf as new. I remember picking up a Jaz disk cartridge (anyone remember those?) from the shelf and noticed it had a stick-on label with "'97 Financials" written in ink that someone obviously tried to erase. I was tempted to buy it just to see if I could read the data. At some point in the past, Fry's did start to put a sticker on returned merchandise saying that it was a return and offering a slightly (very slightly) lower price. In some stores, re-shelved returned items outnumbered new items.
Even before the shelves started getting bare, it was obvious that Fry's management was milking the cash cow and not bothering to update or maintain the stores. Most stores had worn out carpeting, scuffed up floors, and junk in shopping carts in the middle of the aisles. Demo hardware (like keyboards and cameras) were often in desperate shape, with missing keys and controls and smashed plastic parts.
Fry's started out as Disneyland for nerds and evolved into a low-rent mecca for Joe Sixpack looking for the cheapest Chinese TV he could find.
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A fun thing about Fry's is that the stores were themed. I think the one in Palo Alto has gigantic components on the wall, so it's like you're inside a computer. The one in Campbell is Egyptian themed because why not. They also have random "exhibits" of old SV stuff, including an Apple I under glass and some interesting power tubes for radar applications.
The Palo Alto store theme is the Old West. You're thinking of the second Sunnyvale store (there have been three)--that's the one with the gigantic components on the wall.
I've been to the Myan themed San Jose store, I thought it was fantastic.
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A fun thing about Fry's is that the stores were themed. I think the one in Palo Alto has gigantic components on the wall, so it's like you're inside a computer. The one in Campbell is Egyptian themed because why not. They also have random "exhibits" of old SV stuff, including an Apple I under glass and some interesting power tubes for radar applications.
The Palo Alto store theme is the Old West. You're thinking of the second Sunnyvale store (there have been three)--that's the one with the gigantic components on the wall.
I've been to the Myan themed San Jose store, I thought it was fantastic.
Anaheim is space themed. They have a replica shuttle control at the front. Makes sense since they're also right by rockwell/boeing and some other space companies. I was at Rockwell once and got to use their VERY expensive jet simulator. The shuttle sim wasn't powered up at the time but I still got to go through their lander and shuttle models(life size).
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The Fremont store has a gigantic Tesla coil that's very impressive in operation. They used to run it for a few minutes hourly, but I haven't seen it run in years. Like a lot of things at Fry's stores, they probably didn't maintain it properly and it fell into disrepair.
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The two stores I visit in Dallas area still have plenty of traffic, especially on the weekends. I usually take my girls there to look at toys, I look at the electronics and I usually see families browsing around their wide selection of white goods as well.
Obviously that traffic does not necessarily means sales in this internet era, but I hope they stay afloat.
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Funny, I flew into the Phoenix, Arizona airport yesterday afternoon and got in early enough so that I could have stopped at the Fry's in Tempe before heading home (further south). I didn't really need anything so I skipped it. I wonder if that store is affected?
The Tempe store used to be an Incredible Universe, which was a Tandy (Radio Shack) big-box retail store that went under because the costs of maintaining the giant stores were not tenable.
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Funny, I flew into the Phoenix, Arizona airport yesterday afternoon and got in early enough so that I could have stopped at the Fry's in Tempe before heading home (further south). I didn't really need anything so I skipped it. I wonder if that store is affected?
From what I've heard, all of their stores are affected.
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Just as a point of trivia--the egyptian theme of the san jose/campbell Fry's is probably due to its location near the Rosicrucian museum.
https://egyptianmuseum.org/ (https://egyptianmuseum.org/)
The Rosicrucians are....interesting.
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I did a short stint between real jobs at Fry's in Vegas, this was late 2005 into early 2006, they operated much like Wal*Mart in the way they treated the associates and what they expected of them. Pay was dreadful but I guess that's the case with pretty much all retail and more so with Amazon nipping at there heals.
Not surprised they are finally going under and I can only wonder what held them up these last few years. With them and Radio Shack gone the only place for electronics is the internet or the major electrical suppliers like Digikey but you pretty much order on the internet anyway so...
Brian
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Funny, I flew into the Phoenix, Arizona airport yesterday afternoon and got in early enough so that I could have stopped at the Fry's in Tempe before heading home (further south). I didn't really need anything so I skipped it. I wonder if that store is affected?
I was in Phoenix last week and visited a Frys for the first time ever. It was the one off the I17 and yes it was as empty as all of the others. It was such a sad thing to see, I would love to have seen it at its peak.
Amazingly it did however have the one thing I went in there for, although most of the shelves were just empty.
I also bought a Frys branded carrier bag as a souvenir, just prove in the future that it really existed.
I'm not sure one 99 cents carrier bag will keep it going
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I've had dinner with the Fry brothers and Kathy Kolder several times. John Fry is a really nice guy as are the other brothers, Randy and Dave. Kathy retired earlier this year and some key people have left the corporate office recently. John founded the American Institute of Mathematics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Institute_of_Mathematics (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Institute_of_Mathematics) and owned the Sabercats arena football team, and bought the Flying Lady when it went bankrupt. Their store mascot, Charlie Chip, was named after their father, who helped them start the business.
Their business is private so nobody can really tell the financial health. I know they are restructuring their operations and plan to keep the business running for as long as they can, but nobody will really know what they plan to do until it happens. It will be sad if they close. You can get a 65" Samsung 4k TV for under $500 there at times.
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Fry's in Austin looks just as empty. As quirky as they are, I'll be sad to see them go because they're still much better than Best Buy.
About 6 months ago I was in Frys and almost fell over when I saw several packs of blank Sony Beta video cassettes on the shelf. They were cheap, so I bought them for the novelty of buying new Beta tapes from a large B&M store in 2019! As usual for Fry's, it wasn't a smooth experience. They rang up for about 4x the price on the shelf tag. Fortunately, I had taken a picture of the shelf tag (when was the last time you saw Beta tapes on a store shelf). They did honor the price, but the process was needlessly complex. I had to fill out a bid form, and then a manager had to accept my bid.
Most Fry's stores have a theme; maybe they're converting all stores to a new ghost town theme?
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Fortunately, I had taken a picture of the shelf tag
Here's another anecdote from the old days... Way back before smartphones became the thing and everyone effectively carried a camera around with them all the time, Fry's had a strict "no photography" policy in their stores. Back then it was a little more obvious when someone was taking pictures in the store, and if security saw you taking photos (and there was a good chance they would because of all the surveillance cameras in the stores) they would demand you hand over the camera and they'd remove the film. I'm not sure why they did this--perhaps they thought their merchandise displays were so innovative (NOT!) competitors would try to copy them.
They're also well-known for their receipt checkers at the door who would go through your bags and compare it with the receipt. They used to be quite insistent about this practice until one overeager checker tried to physically restrain a customer who declined to have his property searched, which resulted in a lawsuit. After that, they would request to check your bags but would not insist if someone refused.
