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| Imminent Collapse of Fry’s? |
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| SilverSolder:
...or "Long Term Capital Management" ? :D Long term is in the eyes of the beholder! |
| tom66:
--- Quote from: langwadt on February 24, 2021, 09:52:05 pm ---seems to me those small niche stores are someone passionate about the subject working long hours barely making ends meet, that is not a viable business plan for a chain of stores. it's a chicken and egg problem, no ones buying because it is expensive, it is expensive because the only thing people buy is the occational 5 resistors they forgot to order online and need right now. And then people complain when they can't get digikey assortment at ebay prices --- End quote --- Not at all. One of these shops was recently shown on UK television; the company sold model railways. The owner had several Jaguars and a Porsche, and the store employed four others. Clearly not 'barely making ends meet'. I do think we will see a major adjustment to the value of commercial property as WFH and online shopping becomes more common. The pandemic has only accelerated it. |
| nctnico:
--- Quote from: langwadt on February 24, 2021, 09:52:05 pm --- --- Quote from: nctnico on February 24, 2021, 09:14:05 pm --- --- Quote from: langwadt on February 24, 2021, 07:41:40 pm --- --- Quote from: nctnico on February 24, 2021, 07:21:20 pm --- --- Quote from: engrguy42 on February 24, 2021, 06:20:15 pm ---Nobody would question the fact that the retail industry has been destroyed by peoples' desire to buy from Amazon and China. --- End quote --- Not at all. The retail industry has destroyed itself by only selling high margin items. Every time I go to a store they don't have what I need. There simply is much more choice and stock online so I stopped going to stores. You read it in every story about Fry's for the past couple of years: nothing in store. How can a store make money if they don't have what people need? --- End quote --- and how would they afford a large stock they very rarely sell because everyone buys things online because it is cheaper? --- End quote --- Negotiate a better deal with the landlord to pay less rent. This seems to work in Germany where shops are much cheaper and you still find small stores which serve niches like model railways. In the Netherlands the situation is reversed. 95% of the non-food shops are selling fashionable clothes or shoes; nothing functional. The only one making a profit from those shops is the landlord. But that situation is going to change rapidly; many stores are quiting. Especially in relatively expensive city centers. Covid-19 just helped to speed up the process. --- End quote --- seems to me those small niche stores are someone passionate about the subject working long hours barely making ends meet, that is not a viable business plan for a chain of stores. --- End quote --- This is a grossly unfounded assumption. Why would people work for free? That doesn't make sense. You can do fine with a small shop for as long as the rent is reasonable. And on top of that: why should all stores be large chain stores? Having a more diverse shopping landscape is much more interesting for people. If you travel through Europe you see the exact same shops everywhere. |
| bdunham7:
--- Quote from: engrguy42 on February 24, 2021, 03:30:53 pm ---I think the problems with Fry's and Radio Shack and every other electronics supply store here in the US is that nobody is interested in tinkering with electronics anymore.... As usual, no, it's not about bad management at any of these large corporations. It's about customers no longer being interested. And they'd much rather pay a fraction of the price and have it delivered from China rather than keep US businesses afloat.... --- End quote --- I'm not so convinced that there's no desire to tinker, its more like technology has advanced so much. I wouldn't expect to see a lot of interest in a magazine that tells you how to make a two-LED blinker or an audio oscillator. Playing with a Raspberry Pi is still tinkering. I think Fry's did themselves in for some reason, they went from being sort of big and messy 10 years ago to not being stocked or competitive a few years ago and then to a state of utter uselessness. They stopped selling stuff I wanted long before I stopped going there. Same for Radio Shack, I stopped even considering them a backup option about the time they started selling phones. It's not just China or Amazon--just today I suddenly needed some computer parts that I forgot to order so I went off to MicroCenter. They had my two Samsung state-of-the-art SSDs at better-than-Amazon prices and a nice selection of wired mice. Thinking of Fry's demise, I had a look around to see how they were doing. They were busy and although there were some bare spots in their inventory, it looked more like a bit of chaos and perhaps supply shortages rather than a dying store. They had a huge selection of current TVs, laptops, computers, computer parts, etc and they were moving product from the looks of it. I looked over in the smaller electronics section and they had smallish selection of NTE parts that seemed to be selected for the maker/hobby market (not a bunch of shop-worn leftovers), lots of elementary level 'kits', the Raspberry Pi/Beaglebone/etc sort of stuff. They had wire, soldering irons (Hakko FX888D for $96), 1-lb rolls of Kester 44 eutectic. Their DMM selection was pathetic, but I'm sure that's just their market. 3D printers--did Fry's ever get those in? So this is the sort of place I would go to actually get stuff. Fry's totally failed at that and while I don't know exactly what happened internally, it wasn't the fickle customers or Covid that did them in. --- Quote ---By the way, have you noticed that the vast majority of "tech" video channels have ultimately changed over to being more entertainment-based? That's what people are interested in. Entertainment, not tech. --- End quote --- That's just YouTube monetization for you. Eddie from Kiss Analog and that Electroboom guy vs. Shahriar and Mr. Carlson. I suppose the high-tech guys laugh at the lowbrow entertainers until they realize how much money entertainment makes. |
| james_s:
--- Quote from: engrguy42 on February 24, 2021, 03:30:53 pm ---I think the problems with Fry's and Radio Shack and every other electronics supply store here in the US is that nobody is interested in tinkering with electronics anymore. Only a few of us old guys, and much fewer young guys. Now people want dancing robots and AI and smartphone apps where you click a button and it does your laundry while you sit on your butt. --- End quote --- Nonsense, it's as big or bigger than ever. Have you seen the Maker Faires that happen (pre-Covid) every year in multiple cities? Have you been on youtube? Looked on ebay? Aliexpress? Bangood? Amazon? Digikey, Mouser, Newark, Arrow and other gadget and component suppliers are alive and well. Smartphones and robots are popular but those are a whole different set of consumers. Electronics tinkering is HUGE, it was in danger of dying off in the 90s but Arduino, Raspberry Pi and numerous other microcontrollers have been enormously popular, the new RPi models are sold out for months after release, they can't churn them out fast enough. The thing is, you can buy any electronic parts, gadgets and gizmos you could ever need online. I miss Fry's but I haven't gone to one in years, it's a ~35 minute drive each way and between the gas, time spent and wear & tear on the car it just isn't worth it. I could drive down to Fry's and hope they have the parts I need, or I could hop online and order exactly what I'm looking for without all the hassle and probably get a better price. |
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