Fry's Electronics: 20% Off In-Store on Saturdays

I stop by during lunch daily, probably at least 20+ customers around the store, only Black Friday it's busy as hell.
What city are you in? My two local stores don't have a single hard drive on the shelf, no Logitech products, almost no networking products, and 1/5th the staff they used to have. I don't think Fry's is long for this world anymore....
 
San Jose, I go to Brokaw and Sunnyvale.

Yeah, I did notice they toned down their networking and monitors.
 
Grew up in your area (Kinda, Santa Cruz) so know the stores your talking about. Now I live in SoCal. The stores I frequent are Anaheim and Fountain Valley and both have about 20% of the stock they would normally have.

Reading up on various forums (ie frysforum.com, etc) it sounds like they may be closing all the non bay area stores. So you may have a different experience than the rest of us. Have been going to fry's for longer than I care to admit, so will be sad if they do indeed close most if not all their stores.
 
The one in Austin never has any of the CPUs in stock conveniently.

Have you been recently? I went recently and over by the laptop area, its bare bones. No GFX cards, and a lot of stuff was just.. gone. Like.. it looked like that Frys is going out of business.
 
Get 20% off a set of pencils. Note, at these prices, they'll all be gone soon.

Fry's, oh what a disappointment you are now...
 
Have you been recently? I went recently and over by the laptop area, its bare bones. No GFX cards, and a lot of stuff was just.. gone. Like.. it looked like that Frys is going out of business.

i went to the Austin store on friday.
they had THREE count them 1,2,3 TOTAL motherboards on all the shelves.
some shelves have stuff others...keyboards and mice and graphic cards are almost zero
pc cases for diy...a handful at best...they did have a few in another part of the store

yes and there used to be a pallet of harddrives...now NONE!
 
Fry's is a deadzone. If you go to the layoff forums or look at their FB offerings, plenty of employee's sharing that they think Fry's is selling off what it can before they either close down a bunch of stores or liquidate.
 
I was at my local Phoenix Fry's recently and it looked like a ghost town, I was wondering if a tumbleweed was going to go by. I went looking for a pc case and they barely had any.
 
I was at my local Phoenix Fry's recently and it looked like a ghost town, I was wondering if a tumbleweed was going to go by. I went looking for a pc case and they barely had any.

Hmm Plenty of cases at Brokaw and Sunnyvale locations.

Different models of Thermaltake and Raidmax cases, saw at least 20 each. Thermaltake is trash though, crazy thin, bends too easily.

All NZXT, Antec, and older models of Corsair cases are gone.

If you take a peek in the back where they service customer computers there should be a stock pile on the side for inventory.
 
I'm not in Dallas anymore, but when I left, a year ago, they had plenty of cases, motherboards, hard drives and networking equipment Honestly, it wasn't much different from what it was when it was the hottest store in the city, except nobody went to the garland store (Plano did much better).
 
Went into Fry's in San Marcos California. Two motherboards on the shelves. Back in May of this year I was looking for a 2TB Samsung that was not in stock and the salesperson said they were waiting on a delivery. Presently no inventory. I be surprised if they make it to the end of the year.
 
I got the 20% in my email too but after moving from Chicago haven't been to one since. Sad to see them cleaning out like they're about to liquidate and close the doors--I would lose whole days looking at stuff there. There's 2x Microcenter in Chicagoland too, so hopefully there will still be computer stuff for a long time in the Chicago area.

I still remember when Compusa closed and I picked up a bunch of stuff cheap at the end like removable drive bays for $10 (you know the 5.25" ide ones with the caddy), and my dad picked up shopping carts for cheap. It was sad to see because every time I needed something, that was my goto since they didn't just sell house-branded crap like Best Buy.
 
I went into the Las Vegas location. I've been going there the past 5 years, and I have never seen it as empty as it was today. The cafe was closed. Shelves were bare through the entire store (not a single graphics card available, barely any laptops, etc). I asked one of the employees if the location is closing, and he told me "probably". I asked another one who tried to avoid the subject, but she ended up saying "It'd be nice to know exactly when".

I'm really sad. While Fry's was never the best place, here in Las Vegas it's the only place like that. I've bought tons of items there over the years, from a new gaming chair today (sold for $80 instead of what amazon has it for at $160), several PSUs, monitors, etc. Now when they are gone I'll only have Best Buy left, or a 4 hour drive to the Tustin, CA Microcenter.
 
