Kroger?
7 replies (most recent on top)
Reading a bunch of people’s
Comments who have never built a billion dollar
Company in their life but know everything the owners did wrong is comical
Great thread
Kathy may have co-started this ship, but at the end of the same year she retires its going down fast. It had negative gain in 2018 as well, so going under while still in power.
100% a good starter, but a failing company in the end convinces me was very poor in keeping up with the times, as evidenced by companies still thriving that did keep up with, ironically, technology. It might surprise people to know the Frys programs run off of XP, a completely outdated system. Was everyone getting drunk when Frys was rolling in $$ and forget to invest back into the company like...10 years plus ago?
Im not convinced their heads were in the game. This is the result, not a commemorative long-lasting legacy, but a flat-broke company that goes/is bankrupt the same year you retire.
Rich kids get millions of $$$ to build an empire of a company (you know anyone who got a million dollars free in the 80’s?), and it fails due to lack of any real business management skills. It only lasted due to luck that it was the right product at the right time. Time also showed no one seemed to know how to keep the business going, at least no one who was in power did.
Great article though for the thousands kicked out of their jobs and for those that lost all their benefits, managers s—ered into thinking losing their titles and salary would still be able to make money only to find out they make minimum wage or a bit more, yet still are used for core functions, and for those that lost benefits to a bloodsucking business that turned on its loyal workers to save money, and still are keeping in the dark on why no one is getting product.
Tip of my hat and a golf clap and all that. Great article portraying any of the owners as something special.
Randy Fry is the Current Owner of Fry's Electronics. I worked at Fry's in 2016-2017 I've even met the guy. From what I was told by associates Randy is the reason why they're in their current state. Through a series of horrible business decisions and bad spending the Fry's Account was looking grim. Along with this Money was tight and vendors noticed their tabs getting larger and larger. A mass business restructuring was required to remove Randy Fry (He had very little business experience in the first place) and hire on John Fry. John has an incredible business pedigree boasting 4 business degrees, many years of experience, and a collection of 5 businesses he has started and successfully kept running strong. His first step is to freight up the highest selling Stores to get profits up to Restock everyone else. One of the Associates told me their expecting 19 Trucks to come to the Wilsonville Oregon Store and get everything right again. Long Live Fry's Electronics!
A sincere tip of the cap and hearty golf clap to my former client, colleague and most of all friend Kathy Kolder, who just wrapped up an amazing (35 year) round as Co-founder and CXO of pre-eminent technology retailer #Fry’sElectronics. Kathy stepped down at the end of this year after overseeing the amazing ascent of @Fry’sElectronics, an innovator of the superstore concept who’s merchandising strategy called for placing computer chips and grocery store items next to semiconductor chips, motherboards and a whole bunch of finished goods including software, hardware, cameras, TV’s and other goods across the office, appliance, consumer electronics genres.
It’s also noteworthy that Kathy started this biz at a time when the business wasn’t just male dominated but a row of frat-like houses ran by techies and her role required that she walk in to these ‘tech shops’ and convince the would-be titans of industry (#Intel, #Apple #Seagate, #Microsoft #Compaq #Sony #Samsung #HP #CreativeLabs, et al.) that they should stack their beloved wares on shelves (in consumer packaging) as if on a grocery store counter. Btw, she not only convinced almost every tech executive who wanted to “live with the classes and sell to the masses” to do business with Fry’s but many of the said titans became devotees of Kathy and the learnings she provided them on selling across Fry’s and retail ultimately becoming the first stop of any new company considering bringing a new product to market.
From my perch at #ComputerRetailWeek (#CMP Media) and our numerous events, it was obvious the chain was the marvel of everyone but mostly the technology consumer who wore an engineering or developer title and would hang out at one of your 30+ stores for hours playing with gear, asking questions and just geeking out with staff and other shoppers on the latest and greatest gadgets. Impressive how you oversaw the acquisition of other major retail brands like #Egghead #Outpost and #IncredibleUniverse that enabled the chain to expand its store count and enhance its digital footprint in ecommerce and outlast competitors like #CircuitCity #GoodGuys #CompUSA #Computer City and countless others.
But with growth comes new challenges so Kathy set aside her passion for marketing and merchandising and took on Legal, HR, Construction, Insurance. Who does that? And she owned it - not according to me or her but her peers and competitors that kept the Fry’s Team ahead of the pack in those key areas allowing it to thrive and survive in challenging times. Those that sought results and action turned to Kathy, who also added on roles like running a PGA Tour golf event to the local Ballet Co., and other elaborate business chores.
But yeah, the time has come, I guess, and my first thoughts are What a ride! And that the entire #Retail x #Tech industry owes you a debt of gratitude and best of luck to the team @Fry’s that remains.
On a personal side, it’s good to see you step away now. Not because of anything @Frys or challenges from #Walmart or #Amazon or your improving golf game. But there’s another great chapter in you Kath and I’m not sure it can be accomplished where you are today, and I look forward to watching, and learning more and I don’t think I’m alone.
Enjoy – and let’s tee it up soon!
Kathy Kolder, Co-Founder at Fry's Electronics retired in January 2019.
Her resume is on Linkedin.
Privately owned by John Fry, Randy Fry, Dave Fry and Kathy Kolder.