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That's bizarre, had I know about a policy like that I would have been far more inclined to sneak a covert camera in there and take a bunch of pictures just because. Can't imagine why they'd care about that.
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Of course, they were one of the first stores to have a security guard at the door to look at your receipt. Always hated that.
I hated that too. I've always wanted to create a fake Fry's receipt and put things on it like a flux capacitor, plutonium, and heroin and show them that receipt receipt at the door.
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I don't really get the point of the receipt checks. I don't really get why some people throw such a fit about it either. Mountains out of mole hills, I mean if it's such a hardship to play by the rules then shop elsewhere, the rest of us will just show the stupid receipt, it's no big deal.
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I don't really get the point of the receipt checks. I don't really get why some people throw such a fit about it either. Mountains out of mole hills, I mean if it's such a hardship to play by the rules then shop elsewhere, the rest of us will just show the stupid receipt, it's no big deal.
I don't throw a fit about it, but I don't like it. The problem is that for the store, shoplifting is a problem, but statistically, very few customers shoplift. So they take action to reduce loss by essentially treating all their customers as potential shoplifters and asking them to prove that they're not. Do you really not understand why people might resent that?
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I don't really get why some people throw such a fit about it either. Mountains out of mole hills, I mean if it's such a hardship to play by the rules then shop elsewhere, the rest of us will just show the stupid receipt, it's no big deal.
I just don't like them searching my personal property, and object on principle. I just walk right past them and they don't say a word. They can request to check your receipt, but can't enforce it if you decline.
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Compare to Costco, where they are much more determined about receipt checks, but you hear very few complaints about it.
The situation at Costco is different than at Fry's. Costco is a membership organization and you agree to the receipt check when you sign up for membership. You can refuse the check at Costco, but I suppose they could then rescind your membership if you do.
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Compare to Costco, where they are much more determined about receipt checks, but you hear very few complaints about it.
The situation at Costco is different than at Fry's. Costco is a membership organization and you agree to the receipt check when you sign up for membership. You can refuse the check at Costco, but I suppose they could then rescind your membership if you do.
Costco states that they do it to make sure you got what you paid for. And I can confirm that once they found something on the receipt that wasn't in my basket. Which they then corrected. I never got the impression at Fry's that the check was for my benefit.
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They're also well-known for their receipt checkers at the door who would go through your bags and compare it with the receipt. They used to be quite insistent about this practice until one overeager checker tried to physically restrain a customer who declined to have his property searched, which resulted in a lawsuit. After that, they would request to check your bags but would not insist if someone refused.
Really? Over here I know of one store which does that (or did; haven't been there for over 10 years). Nowadays some grocery stores have self-checkout cash registers where they do occasional check. I do think they have a scale in the plateau where you put your groceries on. If I put something else on the plateau which screws the weight I get checked.
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Nowadays some grocery stores have self-checkout cash registers where they do occasional check.
Interesting. We've had self-checkout at grocery stores here for twenty years and I've used them several times a week for that entire time and I've never been checked. Not once.
I do find them very convenient, especially when, ahem, my wife asks me to pick up some "female" products for her.
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Interesting video on self checkout theft
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-pnDebegTo (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-pnDebegTo)
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I think the receipt checks at Fry's are mostly aimed at corrupt employees.
Anyway, there's something about the atmosphere at Fry's that encourages an adversarial attitude between shoppers and staff.
Compare to Costco, where they are much more determined about receipt checks, but you hear very few complaints about it.
Fry's is the only store I know that has reserved Police parking space right in front of the store.
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Interesting video on self checkout theft
Many businesses have found that increase in theft is more than offset by lower costs of self-checkout vs a hired cashier.
Guitar Center let go all of their receipt inspectors after analysis showed they lose more money paying for the extra employee than they lose to theft occurring due to lack of a receipt inspector.
On top of that, customer surveys always reveal they're more satisfied shopping at a location without receipt/bag inspectors.
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Fry's is the only store I know that has reserved Police parking space right in front of the store.
That's a reflection of Fry's changing customer base. For its first decade or so Fry's was the domain of the nerd. Now it's the domain of Joe Sixpack and other similar denizens looking for cheap Chinese gadgets. The IQ level of their customers has probably decreased by 50 points over the years.
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Interesting video on self checkout theft
Yes, very interesting.
Self checkouts used to be a common way for underage kids to buy booze. California closed that loophole recently and all booze purchases must now go through a live cashier. Some people have no qualms about gaming the system, even people who are otherwise perfectly law abiding. Example: one woman I know sees no problem with buying organic produce and then ringing it up as standard produce at the self checkout.
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I don't throw a fit about it, but I don't like it. The problem is that for the store, shoplifting is a problem, but statistically, very few customers shoplift. So they take action to reduce loss by essentially treating all their customers as potential shoplifters and asking them to prove that they're not. Do you really not understand why people might resent that?
No I really don't understand. All customers *are* potential shoplifters, it's a huge and pervasive problem, why shouldn't they assume that I might be one too and check? I mean it's a simple receipt check, not a body cavity search or patdown and I would bet it is a significant deterrent. Like I said, mountains out of mole hills, it's borderline mental illness to get upset about it.
It's no different than having to show ID to buy certain things, to enter certain establishments, to rent a car or to take out a loan. Most people are who they say they are but enough are not that it's prudent to verify. It's not an accusation of wrongdoing or deception, it's just common sense to trust but verify because we all know that every human is a potential liar/thief/etc. Anyone in doubt of this, just leave your wallet unattended for 5 minutes in any public place and see if it's still where you left it when you return. I'd bet that more than 80% of the time it's either gone or any cash it contained has been liberated.
I will add that I do occasionally become annoyed by receipt checking at places like Costco but it's strictly because there will be a big queue of people trying to exit the store with their purchases while just one or two checkers are carefully inspecting the receipts while chatting with customers. At these times I think come on, get on with it, just glance over the cart for any big ticket items and call it good.
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No I really don't understand. All customers *are* potential shoplifters, it's a huge and pervasive problem, why shouldn't they assume that I might be one too and check? I mean it's a simple receipt check, not a body cavity search or patdown and I would bet it is a significant deterrent. Like I said, mountains out of mole hills, it's borderline mental illness to get upset about it.
I don't like these checks so I vote with my wallet. I don't shop at places like Fry's, Best Buy, and Costco that have receipt checks. There are plenty of places that don't. Fry's is a laughing stock these days anyway, so the only time I go there is just to see how much further they've fallen. It's actually rather sad because I can remember when Fry's was a good place to buy techie stuff.
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I don't like these checks so I vote with my wallet. I don't shop at places like Fry's, Best Buy, and Costco that have receipt checks. There are plenty of places that don't. Fry's is a laughing stock these days anyway, so the only time I go there is just to see how much further they've fallen. It's actually rather sad because I can remember when Fry's was a good place to buy techie stuff.
