With the constant 20% off coupons, and bare shelves, Fry's has to be circling the drain. The number of computer and monitors has been decreased so much, that one can only wonder why. Their creditors must not be extending them credit. Maybe all of their sales now are purely a cash grab.
I really wish I was wrong about this, but the writing has to be on the walls.
Quote "They should have cut their stores by 70-80% a long time ago but they can't because of their leases. "
They own most if not all of their stores and the land they are on. There are property costs, but not leases.
Roseville and Sacramento stores moved all inventory to the floor. Store rooms are empty, just like the registers.
Wilsonville Frys is bare as well. Hope the employees find and land on their feet elsewhere. Some of them are loyal to a fault, but I always hate to see people lose work. They're being strung along and cut down to 1 day a week or a couple days part time. I may not purchase at Frys as I used to, but it still is a place I go if I need something that day.
This is spot-on I recently visited a couple stores and not only were they bear but all of their advertise sale items had a minimum inventory equal to that of the maximum allowed per person for example they only purchase two ram kits and advertise the huge sale only to disappoint people with out of stock. They load up half of the shelves with returned merchandise and high-profit items in the hopes that people will impulse buy enough to keep the doors open another month this is nothing but a pure cash grab in order to make the books look better until they close the doors and file bankruptcy
They should have cut their stores by 70-80% a long time ago but they can't because of their leases.
They're losing money everyday and can barely make payroll let alone the monthly lease for each store.
Bankruptcy is on the way.
Someone posted who's going to buy the property which is absurd Fry's doesn't own any location properties.
Was at the Anaheim store today. Looked like they had a ton of empty shelves. Looked like they had not restocked in a while. Same situation a few months ago but today was worse. It appeared that some of the people there were not there. Only a few customers. Of the 30 or so registers, only like two or three were being staffed. No longer anyone checking receipts on the way out, either. A YouTube video on the channel Retail Archaeology also is showing their decline.
Based on these reports I wonder if the company is planning to file bankruptcy or close some stores.
If they do decline I will miss them. Great electronics and computer store back in the day. In their heyday they had a great selection, great product and great prices too.
Roseville, CA.
No bins when you first walk in with clearance items. Just empty floor space. Looked for an SSD HD and shelves were empty. They had only a few in stock in the cage up front. Bought two and they did not even have anyone at the front door to check your receipt. Highly unusual.
I was in the Dallas (I635/Beltline area) store this past Saturday evening. Lots and lots of empty shelves. It's obvious this store will not be there much longer. Hate to see it go, I wonder if the store in Plano is also closing?
Just ducked in our Indianapolis store to pick up a garage door opener battery. When I pulled in the parking lot it was empty. When I walked in, the store had that 'We are closing" smell. Literally. The in store cafe was closed. This was on a usually busy Sunday afternoon. Went to the battery aisle and it was 70% bare. My son and I asked an employee (Who walked right by us...), "What is going on? Is the Store Ok?". Zombie like he answered 'I don't know, but I know it doesn't look good". Went to the usually glorious DVD and Blue Ray Aisle. Picked over. Appliance section as mentioned, like a neighborhood second hand store. The young TV guy said they expect to be here through the end of the year. He said California as a district is doing well, but that the rest of the country is in trouble, with the Indy store doing the best in the district. THIS IS SAD. There is stuff in this store that you simply cannot get at a Big Box store like Best Buy. Since Radio Shack went by the wayside, this has not only been a great Consumer Electronics Store, but the last resort for pure play Electronics. I know e-commerce is the way, but seeing items makes all the difference in the world sometimes. Market economy? Yea, I get that, but this is just not cool.
This has been a situation in San Marcos, CA since they opened. There have always been a good number of bare shelves, lack of stock, people with no knowledge and who don’t know where anything is. According to a Forbes article, this is status quo at Fry’s. Look up “The Customer Is Always Right? Not At Fry’s!”
I think the problem is at the top and always has been. And the stores are big - which have to be expensive to rent.