OTOH, Micro Center business is a'boomin. I frequent the Tustin CA locale on weekends and there's almost always a checkout line at least 5-10 deep, with all hands on deck with the 4-5 cashiers. Custom RX 5700 series cards are usually OOS the same day they restock. Fry's should have been taking notes.

Anyhow, this discussion doesn't have anything to do with Hotdeals anymore. So if a mod wants to move it to the discussion section, that might be more appropriate.
 
I went into the Las Vegas location. I've been going there the past 5 years, and I have never seen it as empty as it was today. The cafe was closed. Shelves were bare through the entire store (not a single graphics card available, barely any laptops, etc). I asked one of the employees if the location is closing, and he told me "probably". I asked another one who tried to avoid the subject, but she ended up saying "It'd be nice to know exactly when".

I'm really sad. While Fry's was never the best place, here in Las Vegas it's the only place like that. I've bought tons of items there over the years, from a new gaming chair today (sold for $80 instead of what amazon has it for at $160), several PSUs, monitors, etc. Now when they are gone I'll only have Best Buy left, or a 4 hour drive to the Tustin, CA Microcenter.

I'll gladly trade you my 8 minute drive to Microcenter - I have to drive the 8hr roundtrip to Vegas every week and it's getting old.
 
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Fry's is the latest casualty of the amazon era's blockbuster effect. They held onto way too much square footage for the times, their prices weren't ever particularly good, and everything was a hassle if you were buying PC components - first had to get the attention of the person working in that aisle - who was also busy with other people - then had to get a printout for the item you were interested in, bring that and go stand in line for a register to open, then there was usually confusion at the checkout with your clerk having to ask 1-2 other people what/where the item was, or get manager approval for something, then they'd slow walk around a corner somewhere and 5-10 min later emerge with your item.

I'm amazed they stayed in biz this long.. they always hired the weirdest people - like from another planet. And that remained consistent for their entire existence, no matter which store.
 
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Fry's is the latest casualty of the amazon era's blockbuster effect. They held onto way too much square footage for the times, their prices weren't ever particularly good, and everything was a hassle if you were buying PC components - first had to get the attention of the person working in that aisle - who was also busy with other people - then had to get a printout for the item you were interested in, bring that and go stand in line for a register to open, then there was usually confusion at the checkout with your clerk having to ask 1-2 other people what/where the item was, or get manager approval for something, then they'd slow walk around a corner somewhere and 5-10 min later emerge with your item.

I'm amazed they stayed in biz this long.. they always hired the weirdest people - like from another planet. And that remained consistent for their entire existence, no matter which store.
There prices are essentially identical to Amazon, since they price match pretty much everyone. I don't know if they still do it, but a year or so back, they'd sell you a tv that price matched authorized resellers and not charge tax on the TV.

I actually think they were better for at least the last 4 or 5 years than they were before that.
 
The Fry's in Irving TX has been a ghost town the last few times I went by there as well. Empty shelves, cafe closed, and it seemed it was being run on a skeleton staff. The parking lot was empty too.

It's really sad because Fry's was never the cheapest, but they had everything and I mean everything consumer electornics and computer related.
 
The Fry's in Irving TX has been a ghost town the last few times I went by there as well. Empty shelves, cafe closed, and it seemed it was being run on a skeleton staff. The parking lot was empty too.

It's really sad because Fry's was never the cheapest, but they had everything and I mean everything consumer electornics and computer related.

I'd like to hear what Plano is like. I mostly went to the one in Garland, and I don't think that one ever had a cafe in it. If the shelves are empty there, however, then there is trouble brewing, because roughly a year ago, they were well stocked (but it was never very busy when I went in (going back to 2015). I assume it was for Thanksgiving, but I was never in town for that sale.
 
I'd like to hear what Plano is like.

I was there a few months ago. I wouldn't call it dead and empty yet, but it was definitely on the decline. I hear Micro Center, which is only a few minutes down the road here, has taken a lot of business from Fry's.
 
maybe Micro Center can move into the same spot Fry's dies in here in austin (which used to be a home depot)
I don't know about other locations, but Microcenter in Richardson is much smaller than every Fry's I've been in (and that Microcenter predates Fry's (not sure when it opened, but Fry's first moved there in 99 or later.
 
San Jose, I go to Brokaw and Sunnyvale.