I appreciate it at least when people who insist on behaving like children shop elsewhere so that the adults can shop in peace without some self important prick holding things up by throwing a fit about something as simple and sensible as a receipt check in a business that sells lots of small and valuable items. Why anyone thinks they're special compared to everyone else I'll never know. Find a better way to weed out the dishonest people and the receipt checks will vanish. People steal stuff every day, it costs businesses many millions a year. Every single customer is a potential shoplifter, huge numbers of even generally honest people would take advantage of a mistake given the opportunity. I'd go so far as to suggest that a large majority of people who got home and discovered an item in their bag that they had not paid for would simply keep the item, if it was a particularly valuable item most would celebrate their windfall. What percentage do you suppose would return the item or offer to pay for it? 20%? Maybe?
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I appreciate it at least when people who insist on behaving like children shop elsewhere so that the adults can shop in peace without some self important prick holding things up by throwing a fit about something as simple and sensible as a receipt check in a business that sells lots of small and valuable items. Why anyone thinks they're special compared to everyone else I'll never know.
:palm:
Every single customer is a potential shoplifter
How far are you willing to go with this? How about pat-downs? After all, it's easy to stick a small, high-value item in one's pocket, and this won't be caught by a bag check. Should Fry's set up metal detectors at the exit and make everyone empty their pockets?
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I don't throw a fit about it, but I don't like it. The problem is that for the store, shoplifting is a problem, but statistically, very few customers shoplift. So they take action to reduce loss by essentially treating all their customers as potential shoplifters and asking them to prove that they're not. Do you really not understand why people might resent that?
No I really don't understand. All customers *are* potential shoplifters, it's a huge and pervasive problem, why shouldn't they assume that I might be one too and check? I mean it's a simple receipt check, not a body cavity search or patdown and I would bet it is a significant deterrent.
It is all about the economics: how much income is lost due to people going to a different store if a store has receipt checks versus how much income is lost due to shop lifting. This doesn't say nothing has to be done to prevent shoplifting. Most shops over here do random checks based on data that is collected. They look at things like previous behaviour of the person and the combination of products. It turns out that the type and combination of products bought can be used as a probability indicator a person stole something or not. The exact algorithms are a closely kept secret.
BTW: you shouldn't rule out the employees either. Probably most of the shoplifting is done by the employees. They have much better opportunities to steal stuff.
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It is all about the economics: how much income is lost due to people going to a different store if a store has receipt checks versus how much income is lost due to shop lifting. This doesn't say nothing has to be done to prevent shoplifting. Most shops over here do random checks based on data that is collected. They look at things like previous behaviour of the person and the combination of products. It turns out that the type and combination of products bought can be used as a probability indicator a person stole something or not. The exact algorithms are a closely kept secret.
Stores have ways of identifying shoplifters without doing bag checks. I object to bag checks because they are a form of "guilty until proven innocent". Honest customers should never even be aware that anti-shoplifting measures are happening.
BTW: you shouldn't rule out the employees either. Probably most of the shoplifting is done by the employees. They have much better opportunities to steal stuff.
Bingo. It's well-known that most loss is due to employees, not customers.
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Most shops over here do random checks based on data that is collected. They look at things like previous behaviour of the person and the combination of products. It turns out that the type and combination of products bought can be used as a probability indicator a person stole something or not. The exact algorithms are a closely kept secret.
BTW: you shouldn't rule out the employees either. Probably most of the shoplifting is done by the employees. They have much better opportunities to steal stuff.
So, not random after all.
If I look at the cameras at supermarkets they are in the highest density directly over checkouts. At least one per checkout. It would be so easy for staff to miss scanning an item for a friend or give the wrong (too much) change.
Although perversely I once got home still unsure I gave a $50 and only got change for a $20. So I rang the manager and gave him the date time on the receipt (another good reason to always take them). He rang me back the next day after reviewing the footage and said he could see I did tender a $50.
I hope they don't start recording people PINs. I cover the keypad.
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...
I hope they don't start recording people PINs. I cover the keypad.
I think PIN entry keypads should all be the scrambling type:
(https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTcA5GXF4Op-1mtrwd2me2QyNuUnsX7B1GlIzqyZvSTXQYpk2w0)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPmSZq2a9S8 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TPmSZq2a9S8)
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My first experience with Fry's, as I recall, was at the Sunnyvale store in the mid 90's.
I was like a kid in a candy shop.
Got a Tyan Pentium 90 motherboard with built in SCSI.
Was told by my boss (at the time) that they started as a small grocery store.
Which was why they still had some grocery items.
Any way, I have noticed that the store in Roseville, the shelves are kinda bare.
They did not have nearly the selection of computers, parts and other computer etc hardware.
Plenty of hard drives and networking gear though.
I felt that they were only stocking items that have the highest volume of sales.
So they look to be going the way of Radio Shack.
Looks like mail order did them in, just like the computer fairs in Sacramento.
On the other hand Fry's grocery chain, AFAIK, in Tucson is still a going concern.
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I think PIN entry keypads should all be the scrambling type:
But what about the people who use a pattern and don't remember the numbers? :-DD
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Was told by my boss (at the time) that they started as a small grocery store.
Which was why they still had some grocery items.
...
On the other hand Fry's grocery chain, AFAIK, in Tucson is still a going concern.
The grocery chain was started by the parents. The electronics chain was started by the kids. Otherwise, they are completely independent.
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I believe the Fry's grocery operation is (or was) owned by Kroger.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoN-w3zTTSU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoN-w3zTTSU)
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Looking back at my blog, I see that the Duluth, Georgia (NE Atlanta) Fry's opened in August 2004 and made a good impression on me, but already by December 2005 it was declining. Here's what I wrote then:
"Yesterday Melody and I went to Fry's Electronics in Duluth, Georgia, and concluded that the store is no longer what it initially promised to be. Interesting and useful items are not being restocked (especially electronic components), and the prices on audio equipment were (in our limited experience) not as good as Best Buy and Circuit City. Despite its size, that enormous store is no longer a reliable source of anything hard to find. We went over to Micro Center and found some audio cables that Fry's didn't even know where to look for, as well as lots of employees who could answer questions instead of just replying, 'What is that?'"
Amazingly, it is still there, although it has been inching closer to death ever since. I will get a look at it this Saturday. It seems to have been on the verge of going out of business for years. Lack of restocking is the main thing.
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The early story is quite interesting...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fry%27s_Electronics (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fry%27s_Electronics)
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Many of you won't know this but Frys offered broadband and dialup services. They had the ISP hosted on their frys.com website long before they used that domain for their online retail storefront. I watched in amazement as they let the online revolution roll right over them, and then how they totally mismanaged the outpost.com website for their online retail. I couldn't believe what was going on. Finally they migrated their online retail to the frys domain and retired outpost, but they already missed the market.
