Thread regarding Fry's Electronics layoffs

Frys in oxnard ca has no laptops and or tvs

Roseville, California looks like going to be closing soon a lot of empty shelfs.

Sacramento, California is Closed for good

Campbell location just closed.

San Diego is gutted like a fish. Whole departments are cleared out and barren. The home theater department (TVs, speakers, stereo systems etc.) is cordoned off with a wall of refrigerators/dishwashers and CAUTION tape. Same with the "Radio Shack" corner (components, tools and the like). Their main entrance is boarded up with plywood, looking like it was victimized by looting or something (the exit is now the entrance/exit). No receipt-checker at the door, either. 5-10 years ago its parking lot was packed on the weekends and preceding the holidays, but today I think there were maybe a dozen cars in the lot.

Anaheim Fry’s is closed

Fry's Electronics in Phoenix looks empty.

I hadn't visited the Fry's in Las Vegas for a few years, mostly because I now live 60 miles out of town. I was used to the store being well stocked and busy . Every time. On a slow day 10 registers would be in use and lines were long but moved quickly.

When I pulled into the driveway I thought maybe they had moved. There were maybe 20 cars in the lot, it used to be hard to park in their huge lot.

Then I went in. It looked empty. I had bought an item for pickup online and I looked around a little and then went to get my item. There were no open registers and no employees in sight. I was beginning to wonder if something catastrophic had happened, like another 9-11 or assassination. It was that unnerving.

San Marcos location is close to being done. As seen on TV products and zip ties are all that's left.

The store in Webster Tx is like a ghost town. Did not see one employee while in there. Nobody at the registers, nobody anywhere. I assume they were there as the doors were open. Two monitors made up the computing department. Been this way for Months. Not sure what they are holding on to?

San Diego Fry's looks like a ghost town and Halloween is right around the corner see this store closing sooooooooon!

I visited the Milton, GA store two days ago. There couldn't have been more than 10 cars in the parking lot. The appliance section appeared to have 1 dishwasher and nothing else, with lots of empty floor space instead of dozens of refrigerators. Other parts of the store seemed to be mostly stocked, but with some empty spaces - I did not walk through the computer systems department though. It looked like a store begging for a "50% off - Final Liquidation" sign. I felt sorry for the few employees I saw there.

I went to the Fishers, Indiana store yesterday and saw 2 employees running the entire store (used to be dozens of staff there) and about 2% of stock on empty shelves. No computers, no TV, nothing of any value. RIP

Fry's wants to be an everything store for everyone. They have expanded their business from components and computer parts into appliances, TVs, car stereos, cameras, home theatre, auto installation, computer repairs, and all your electronic needs in one place. They beat their competitors with large selections of items. Nobody can beat them. Their store space is huge that they can afford to stock every brand and every product on their shelves. At the peak of Fry's rising empire, they crushed all competitions. Their stores were the money making machines. Every year, they were looking for new location to open a new store. Fry's has their own bank and their own Fry's credit card. The fall of Fry's empire started when they hired bad management who had no experience or knowledge in running a retail business. Hiring someone within the company that only knows how to run at the store level doesn't mean anything. You need outsiders that can tell what's wrong with the company. They didn't take Amazon seriously. At the height of their popularity, they should have an ecommerce website already in place for those who want to order online. It's too late now since Amazon already took off at lightning speed. They were falling behind payment for vendors that provided them with products on their shelves. Bad customer services, bad treatment of their own employees, toxic working environment that everyone didn't care one way or another about the company. It's all about profits. The domino effects just keep falling. In conclusion, I think Fry's brothers didn't care anymore. They are already old. They have been in business for 35 years. The life cycle is complete. They are at the end of their golden year.

Take Sacramento off the list of open stores. They say temporary but we all know better. The Northgate store was vandalized by protester a month or two ago and Fry's just boarded up the front and move the inventory to Roseville. Sad,sad sad.

Just visited the Houston location. It is extremely bare. Cafe is closed. No computers available and limited hardware. There are computer accessories. Managed to get antivirus software & MS Office.

Was at the Fountain Valley CA store today. Shocking. Looked like only about 5 or 6 employees and even fewer customers. Guy on checkout saying they are restructuring...still the same story. Car park empty. Never seen it like that in the 15 years I’ve been going there. Usually car park full and lines for the checkouts. Felt like a closing down sale at a Halloween store.
Hope someone can revive it for all the reasons mentioned here by others.

I was in the Downers Grove, IL store today. (No grocery store here.) No trouble social distancing. Parking lot almost empty. Very sad because as Mickey said, it was Disneyland for geeks. Later I visited Micro Center, a 25 store chain from Ohio with only one California store and one Illinois store about 10 miles from the Fry's. There were at least 30 people lined up for the three cash registers. They had lots of inventory that I would normally have found in Fry's. If Fry's does rebound, I'll be happy to be their customer again. I'm afraid they may have let too many people down for too long to recover.