Renton (Seattle) WA reporting in. Yeah, many many empty shelves. You can get some good deals, though, like a 12-pack of Pepsi for $4. They still have a decent stock of phone stuff, batteries, cables, and all those widgets for geeks in the cable and component section, but no computer bags, mice-keyboard-trackballs gone, limited toner, and such. The appliances section is turning into a scratch-and-dent sale, one till open out of 20+.
Employees dutifully told me "I haven't heard" while staring you dead on in the face saying "Please, k–l me now" in their eyes.
I don't see how they can make it to Black Friday.
In Fry's in Austin today. Employee said they are not being told but he has never seen it this low in inventory so self-liquidation does appear to be happening.
I was at the Tempe, Arizona location two weeks ago and I asked the sales rep in the store if Fry’s was closing down and he said yes. They said current plans are for Fry’s to close after Black Friday. He said Fry’s is in the process of self liquidation, hence the lack of merchandise.
So sad, I really loved Fry’s... I don’t want yo only rely on Amazon for everything...
Just had a ridiculously no customer service c-appy experience at Fry's electronics in Concord California… Damn! I swear to God the people they're all high as they move like turtles and don't seem to give a sh– gave you miss information or the wrong product. They just don't care and apparently I'm talking to three different people there they know nothing about electronics, even as simple as which phone adapter to get for my iPhone eight - repeatedly tried to help me purchase and live with the wrong product and I had to Jump up and down to get what I needed practically! Also there's almost no product on the shelves. As I walked in the door it just feels like complete apathy and I have no idea why they are still open. I would've just left without my adapter but I really needed it right now. Sad
I was at the Fountain Valley store today and 30+% of the shelves have nothing to do with electronics.
Many, many, shelves with plastic toys, cheap perfumes, cookware, etc.
I looked for a monitor and an I 5 desktop. Inventory was slim, prices were high. Many refurbished items.
I did not see any of the regular employees I've come to know over the years. Not a one!
Very few shoppers, store hours have shrunk.
I asked an employee if I should expect the store to close and he said they are going to shrink the floor space and turn more of it into a shipping facility to compete with Amazon.
Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for Frys.
I was in Sunnyvale today (7/25) looking for an item that the web site said was in stock. It wasn't. I asked a sales person if the store was going out of business and he responded: "it looks that way." That was a vague response. Did he mean "it looks that way" because the shelves were so empty? Or did he mean that they were actually going out of business?
It must be tough with people buying smart phones, appliances, computers, TVs, and beds from Costco, where the prices are better and the warranties are longer.
"They're treating their employess horribly. Switching them to part time or eliminating their job altogether, eliminating benefits, giving paycuts to those who stay while expecting them to do more work. It's really disgusting and the fact that this is a family owned business rather than a large corporation makes it even worse. Selfishness and greed are often expected frim large cirporations but what kind of greedy, hateful and disgusting family would treat their employees this way? Especially those who have been with them for many years. "
^This!
As for when they are closing, us employees at the store strongly believe that it will be Q1 2020 after the last Xmas Holiday and Black Friday events as a last attempt cash grab. So we feel we will get our Tax Return with a pink slip.
From what I understand, the Fry's employees aren't being told anything, they have to re-act to whatever happens..which is sad for them, the smart ones have bailed, but there are some that are still loyal..one told me that they go into work and just go through the motions, no sense of accomplishment or goals to meet...let's hope the torture ends soon..
I went to the Tempe location and the shelves are completely bare. There seems to be more fake cologne than components in the store. They had zero Intel motherboards and they had two AMD boards that were a few chipset generations ago. One was opened and the box was ripped, and the other was over $200 for an A320 board...
I asked for them to get some RAM and they refused to price match Newegg despite it being plastered all over their store, and once I told them I would just pay their asking price they said they actually didn't even have it. I asked them what RAM they had available and he shrugged his shoulders.
They only seem to have Thermaltake cases. Had some Corsair cases on display but none in stock.
Very disappointing experience. Especially because the place was awesome in it's prime.
They're treating their employess horribly. Switching them to part time or eliminating their job altogether, eliminating benefits, giving paycuts to those who stay while expecting them to do more work. It's really disgusting and the fact that this is a family owned business rather than a large corporation makes it even worse. Selfishness and greed are often expected frim large cirporations but what kind of greedy, hateful and disgusting family would treat their employees this way? Especially those who have been with them for many years.