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I live in the east-bay and the nearest one at Concord has shelves almost completely empty. Like Bill158 mentioned earlier in this thread, they do re-pack the returns and sometimes they indicate it is a return. Most of the time they do not. I knew this and I never buy anything of importance there and stick only to components that are in original packaging. They did have a huge inventory of NTE parts which was very convenient. I always wondered if those TVs and PCs they sell were rejects from other places!
Since Radio shack is also gone, I will have to order stuff on eBay when it comes to parts now. Ordering from Digikey or Mouser will cost another $7-10 for shipping. Unless it is a large order, it is not worth. Amazing how the times have changed!
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They must be in dire straits, they solid their 747SP a few years back (it went to NASA)
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Had a free day in SoCal this week and took in the City of Industry store. I have always loved the decor there - emulating a turn of the twentieth century industrial plant. But the whole experience reminded me of Sears just before they announced their final bankruptcy and closure. Lots of empty shelves, and many of the shelves that weren't empty were covered with filler. At Sears the filler was filters for their shop vacuums. Literally hundreds of filters on shelves all over. At this Fry's it was travelers adapter kits, mains plugs to fit most styles. Everywhere.
There was one Rigol 1054Z, if someone wants to pay full list plus CA and City of Industry sales taxes. Other similar "bargains".
The aisles and parking lots were empty and two cashiers handled all the business without being busy.
I would guess that there is less than a year left. Maybe much less.
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Another thing is that none of the items are on sale. I spoke to one of the people there and she says "... no, we are still getting stocks daily." Right. Why are the shelves empty then?
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I watched in amazement as they let the online revolution roll right over them, and then how they totally mismanaged the outpost.com website for their online retail. I couldn't believe what was going on. Finally they migrated their online retail to the frys domain and retired outpost, but they already missed the market.
I didn't know Outpost was run by Fry's. They had a few memorable ads.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJlIBSzofM4 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJlIBSzofM4)
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Yea, I remember when the online site switched from outpost.com. I was always confused when I'd try to use it... For about 2 years.
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Fry's could have become what Amazon is today if only their management jumped on the eCommerce bandwagon in the early days and did it right. Instead, they totally botched it and now their huge retail stores sit with empty shelves and few customers. I think they'll be out of business by the end of the year.
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Fry's could have become what Amazon is today if only their management jumped on the eCommerce bandwagon in the early days and did it right. Instead, they totally botched it and now their huge retail stores sit with empty shelves and few customers. I think they'll be out of business by the end of the year.
The problem with the big retail stores is that they aren't setup logistically to do online business. For example: the last time I ordered something online from Ikea it took them two weeks to deliver. Not because the item wasn't available but because they don't think about online retail.
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i was there couple of weeks ago since i needed a docsis modem. They had none. all the selves with networking stuff were empty. i asked an employee if he could check if there was stock. Zip, none, not a single one in all their stores.
The employee suggested i tried their sister stores.
Baffled, (i've lived here for 15 years and never knew fry's had sister stores) i asked which sister stores?
The employee wryly answered : bestbuy and amazon.
The mercury news had an article stating they are negotiating new supplier deals where they want to go to a consignment model. Suppliers are only paid for when goods leave the stores, not when they are on the shelves. I don't think that's gonna fly ...
Central computers has better pricing and better quality and better technical support / knowhow than fry's.
I don't mind the 2 $ difference on a 10$ network cable but not knowing the difference between CAT5 , CAT6 straight and crossover , that cans it for me. All the fry's guys work on commission and don't know the difference between an RJ45 and a cow. They only know how to make you a 'quote' ,which they then print so you can hand it to the cashier and they get their little commission. The real go-getters would make you a quote for a 2$ item. Now they can't even be bothered.
Electronic parts : Anchor electronics on walsh and excess solutions / halted on 7th. Yes, Halted lives on. They got absorbed by excess solutions and lots of their stuff is in that warehouse now.
Gone are the days where every friday Fry's would have an 8 page insert in the newspaper with their specials.
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Cant their stores technically be converted to warehouses in parnership with say Amazon, to get stuff close to the consumers and expedite delivery?
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I used to give lots of business to Central computers; but after they screwed my company over on a supermicro motherboard (that was less than 1 month old, refused to POST and they refused to board-swap us; it took over 2 months down-time. not even sure how long it took, as I gave up waiting after 2 months time)
that said, microcenter is long gone from the bay area and if you need computer parts that-day, central is one of the few still left.
really miss Halted; will have to see if the new location is at all like the old one.
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really miss Halted; will have to see if the new location is at all like the old one.
Not really. Yes, they have a lot of the stuff from the old Halted location, but the whole feel of the place is different. Another one bites the dust...
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really miss Halted; will have to see if the new location is at all like the old one.
Not really. Yes, they have a lot of the stuff from the old Halted location, but the whole feel of the place is different. Another one bites the dust...
true, they have less of the 'old crap' that halted was famous for. like solid carbon resistors , stinkbug caps and other vacuum-tube era stuff.
They do have a better selection of 'modern' parts.
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Originally a live stream so not the greatest video quality.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE9MdQqcTfE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YE9MdQqcTfE)
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I visited the Fry's that had just opened up out west of O'Hare Airport, near Chicago, back in 2002 when the last of the regular hobbyist level parts stores (Alpha) closed shop. As many have said on this thread, I felt like I was in an abandoned warehouse, no employees in sight.
It was a long drive to discover that the hobby parts department had been stocked with inventory chosen by monkeys. Astonishing lack of standard jellybean parts - no 2N3055 or equivalent but plenty of oddball transistors I'd never heard of. One soldering iron... no solder!!! Etc, etc. Very weird selection. Went home with almost nothing I went for, and I was just trying to build a power supply!!! Whoosh.
Not at all surprised they are on the skids these days.
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I remembered I skipped work to wait in long line in Fry's to buy a 386 PC.
I went to 5 different Fry's just to check out their themes.
Said to see Fry's goes under.
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I remember the excitement going around where I worked at a major software company when the Fry's in Renton was being built. I'd heard of Fry's before but I'd never actually been to one. The one they opened near here wasn't themed but I do remember it being pretty amazing, it was the walk-in equivalent to Amazon. You could buy anything you needed for your computer, some snacks, replacement components for another project, furniture to set it on, anything. I still have the Onkyo home theater in a box I bought there probably close to 15 years ago.
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Back in the day Fry's was great, because they had everything. Needed a PCMCIA SCSI adapter? No problem. If it was sold, they had it. They often had great specials on memory, PC mainboards, hard drives, monitors, enclosures, power supplies, etc - from back when we built our own PCs. (I switched to Macs around 2003 and never looked back.) It used to be great to just walk around and discover both new and interesting stuff I had never seen before, and look for bargains. And stop for a pastrami sandwich at Togo's across from the Sunnyvale store. (And maybe tour Weird Stuff.) Grab a case of drinks and some random snacks on the way out.
