[sf-lug] Fry's now *permanently* shutting down

[aaronco36]

Quoting Bobbie S from [1]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When I was able to get to the stores in Santa Clara and Palo Alto
years ago it was an electronic wonderland.  Toys I could not afford,
not and buy Zorro cards for my Amiga A2000b.

I used to go there at every opportunity though.

Sorry to see them go.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Contemporaneous with the 1990's and Post-Y2K heydays of big-box computer 
superstores such as Fry's and CompUSA was a thick hardware guide called 
Computer Shopper.

Remember Computer Shopper's printed edition, Bobbie and others?

References to Computer Shopper at [2] and [3] if it helps jog people's 
memories :-)

Quoting another post from Bobbie S fourteen years ago at [4]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
     By the way be glad you aren't stuck in the era of producing
hardcopy newsletters for the membership.  Major bummer and
expense to produce and mail.

     Oh and I am still doing stuff on my Amiga because despite
Linux handiness it is hard to import about 15 years of addresses
to kmail.  Juggling all the stuff I do online between Linux
and Amiga is complicated but I am gradually getting more done
on the Linux side there.  Oh and I did get my bookmarks from
the Amiga over to the Windows side but the same file is
unreadable by the same progra (Mozilla/Firefox) on the Linux
side.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Don't recall whether or not some of the vendors listed in Computer Shopper 
those many "years ago" sold Amiga parts. Or even Apple Macs(?)
Perhaps others can fill in further details based upon their experiences 
with Computer Shopper of the 1990's and early Aughts(~Y2K to 2004.)


IIRC, most if not all of each monthly edition of Computer Shopper in the 
1990's ran _several hundreds_ of pages!!, and was unaffordable and 
burdensome to subscribe to on a yearly basis (for me at least) :-\
Do happen to remember an enormous amount of non big-box, more local 
computer hardware stores and their websites listed there, invariably 
including regularly appearing ads for Dell Computers Inc's systems and 
parts. Most if not all complete computer systems that Computer Shopper 
vendors sold were invariably pre-loaded with MS Windows; I'd even hazard a 
guess that Bobbie S's "Windows side" PC(s) mentioned above were similarly 
pre-installed with MS Windows? :-|
At the same time, major accomplishments perhaps others also had were to 
build-your-own PCs from computer system hardware ordered from various 
vendors listed on Computer Shopper and then install your own OS (Windows, 
Linux-only, Windows-Linux dual boot) onto your disparate self-assembled 
systems :-)

While big-box computer stores such as Fry's still fared well in the early 
Aughts even with the rise of many more online-only retailers -- and 
possibly correlated as well with the steep ascent of eBay following its 
merger with PayPal [5] -- Computer Shopper became noticeably thinner and 
thinner with decreasing numbers of Brick-and-Mortar computer supply 
listings, until its print edition completely vanished at the end of the 
decade. IIRC, Dell Computers Inc. and other computer retailers still sent 
out direct hardcopy "snailmail" mailings to customers and newspaper 
inserts even while Computer Shopper was in decline.

-A


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REFERENCES
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[1]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2021q1/015176.html
[2]https://www.computerworld.com/article/2480991/good-bye-computer-shopper.html
[3]https://archive.org/details/computer_shopper
[4]http://linuxmafia.com/pipermail/sf-lug/2007q1/001371.html
[5]https://www.cnet.com/news/ebay-picks-up-paypal-for-1-5-billion/
==================================

aaronco36 at sdf.org