Yes. The one in Anaheim Ca. Closed in March 2020. Miss going to Frys. Main board, HDD, Computer Cases..Etc..Would spend Hours in there. As one person said. It was a Disneyland for geeks.

Renton Frye's 7/15
Very empty.
Talked to an employee they said their vendors are all close pretty much becausethe coronavirus. A block over is a Target went to their electronic department it was full..
I believe there is more to the story...

Anaheim store closed March 2020.

uhhh... yeah! The Renton WA store has been showing signs of the slow death for a few years now. They started carrying really weird junk, i.e. knock off perfumes and As Seen on TV trash. My last visit to their store was sometime early this year and they had noooothing. I mean... I wanted the time and gas back that it took me to drive into their parking lot and walk all the way through that oversized store to the empty aisle b/c it was that much of a waste. It was like... having a peanut butter sandwich then going to get a glass of milk only to discover someone left an empty carton of milk in there. Now you hate peanut butter and wish you had not eaten that sandwich.

Fry's has been going under for the last couple of years - a lot of their vendors pulled out due to them not paying them. They say they have gone consignment but with the state of the stores and the fact, some have actually closed not just the one that they said was the only one closing (Palo Alto) which they had plenty of time to find a new location for that location as they knew exactly when their lease was up. Covid-19 isn't helping but they were dead before that. They have gone from saying the issues are tariffs before for the tariffs actually went into effect to going consignment which no-name brand seems to have been willing to do why would you if you already know that the don't pay their bills in a timely manner to COVID-19.

Sad too read that FRY's is in a state that they may disappear from the scenery, for a long time I have depended on them too get electronic parts that no one else would carry except by special order. Also have on display higher end electronic components, as well as some inocuase parts that others may not carry at all. But it seems that people are no longer willing too try and maintain the devices they have purchased or too make the most of what they do purchase, it seems as though most believe the answers too all their questions and the solutions too their problems is thru the internet. It seems that the only vendors surviving these economic times are grocery retailers and fast food stands. SAD-SAD-SAD. One day people will wake up and look around and ask what happened too all our choices, and the answer can only be when you trade covieance for choice, all that is going to happen is you are going too lose freedom of choice, and possibly choice all together.

Just got back from Fry's Electronics in Phoenix. It was devastating. I always used to get excited to go, not just for the hardware, but for those other little gamer-specific things like Bawls Energy Drinks. It feels like a haunted house now, as someone mentioned below. The employees I saw were all under duress. They had five (5) hard drives in the total store, which is what I came to purchase. I was also looking for a Windows installer, but couldn't find one. It might have been there, but after coming in with a budget and being so immediately winded by everything, I decided to not purchase even the things I could find, and just to move on. On the way out, I bought the very last Bawls energy drink in the store, even though it was cherry flavored. The cashier said they were empty due to "coronavirus" and "restructuring". This is so sad, it might sound ironic but I do not like making purchases online.

I've been a long time shopper at Fry's and from a purely "outside" perspective I honestly believe they failed for two main reasons.

1) They tried to do too much. When I think Fry's Electronics I think primarily computers and PC parts, and secondary to that electronics and components. I don't think of refrigerators or washers and dryers, or any of the other complete junk they sell by the registers. You fundamentally can't fill a store with a ton of junk product your customer base doesn't want, and expect it to sell, let alone turn a profit.

2) The upper management allowed things such as for stores to not answer phones, hanging up on customers, and just flat out being dishonest. I only have direct experience with the 4 stores in my Southern California area that I have visited, but they all seem to suffer from the same poor customer service.

I really hope they can somehow pull off a relaunch or find some kind of funding to keep going. I literally would buy decent quantities of electronics components, PC components, and other small things like cable or connectors. Now I'm forced to buy all these things online and wait since there is literally NO where else to buy stuff like this where I am.

Really surprising when you're the ONLY company selling something in a geographic area, yet you can't even get it right.

The Burbank, Ca store has had empty shelves for at least the last 9 months maybe longer. The employees keep towing the line " we are expecting shipments within...." This started before the trade war with China. According to a news article of a year plus ago, the family who owns the company has been pulling money out for years and basically their suppliers became tired of late pay/no pay situations. When I was last there in December they were boxing hard drives and stuff with company box labels, not sure if they were returning to manufacturer or if they were going to move them to a third party online seller to generate some revenue.

