[conspire] (forw) The "Fry's Experience" is gone

[Rick Moen]

Follow-up on IRC (where 'redrick' is me):

23:17 < redrick> https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2021/02/frys-electronics-is-no-more-and-all-30-stores-will-soon-close/ <- Where will we get
                 barely adequate electronics and knicknacks, now?
23:22 < jennam> sigh
23:22 < jennam> i put ice blocks
23:22 < jennam> in the fridge
23:23 < jennam> instead of the freezer
23:55 <@Dev-T> ruh roh, that sounds like a mess
00:00 < redrick> jennam:  The water is just going through a phase.
00:01 <@Dev-T> owwww
00:02 <@Dev-T> redrick: I suggest Aliexpress
00:51 < phr> fry's shutting down?  i'm not surprised, they have been gasping
             for air for the past couple years
00:51 < phr> in bay area, i like centralcomputers.com
01:36 < jennam> https://imgur.com/8jVkDaL
07:07 < redrick> phr:  Totally with you about Central Computer having been an
                 order of magnitude better than Fry's for decades.
07:11 < redrick> The local-to-us Fry's (Palo Alto) that folded recently was
                 valuable primarily for (1) NiMh battery selection, (2) weekly
                 specials if you are feeling lucky and/or aren't picky, and (3)
                 late closing time.  Otherwise, I'd drive/bike 25 km further 
                 and go to Central Computer in Santa Clara, every time -- 
                 because they might not have acres of stuff, but they have 
                 things you actually want.
08:00 < redrick> Oh, and (4) Fry's had an excellent magazine rack.



So, let's see:  CompUSA went away in a 2012 cororate restructuring that
dropped that name along with Circuit City (for which I never had any
use, either), and rebranded remaining stores as "TigerDirect", but those
then (2015) all closed and that retailer went 100% online.  The big
CompUSA of Silicon Valley was somewhere in Santa Clara, but IMO it was
never great, and I frankly am not even clear on when it went away.
Maybe 2007?  This Web page has a pretty good history of that firm:
https://dfarq.homeip.net/what-happened-to-compusa/

Then there was Micro Center at the north end of the Mercado in Santa
Clara.  It closed in 2012 because of a big rent hike.  It was no great
shakes, but arguably better than Fry's.

The _real_ losses were the likes of Halted and WeirdStuffWarehouse.

Meanwhile, if you still need to find a mediocre retail computer & parts
vendor with questionable inventory and employees who know nothing on a
good day, there's always Best Buy.  ;->

And I for one welcome our NewEgg overlords..