They haven't had anything I've wanted or needed for well over 10 years. Togo's has closed. Weird Stuff is closed. Fry's still hosts the Electronics Flea Market on their parking lot. But it's mostly trash, rarely do I see anything remotely interesting there.
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Lots of stores are like that. They dont want other stores to copy their "look" - But now they cant enforce it because everybody is always messing with their cell phones.
One HUGE Asian market (H-Mart) near here has given me a hard time for taking photos many times in the past, because I actually was using a camera that looked like one.. But of course now with cell phones its impossible to stop. But actually, lots of stores in NYC are like that too. The really nice stores. Also I think Ikea doesnt like it. (strange because i bet they repeat the same layouts from store to store all around the world).
That's bizarre, had I know about a policy like that I would have been far more inclined to sneak a covert camera in there and take a bunch of pictures just because. Can't imagine why they'd care about that.
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Weird Stuff.. I used to love that store..
There were a bunch of great electronics surplus stores around there, are any still in operation?
Back in the day Fry's was great, because they had everything. Needed a PCMCIA SCSI adapter? No problem. If it was sold, they had it. They often had great specials on memory, PC mainboards, hard drives, monitors, enclosures, power supplies, etc - from back when we built our own PCs. (I switched to Macs around 2003 and never looked back.) It used to be great to just walk around and discover both new and interesting stuff I had never seen before, and look for bargains. And stop for a pastrami sandwich at Togo's across from the Sunnyvale store. (And maybe tour Weird Stuff.) Grab a case of drinks and some random snacks on the way out.
They haven't had anything I've wanted or needed for well over 10 years. Togo's has closed. Weird Stuff is closed. Fry's still hosts the Electronics Flea Market on their parking lot. But it's mostly trash, rarely do I see anything remotely interesting there.
Adafruit, whose office is in lower Manhattan should open up a pick up counter at least on the ground floor of their building, to bring back the grand tradition of going to radio row and picking up the parts you need. A very long time ago, really before my time the area was electronics nirvana.. however even by the time I started going there despite the buiding of the WTC, there still were dozens of shops there.. But theywere all driven away by the WTO and rising rents, propbably.
Real estate is expensive but they literally would almost have the area to themselves, there is just one store - the back of a store actually on Canal St. Have not been there in a while. And there is a store that sells CCTV stuff mostly, and there is an old electronics surplus store, Leeds in Brooklyn, and of course Mini Circuits which I have never gone to, but should. (it would be dangerous going there for me)
NYU has a bookstore that has a selection of electronics parts parts aimed at students..
Also, there is a chain here, that seems to be thriving, (East coast, US) MicroCenter. Why is Micro Center thriving? Maybe because electronics as a hobby is part of it, they sell computers too, and seem to be doing okay. Their prices are good. Their stores are fairly large.
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Weird Stuff.. I used to love that store..
There were a bunch of great electronics surplus stores around there, are any still in operation?
Halted moved from their big store into a smaller store a few years ago and a year or two after they moved they sold their operation to another company and moved their operations to the new owner’s facility near the SJ State campus. All of the old people seem to be gone and the new owners sell a bunch of junk in addition to what they acquired in the Halted purchase. The whole feel of the place is different and just not the same. :--
Although not really a surplus store, Anchor Electronics on Walsh Avenue is still there (or at least it was before Covid shut everything down) and, although small, it has a lot of useful stuff.
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I think the receipt checks at Fry's are mostly aimed at corrupt employees.
Anyway, there's something about the atmosphere at Fry's that encourages an adversarial attitude between shoppers and staff.
Compare to Costco, where they are much more determined about receipt checks, but you hear very few complaints about it.
It is also my understanding is that retail loss prevention focuses on employees. At Costco, the story is that they primarily check receipts in order to ensure that you were not charged twice for a single item (this being difficult for them to disprove if you claimed it fraudulently). My experiences there tend to bear that out. When I only have one of each item they barely take notice, but when I have two of an item they will look in the cart or ask "you have two packages of the frozen hamburger patties?".
Sad to hear that FRY's are not doing well. I made the long trip to the one in Houston several times when I lived there. Now that you folks mention it, I seem to remember having to return a defective computer motherboard. The place was awesome and had a cowboy and oil pump theme. I remember that I saw my first plasma screen TV there. It was US$Thousands. I remember being very impressed. I wonder how much they had to ring up in daily sales in order to keep the lights on in that huge place. I too chapped at being asked to show the stuff in my shopping bag and receipt. "May I see your bag?"
"No thank you." * keep walking * People generally don't grab strangers in Texas.
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I've never seen anybody grabbed to check their bags. You leave and if/when you return an item they still don't much care you have no mark on the receipt. The Frys I know of had bigger issues with people buying items and returning them for full price. They'd usually wrap items and put back for a small discount. I know of companies who were doing this daily.
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If they really wanted to make a positive efect on the Bay Area, and other communities they locate in - based on their original decisions to locate there, when they do close, they should consider figuring out a way to turn those buildings into fire safe affordable live/work lofts for families and makers and starting small companies. And run the whole operation via some kind of nonprofit trust.
Maybe maintaining a small presence in the form of much smaller stores that sold all the things they do now via their mailing list specials- which would take a lot less space.
Because the insane cost of housing there is just destroying - especially the Bay Area. The cost of space has turned the Bay Area into something quite hostile to much of what its long term residents cared about when I lived there. Milions of people left because of this but would return if affordable stable place to live existed. Hundreds of thousands of people are communiting very long distances to work there in order so they can buy their homes. Those stores and parking lots are so large that they could reverse this situation, completely changing the trajectory of the area.
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The prices in the bay area are nuts. A 2300 sq ft home , literally a box , with just enough land to place 2 chairs costs 1.6 Million $ Try finding any home that has a strip of land so you can plant a tree and it shoots over 2 million.
Electricity is a rip-off. PG&E charges an arm and a leg in transportation costs for the Bay area. Commute is hell. You spend two or more hours of your life sitting in traffic.
The attraction is gone. There is nothing remaining that is worth staying for. The covid situation has pushed people to work from home. So now you can work from anywhere.
A shift is coming : the big corporations that used to spend megabucks on expensive real estate to house their employees have realized they don't need those buildings when people work from home. No need for relocation bonuses , no need for exorbitant salaries to meet the cost of living of the bay area. There is now a much bigger pool to fish in.
I bought my retirement property. Half an acre of land, huge pool and 1800 sq ft home . For 1/5th of a 2 bedroom condo in the bay area. Been working from here for the last 2 months.
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A shift is coming : the big corporations that used to spend megabucks on expensive real estate to house their employees have realized they don't need those buildings when people work from home. No need for relocation bonuses , no need for exorbitant salaries to meet the cost of living of the bay area. There is now a much bigger pool to fish in.
I remember some years ago reading something in Bloomberg or WSJ about Millennials choosing companies that provide working not in the company/from home/Starbucks/Library or even on the Beach, going to the company office only on meeting days. At that time some of my colleagues thought that was basically stupid, that they would not be productive as they say they are, and that would not stick in old companies, more on new,young ones with young management.
