[conspire] (forw) What's going on with Fry's Electronics?

[Rick Moen]

Quoting Paul Zander (paulz at ieee.org):

> I remember buying a small electronics "box" at Fry's.  It didn't
> work.  I also noticed that something inside (loose screw?0 rattled
> when the box was shaken.   I returned it and got a refund.  There
> were no other of the same item in stock so I left empty handed.
> 
> A week later, I went back hoping to find a new unit.  There was one
> box on the shelf.  It rattled.

Heh.


There are many retail stores that have a shrinkwrapping machine in the
back so that merchandise returned as 'defective' can be whipped right
back out onto the shelf again.  In fairness, this is because, in many
industries including electronics, a high percentages of customer returns 
are made in a sincere but totally wrong belief that the product was
defective.  And _that_, in turn, happens because a depressingly high
percentage of the buyers don't follow instructions and jump to wrong
conclusions unsupported by evidence.

> BTW, what happened with Central Computer on El Camino near 85?  It was
> more convenient than driving to Santa Clara.

It burned down in a fast-moving, freak fire at about 3am on Monday,
April 22nd.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2019/04/22/central-computers-in-sunnyvale-destroyed-by-three-alarm-fire/

They are now saying they are leasing replacement space at US-101 and
Lawrence Expressway, opening expected to occur no later than the end of
the year.  There's something about the fire damage at the former
Sunnyvale location (1255 W El Camino Real nr. S. Bernardo Ave.) that
made a new Sunnyvale loation desirable.

See:  https://www.centralcomputer.com/sunnyvale-store