I was at the San Jose, Calif store on Hamilton Ave S.J less than a month ago, in March & the shelves there to were bare. Maybe 10 customers inside & parking lot empty. 1 cashier , no one walking around asking if they can help the few customers there & 1 person at the exit which didn't even check my receipt.
Yep, unfortunately Fry's is Fried ! I will really miss that store. I spent hours there & probably several thousand $'s there.
We don't have Radio Shack here either, all gone !
I guess anything electronical U may want, will need to be ordered on line !

Is fry’s fried?
Very sad looking and depressed or embarrassed employees... maybe 1% of employees left behind mostly at cashiers.....no one helps and it feels like a haunted house......
The person that checks for receipts at the exit was kneeling on a chair....he does not look well and extremely obese maybe from not moving or depressed. He said fry bought out fry’s ....family problems.??
God bless the working hands that helped us throughout times......

Very sad looking....so many good experiences and nothing more than bare bones and the bunny rabbit running to Alice in Wonderland’s hole.
Feel bad for employees remaining and like trained monkeys they all reply the same thing...changing vendors.....no one believes that.
How are they paying employees, rent and maintain inventory that people don’t trust to buy anymore..??
Thank you Fry’s and good luck and blessings for all!!!!!!

So I was at their City of Industry location today. What I saw was basically what everyone else on here described. It was beyond dead with almost no customers inside. Their electronics Isle and shelving were all bare. I asked one employee and they stated that they were changing vendors. I also asked another employee I saw on the way out if they were going to close. Their response was "hope not".

It doesn't look like they are going to stay open at this rate just based on all the posts an observations that are form all over the nation. I really really really hope they are just restructuring and not going bankrupt. I would be extremely sad to see them go out of business.

So I was at their City of Industry location today. What I saw was basically what everyone else on here described. It was beyond dead with almost no customers inside. Their electronics Isle and shelving were all bare. I asked one employee and they stated that they were changing vendors. I also asked another employee I saw on the way out if they were going to close. Their response was "hope not".

It doesn't look like they are going to stay open at this rate just based on all the posts an observations that are form all over the nation. I really really really hope they are just restructuring and not going bankrupt. I would be extremely sad to see them go out of business.

The first Fry's store was in Sunnyvale on Oakmead Parkway, not the Palo Alto store. It moved once before ending up at its current location. It was really just for electronics nerds at first (oscilloscopes, power supplies, etc.), but slowly started more mainstream electronics like TVs and LaserDiscs.

sacramento store employee confirmed the store is closing

We visited a Houston Texas location today. Very limited stock and bare shelves. We're asked the first employee if they were closing. They replied, " were ate waiting on freight. " (saw the same employee unstocking shelves) when we checked out the second employee we asked replied, " I can't answer that. " this location did not have any laptops.... monitors.... or any graphics cards. We literally drove 2 hours for nothing. It s—s seeing the company going through whatever this is. We really enjoy going into their stores.

Visited the San Diego store about an hour ago. Parking lot empty, very few customers and very little stock visible. Got two stories from two employees. 1. We don't know what is going on but expect more stock in a couple of weeks. 2. We expect more stock soon. The company experienced issues negotiating with Chinese suppliers vis-a-vis US tarrifs.

Both responses are somewhat similar. On entering the store, we noticed the loss prevention checker at the exit practically asleep at his station and watching a video on his phone. This all looks like a company in a downward spiral.

Palo Alto closed on Dec 27th

Duluth, GA has already closed. Milton GA is not stocked. I assume they are liquidating through that location till inevitable.

So basically every store in the San Francisco Bay Area, where Fry’s is located, will be closing. This is such a sad situation. Going to be laughable if they try and have a Black Friday sale.

People like blaming Amazon. But, they competed for years without issues.

Visited the Irving TX location yesterday to go Window shopping, and WOW... it looks well... empty. It certainly didn't look like this back in February. The area where the desktop towers normally are, no towers. there are no GPUs in stock, except for one poor sad, lonely GTX 1650, the areas where appliances normally are was a mess (everything's everywhere) I was experiencing a dash of melancholy as I also reminisced my first time visiting a Fry's back in 2011 when I went to Gwinett Place, GA for the very first time. Very bittersweet seeing one of my favorite places in a shape like this. unfortunately with all the items missing (did everyone buy out everything or were they sent to online warehouses?) nothing was as well organised as it normally would have been, it sure feels like it's actually on it's way out. Sad day. I'm going to miss it though. I even bought stuff from these stores as well! Stuff you generally wouldn't find at a Wal-mart, or even a best buy. I'm going to miss the "BASS Room" I got to jam a little bit a few times I'd visit, though the GA location was never working from day one. XD just the Irving location had them working, and it's glorious. Do me a favor and give those subs one last glorious bump!