Well some years passed and a simple Virus made companies shift their view, and from now on nothing will be the same. Keep a skeleton crew on rotation on the company office for work that can't be done remotely (maintenance, assembly, etc) and the rest can be done whatever the worker wants to.
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I've been to Fry's twice, once in Palo Alto, 2003. That was kinda cool. I remember they had Everything. Or so it seemed. (I was a bit younger then, but no kid) Went last year in Vegas, because I had to have a USB-C to old USB dongle. They had it, and it works. It's seen lots of use due to the current WFH situation because it's the practical way to connect my headset into the computer.
In Vegas, it was apparent that it was a decline. Kind of sad. Looking from over here in Europe, Fry's was an important part of our perception of Silicon Valley culture. Looking at it with slightly more sober eyes, well, back in the days when you could build competitive computers from scratch with jellybean parts they maybe were important, if ever.
I look at my visits there as bucket list tick marks and nothing more.
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Also, there is a chain here, that seems to be thriving, (East coast, US) MicroCenter. Why is Micro Center thriving? Maybe because electronics as a hobby is part of it, they sell computers too, and seem to be doing okay. Their prices are good. Their stores are fairly large.
There used to be a Micro Center along hwy 101 in Santa Clara. I think I only went there a few times, once to pick up a rack mount ethernet switch and a couple of cheap rack mount 1U servers. Handy. But these days with so many sellers online, including Dell, I think a lot of people would rather save a little over an hour of driving (round trip) at the cost of waiting a day or two. They shut in 2012, at least in that location off 101.
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The beauty of Fry's and Halted and the like was discovering the things you didn't know you needed. You can get some of that online but the experience is very different.
But for buying things you know about already, I agree, online has some strong advantages.
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The beauty of Fry's and Halted and the like was discovering the things you didn't know you needed. You can get some of that online but the experience is very different.
The same applies to books. There’s just nothing like browsing through a bookstore and looking through books. Amazon has a lot bigger selection than any brick and mortar store, but it just doesn’t compare because you can only look at a book’s TOC and perhaps one sample chapter.
The Bay Area used to have two technical bookstores: Computer Literacy and Digital Guru. Computer Literacy had three stores in Silicon Valley, and the last one closed in 2001. Digital Guru was much smaller and lasted until a year or two ago. I spent untold hours in both places.
Most of the Barnes and Noble stores are gone too.
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The prices in the bay area are nuts. A 2300 sq ft home , literally a box , with just enough land to place 2 chairs
<snip>
I bought my retirement property. Half an acre of land, huge pool and 1800 sq ft home . For 1/5th of a 2 bedroom condo in the bay area. Been working from here for the last 2 months.
@free_electron
Did you misplace an order of magnitude on the 2300 sq ft property or have I just misunderstood how things are measured?
Here in the UK, my home of ~1900 sq ft (2 floors, each ~950 sq ft gross) on a total plot of 3800 sq ft is what would be considered lower mid-range, though the plot size reflects the fact that it's >100 years old. New properties have markedly smaller plots, even in semi-rural areas.
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The prices in the bay area are nuts. A 2300 sq ft home , literally a box , with just enough land to place 2 chairs
<snip>
I bought my retirement property. Half an acre of land, huge pool and 1800 sq ft home . For 1/5th of a 2 bedroom condo in the bay area. Been working from here for the last 2 months.
@free_electron
Did you misplace an order of magnitude on the 2300 sq ft property or have I just misunderstood how things are measured?
Here in the UK, my home of ~1900 sq ft (2 floors, each ~950 sq ft gross) on a total plot of 3800 sq ft is what would be considered lower mid-range, though the plot size reflects the fact that it's >100 years old. New properties have markedly smaller plots, even in semi-rural areas.
I believe the 2300 sq ft he was referring to is the size of the house, not the property the house is on. New properties here too tend to be smaller in recent years. A new trend is to build three story houses, so you can end up with a 4000 sq ft house on property less than 4000 sq ft.
Most houses here are on property ranging from about 2500 sq ft up to around 10,000 sq ft.
I’m somewhat of an exception—my house is in the Bay Area and it’s on 450,000 sq ft of property.
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The prices in the bay area are nuts. A 2300 sq ft home , literally a box , with just enough land to place 2 chairs
<snip>
I bought my retirement property. Half an acre of land, huge pool and 1800 sq ft home . For 1/5th of a 2 bedroom condo in the bay area. Been working from here for the last 2 months.
@free_electron
Did you misplace an order of magnitude on the 2300 sq ft property or have I just misunderstood how things are measured?
Here in the UK, my home of ~1900 sq ft (2 floors, each ~950 sq ft gross) on a total plot of 3800 sq ft is what would be considered lower mid-range, though the plot size reflects the fact that it's >100 years old. New properties have markedly smaller plots, even in semi-rural areas.
Nope. 2300 sq ft home. 3 floors.
ground level : double garage and in-law unit ( mini kitchen , shower and bedroom. )
first floor ( second floor for amricans) living room , kitchen , breakfast nook and 1/2 bathroom and study ( microscopically ... i would not call it a study ... )
second floor : 3 bedrooms , 2 bathrooms and washer/dryer ) you have a small patio enough for two rickety chairs and a coffee table that can hold a tiny potted plant.
these are the condo's :
https://www.kbhome.com/new-homes-bay-area/metro-ii-at-communications-hill?gclid=Cj0KCQjwv7L6BRDxARIsAGj-34qkS6eYFTjg4ivLQHssvneDVT3MXufv4rTJ9itNRgD91wB4VLKbjNMaAk16EALw_wcB (https://www.kbhome.com/new-homes-bay-area/metro-ii-at-communications-hill?gclid=Cj0KCQjwv7L6BRDxARIsAGj-34qkS6eYFTjg4ivLQHssvneDVT3MXufv4rTJ9itNRgD91wB4VLKbjNMaAk16EALw_wcB)
These are townhomes (plan 4 is what i am talking about : 2761 sq ft : 1.57 million $. absolutely bonkers
https://www.kbhome.com/new-homes-bay-area/platinum-ii-at-communications-hill (https://www.kbhome.com/new-homes-bay-area/platinum-ii-at-communications-hill)
or this : a 844 sq ft fart in a box for 733.000 $ ... https://www.kbhome.com/new-homes-bay-area/latitude-at-communications-hill/plan-2 (https://www.kbhome.com/new-homes-bay-area/latitude-at-communications-hill/plan-2)
These prices are ridiculous. And you commute is 2 hours every day. You need to work with two people like donkeys to afford an empty fridge box under a bridge ...
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I’m somewhat of an exception—my house is in the Bay Area and it’s on 450,000 sq ft of property.