Yeah, I did notice they toned down their networking and monitors.
Interesting. I often go to the one on Hamilton and their inventory has shrunk by about 50% in the last months. I always wonder if the store is going belly up but I do not see any mass clearance sales so I am not calling it just yet. I have not gone to the one on Brokaw in a few months but from what you are describing, it may be happening there too.
 
The Milton, GA one (North Atlanta) looks like a ghost town as well.
 
I get the promo code email daily and often another 1 or two emails about other promos.

Can you post an example? I get the daily promo sales emails, but they don't include a secret greeter code word like they did in March.
 
Interesting. I often go to the one on Hamilton and their inventory has shrunk by about 50% in the last months. I always wonder if the store is going belly up but I do not see any mass clearance sales so I am not calling it just yet. I have not gone to the one on Brokaw in a few months but from what you are describing, it may be happening there too.
It is same with the Fremont location, it is very depressing sight as this is the location I normally frequent.
 
Can you post an example? I get the daily promo sales emails, but they don't include a secret greeter code word like they did in March.
Sorry, I thought you were talking about the emails where you have to give the cashier the daily promo code.
I've actually never seen (but I don't look at them unless I plan to do a store run once or twice a month) the ones with passwords.
 
It is same with the Fremont location, it is very depressing sight as this is the location I normally frequent.
Kind of makes you wonder why Microcenter closed and never reopenned ~7 years ago. They sent an email to let us know they were closing because of a rent increase but I figured they would find another venue and re open. I wonder if they saw the writing on the wall.
 
I even unsubcribed from their emails. "Come buy..." our non-existent "stuff". I'll pass.
 
Kind of makes you wonder why Microcenter closed and never reopenned ~7 years ago. They sent an email to let us know they were closing because of a rent increase but I figured they would find another venue and re open. I wonder if they saw the writing on the wall.
Yea, I was a bit confuse why Microcenter never bother choosing a different location in the Bay Area after closing the Santa Clara location. I was hoping Microcenter would open a location in the East Bay as rent was cheaper during 2012.
 
The store in the article is the one I mentioned above being a lot more bare than it was 3 months ago. I went 1-2 months ago to buy some RAM which I could find and purchase but it was there I noticed how empty the shelves were. They used to be stocked head to toe. Now most were only two pegs high. I asked the sales lady if this was due to the new tariffs and she shrugged but acknowledged that the store was a lot more empty than in the past. I think Fry's does sell too much stuff. You don't need to sell 5 cases that are the same size and color. They could streamline a little.

One thing Fry's really needs to do is put a lot of work into their website. Their website is terrible and hasn't changed in a decade. This is very important if they want to compete with online retailers.
 
The store in the article is the one I mentioned above being a lot more bare than it was 3 months ago. I went 1-2 months ago to buy some RAM which I could find and purchase but it was there I noticed how empty the shelves were. They used to be stocked head to toe. Now most were only two pegs high. I asked the sales lady if this was due to the new tariffs and she shrugged but acknowledged that the store was a lot more empty than in the past. I think Fry's does sell too much stuff. You don't need to sell 5 cases that are the same size and color. They could streamline a little.

One thing Fry's really needs to do is put a lot of work into their website. Their website is terrible and hasn't changed in a decade. This is very important if they want to compete with online retailers.

I agree on the streamlining as downsizing the number of things to sale but they really need to stop selling cologne or as seen on tv stuff as no one really goes to that store to buy that crap, If people want cologne, they can go to Macy's.

I really think if Fry's focus their effort in ecommerce 10 years ago, they probably wouldn't be in this predicament they are in.
 
The store in the article is the one I mentioned above being a lot more bare than it was 3 months ago. I went 1-2 months ago to buy some RAM which I could find and purchase but it was there I noticed how empty the shelves were. They used to be stocked head to toe. Now most were only two pegs high. I asked the sales lady if this was due to the new tariffs and she shrugged but acknowledged that the store was a lot more empty than in the past. I think Fry's does sell too much stuff. You don't need to sell 5 cases that are the same size and color. They could streamline a little.

One thing Fry's really needs to do is put a lot of work into their website. Their website is terrible and hasn't changed in a decade. This is very important if they want to compete with online retailers.
OK, I don't recall seeing anything like that when I left Dallas. I hope they survive. They really had some great deals. Hell, I probably would have bought my TV from them if I'd still been in Dallas, because they'd price match and pay the sales tax for me. Tough to beat that.

Time will tell.
 
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