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.
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.
Weird Stuff.. I used to love that store..
There were a bunch of great electronics surplus stores around there, are any still in operation?
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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’m somewhat of an exception—my house is in the Bay Area and it’s on 450,000 sq ft of property.
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 see 65 acre lot in San Jose for $800k
I see 65 acre lot in San Jose for $800kIt'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.
I see 65 acre lot in San Jose for $800kIt'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.
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 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