Howdy Sal. I see 65 acre lot in San Jose for $800k and 1 acre lots with house for the same $. Know that CA is looking to remove prop 13 protections and follow any exchange tax gains shelters for 10 years to life, especially if moving that money out of state. That, coupled with recent rent laws, make property ownership a real liability.
Frys:
I have heard that most all of the long timer corporate employees are now gone. They've moved on. These are the 20+ year corporate employees that defined the corporate office. It is very sad to hear a corporate family dissolve like this. It was a good party while it was rolling and I keep thinking about the Fry brothers and what are their plans. They're millionaires holding onto their legacy. What do they really have to lose at this point?
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I believe the 2300 sq ft he was referring to is the size of the house, not the property the house is on. New properties here too tend to be smaller in recent years. A new trend is to build three story houses, so you can end up with a 4000 sq ft house on property less than 4000 sq ft.
Most houses here are on property ranging from about 2500 sq ft up to around 10,000 sq ft.
I’m somewhat of an exception—my house is in the Bay Area and it’s on 450,000 sq ft of property.
I hate those giant houses on tiny little postage stamp lots. my 2300 sq ft house is on a lot that is just under 10,000 sq ft and that was considered a starter home on a small lot when it was built. Last I checked the value was pushing up near $800k but I tend to ignore that, it sounds like a good chunk of wealth but that's only on paper, if I were to sell my house I'd have to spend as much on another house unless I left the region.
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I see 65 acre lot in San Jose for $800k
It's probably a designated open space and you will never get a permit to build on it. Or there's some significant problem like maybe it needs cleanup and soil replacement to the tune of $25-$100 million.
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I see 65 acre lot in San Jose for $800k
It's probably a designated open space and you will never get a permit to build on it. Or there's some significant problem like maybe it needs cleanup and soil replacement to the tune of $25-$100 million.
It was probably the grounds of an ancient watch factory... :-DD
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I see 65 acre lot in San Jose for $800k
It's probably a designated open space and you will never get a permit to build on it. Or there's some significant problem like maybe it needs cleanup and soil replacement to the tune of $25-$100 million.
Yeah, it’s probably a Superfund site...
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Halted moved from their big store into a smaller store a few years ago and a year or two after they moved they sold their operation to another company and moved their operations to the new owner’s facility near the SJ State campus. All of the old people seem to be gone and the new owners sell a bunch of junk in addition to what they acquired in the Halted purchase. The whole feel of the place is different and just not the same. :--
Halted eventually sold all of their inventory to EXCESS SOLUTIONS after they had been closed for a few months. Excess Solutions offered $6 Million and Halted took it. Everything was moved to the Excess Solutions location at 7th and Alma in South San Jose CA. From what I can see having been in Excess Solutions 4 or 5 times since the sale they have been trying to integrate Halted inventory into Excess Solutions inventory. I have seen cardboard parts bin boxes that were at Halted now on the shelves. I can tell because of the way they are marked and the handwriting. One person from Halted is still working at Excess. I can't remember his name right now but he is very friendly and helpful just like he was at Halted. Also one of the ex-Halted employees volunteered to mark all of the semiconductor parts drawers that came from Halted and they are on the wall behind the front counter. He was using an electronic DYMO machine and has done a wonderful job. I took pictures of what was on the walls so that I could tell if they had what I wanted before I went into the store. There is a wealth of older parts there! ICs you can't get anymore, transistors that you can't get anymore. He was hoping someone at Excess would then put a list of all of these semiconductors on the Excess Solutions website, but so far nothing. Excess could do a good business in mail order sales if they would just get an inventory list on their website. I have known Excess since 1981 and they have moved a number of time from San Jose to Milpitas and then back to the present location. A lot of the Halted inventory is still in Saran wrap in the back of the store. From what I am told no plans to unwrap and move into the area where you can browse. Too bad in my opinion. Excess has more in the back area than upfront.
Excess is still a wonderful place to find parts for repairs on old TE.
Bill
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Thanks Bill! :-+
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Halted moved from their big store into a smaller store a few years ago and a year or two after they moved they sold their operation to another company and moved their operations to the new owner’s facility near the SJ State campus. All of the old people seem to be gone and the new owners sell a bunch of junk in addition to what they acquired in the Halted purchase. The whole feel of the place is different and just not the same. :--
Halted eventually sold all of their inventory to EXCESS SOLUTIONS after they had been closed for a few months. Excess Solutions offered $6 Million and Halted took it. Everything was moved to the Excess Solutions location at 7th and Alma in South San Jose CA. From what I can see having been in Excess Solutions 4 or 5 times since the sale they have been trying to integrate Halted inventory into Excess Solutions inventory. I have seen cardboard parts bin boxes that were at Halted now on the shelves. I can tell because of the way they are marked and the handwriting. One person from Halted is still working at Excess. I can't remember his name right now but he is very friendly and helpful just like he was at Halted. Also one of the ex-Halted employees volunteered to mark all of the semiconductor parts drawers that came from Halted and they are on the wall behind the front counter. He was using an electronic DYMO machine and has done a wonderful job. I took pictures of what was on the walls so that I could tell if they had what I wanted before I went into the store. There is a wealth of older parts there! ICs you can't get anymore, transistors that you can't get anymore. He was hoping someone at Excess would then put a list of all of these semiconductors on the Excess Solutions website, but so far nothing. Excess could do a good business in mail order sales if they would just get an inventory list on their website. I have known Excess since 1981 and they have moved a number of time from San Jose to Milpitas and then back to the present location. A lot of the Halted inventory is still in Saran wrap in the back of the store. From what I am told no plans to unwrap and move into the area where you can browse. Too bad in my opinion. Excess has more in the back area than upfront.
Excess is still a wonderful place to find parts for repairs on old TE.
Bill
My big question is what happened to the inventory form ACE ( on old oakland street) when the owner died a coupe of years ago. I know Excess got some of it , but the main block went to some store in Morgan Hill ( one of the ebay-floggers). I have not been able to find out where. They had reels and reels and reels of semiconductors. That guy literally had anything. Even the most crazy obsolete parts he often had laying around. I got some of his last j-fets for keithley equipment.
The local assembly shops would often place big orders with him to get parts when digikey or mouser could not deliver. He was specialized in buying surplus semiconductors from production batches. Store did have a little capacitors and other parts , but his specialty was semiconductors. In the back there was an area filled with plastic tubes with every possible 74 and 54 series in existence. Need a side-brazed 54F181 ? got that ! they were 120$ a pop ... i once asked :). but hey if you really needed a military grade 4 bit alu : it was there ...
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My big question is what happened to the inventory form ACE ( on old oakland street) when the owner died a coupe of years ago. I know Excess got some of it , but the main block went to some store in Morgan Hill ( one of the ebay-floggers). I have not been able to find out where.
Sounds like Alltronics, they were the only surplus dealer in Morgan Hill.
http://www.alltronics.com/ (http://www.alltronics.com/)
I think you are referring to Prism Electronics rather than Alltronics. Prism Electronics is located in Morgan Hill CA and is on Sutter Blvd. I live in Morgan Hill and I drive by Prism all the time and there is a huge bldg there. Alltronics (Dennis Trimble) has a store on Scott Blvd in Santa Clara. I really don't know who got the ACE inventory. Neither Prism or Alltronics allows "walk ins" except for "will call" pickups. Prism's website is somewhat hard to use unless you know exactly what you are looking for in the way of components. The search function is incomplete at best. It will tell you that it found 53 entries for your search but will only display about 10 with no way to get to the next "page" to see more items. I like stores like the old Halted or now Excess Solutions because you can physically see the component and if necessary measure it's value or whatever if you bring your own measuring meter or tool.
Bill
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Are you talking about that big warehouse like store near the Oakland airport.
I think it was maybe on Hegenberger Road?
Because I do remember hearing something about them. The place I remember is probably Mike Quinn Electronics.
Alltronics is at https://www.alltronics.com/ (https://www.alltronics.com/)
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The surplus place near the Oakland airport was definitely Mike Quinn Electronics. I remember going there years ago. They typically sold stuff by the pound and had a lot of bizarre stuff.
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Sounds like Alltronics, they were the only surplus dealer in Morgan Hill.
Yes, I visited Alltronics MANY MANY years ago, they had an amazing rack of tubes of DIP chips that was something like 50 feet long, down both sides!
Jon
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The surplus place near the Oakland airport was definitely Mike Quinn Electronics. I remember going there years ago. They typically sold stuff by the pound and had a lot of bizarre stuff.
Yes, the original Mike Quinn in a temporary WW-II building at the Oakland airport was quite awesome. You were walking on a 6" thick "carpet" of crunched circuit boards. They had lots of VERY interesting stuff. The newer place was still interesting, but not quite so awesome.
Jon
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Close to the bay, the only place I can thin of now is Al Lasher's Electronics. Even that is not very convenient as it is only one location. At least you can get all sorts of parts from them and they will order for you if needed. I believe it is a family business.
http://allashers.com/about/ (http://allashers.com/about/)
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G.G.G.Gone. Looks like they closed everything up overnight.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/24/business/frys-electronics-closure/index.html (https://www.cnn.com/2021/02/24/business/frys-electronics-closure/index.html)
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Yup, we can blame the lack of today's youth not being interested in the hobby and most importantly the junk available for pennies on eBay and Amazon! Only our generation will be losing and complaining for the next few years.
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Yup, we can blame the lack of today's youth not being interested in the hobby and most importantly the junk available for pennies on eBay and Amazon! Only our generation will be losing and complaining for the next few years.
The bigger difference I think is that so many things are essentially unrepairable these days, that stops people from being interested in the 1st place.
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Between jobs in the semiconductor industry I worked a few months at a Fry's in Las Vegas -- selling cameras. The management style was, by my observation, modeled on the Wal*Mart approach but with the obvious different in the range of products sold.
I'm less sold on the idea that it's demise was do to the younger generation being far less interested in electronics, that may be the case but I don't think it's necessary to explain them going out of business. Even when I worked there back in early 2006 there were signs of economic problems and from my vantage point this day was inevitable. Amazon, Ebay and the Chinese direct retailers are no doubt the biggest reason and when you put it all together this day was bound to happen sooner or later.
So, for me the biggest reason is competition from internet retailers but the other factors mentioned by others probably played a role as well. Still, a sad day!
Brian
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It is too bad. I liked their stores before their "consignment" business model. One more for the bag of uncle Bezos and Co. :--
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Between jobs in the semiconductor industry I worked a few months at a Fry's in Las Vegas -- selling cameras. The management style was, by my observation, modeled on the Wal*Mart approach but with the obvious different in the range of products sold.
I purchased my Rigol 1054Z at that store. Hit a $1000 on a slot downtown, and was headed to Mandalay to meet up with friends for dinner (Charlie Palmer's) that night, so popped into Fry's 1st to spend my winnings. First and only time I've checked an oscilloscope in a restaurant.
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Sad. I had friends that used to worked there.
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Between jobs in the semiconductor industry I worked a few months at a Fry's in Las Vegas -- selling cameras.
I went to that one last time I was in Vegas, for NAB Convention 2019. (Wonder when I'll go there for NAB again; the 2020 trip was ordered and booked and I just about managed to get out of the plane tickets and car rental when the cancel plug was pulled.) I still have and daily use the USB-C to SD and standard USB dongle I bought there.
Yeah, kinda sad. But my observation from two visits, 2003 Palo Alto and 2019 LV, is that there was noticeable decline and this was inevitable.
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It's sad to see them go, but it was inevitable, I haven't actually gone into the one nearest to me in years. Fact is they just don't have much that I can't order online, and by the time I take the time and fuel to make the trip I'm not saving anything over paying for shipping.
It's too bad they didn't try something a little different. They could have put more focus on selling online, while at the same time leveraging their physical stores to host hacker spaces, mini maker faire type events, and they could have stocked all the stuff like Raspberry Pi, Arduino, some of the various subsidized uC and FPGA dev boards, etc. Amazon has been successful in selling all those same widgets you can buy direct from China, people will pay the markup to not have to wait for a month. It's too late now but I think they could have saved it if they had thought outside the box. Give people a reason to go hang out there, you can't mail order social interaction. Obviously Covid still would have thrown a wrench in things though.
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It's sad to see them go, but it was inevitable,
Looking at other retailers such as BestBuy, which turned around and is growing, or Microcenter, which is smaller but is packed with people everytime I go there, I really suspect that online (and by extension Covid) has become an easy excuse for bad management. Sure, the margins and the offers are not the same as before, but decisions such as their so-called "consignment" model accellerated their process immensely by keeping their stores completely empty of product.
It's too bad they didn't try something a little different.
I agree. It is a sad day.
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It was sad when they stopped being a good place to shop. N
The situation now is kind of like watching a friend who has had Alzheimer's for years finally passing away
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Microcenter, which is smaller but is packed with people everytime I go there
Perhaps now that Fry's is gone we'll get a Microcenter in the Bay Area again. We used to have one, but it closed over a decade ago, probably due to too much competition from Fry's in its heyday. At the time, there were four big Fry's stores within a five mile radius of the Microcenter, plus it was tucked out of the way and not as easy to get to.
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I really suspect that online (and by extension Covid) has become an easy excuse for bad management. Sure, the margins and the offers are not the same as before, but decisions such as their so-called "consignment" model accellerated their process immensely by keeping their stores completely empty of product.
Something similar is happening with the Covid pandemic. Many business have shut down, but other have thrived.
Nothing exemplifies this better than the restaurant industry. Many shops have closed down, perhaps permanently. But those which quickly adopted the online model and adapted their menu, staff and premises for curbside and/or home delivery are thriving.
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Company man has now done an episode on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to-osQMHxpE (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=to-osQMHxpE)