Dallas Frys almost empty. Sad day, as they always had a good selection of components. I’ll give them until the end of the summer!
Thank goodness we have Microcenter.
Same experience at the Indy store today. It was eerie and sad at the same time. I got some great prices on some clearance items. But as a computer / electronics enthusiast, I would rather see more PC components vs. perfume, make up and "As Seen On TV" junk. Looks like the writing is on the wall, but I would love to see them stick around.
“Good riddance, they never had what I was looking for, and yet I still went there. At least with them gone I won't be wasting any more time there.”
LMAO it’s okay they still get paid to waste your time loser lol
They treat their employees like c-ap, I was employed by them for several months. At my age, 68, most disrespectful company ever! Constant disregard, if you ask a supervisor a question the response would be with an eye role as if they were being bothered!
They treat their employees like c-ap, I was employed by them for several months. At my age, 68, most disrespectful company ever! Constant disregard, if you ask a supervisor a question the response would be with an eye role as if they were being bothered!
I'm sure it is somewhat related to the continuing increase of minimum wage across the country. Also is related to the type of employees that work for minimum wage. They get the feeling they should get paid for standing around doing nothing. Those two aspects alone are enough to k–l a business and then add the uber competitive consumer electronic industry on top of it and its no reason Frys is failing. Very sad to see it going down like this. I will miss it.
Can this be tied to minimum wage increases in California tilting the boat?
I was just the store in Downers Grove, Il yesterday and the shelves are getting bare. I believe that they will be closing soon. It's a shame because I liked that place.
I just visited the Phoenix Thunderbird location last night & I can confirm that this store is now in the beginning stages of a 'Ghost Town'. Shelves are beyond bare & after walking the entire store out of curiosity, I was unable to find even 1 familiar face. Why is Best Buy thriving & Fry's Electronics dying? I have visited several Best Buy locations recently & have found nothing but helpful friendly employees, plenty of inventory & even when they are out of something they quickly pull out a 'Store Locator' App & usually find another Best Buy within a reasonable driving distance that has the item you are wanting to purchase. Fry's Electronics was doomed from the beginning in my opinion. I run a small home-based Computer Repair Company & I can honestly say that I rarely felt welcomed by any of the Employees. The employees seemed irritated that I already knew what I was looking for & had no need for their advice, suggestions, or Sales Pitches. I did however always make a point to track down a Member in Components to ring up my items (whether they helped me or not), so that they could get commission. The part that bothered me was witnessing how other customers were handled who didn't have computer knowledge. Too many stories on that topic, but one thing that never changed for me as a shopper at Fry's from Day 1 when they 1st opened their doors, to last night when I walked out, was the feeling of wanting to get in & out of that store as quickly as possible. In short, I went to Fry's Electronics out of necessity for needed parts for my Customers, but never really enjoyed being there. I'm not saying it was horrible, but it just wasn't a place that made me feel welcome or appreciated as a frequent repeat customer.
Went to the Dallas, TX store today (7/19). Same situation as everyone else is saying. The in stock items could condense the store to a fourth of its size. Even worse, their back stock area only has about 20% of the space used if not less. Few staff and no front door employees to strip search people with receipts. The writing is on the wall. I would be very surprised if they made it to the end of the year.
Been noticing that the Tempe, AZ store has been getting more and more bare for the last 6 months or so. Finally did some research to find out why and found this site.
I was there a couple days ago and it's really depressing. Every time I go there which is usually a couple times a month, there are fewer items on the shelves and actual shelving units keep disappearing.
Bluray and DVD movies, which used to cover about six 50 ft racks has been slowly shrinking. Granted, this is probably a lot to due with consumers shifting to streaming and digital but every month the movies section got smaller and smaller and now they've finally moved them all to a 20 foot stretch of shelves.
Shrinking stock really accelerated a couple of months ago and now when you look at PC mice, keyboards, hard drives, where they used to have wall to wall products down several long rows of shelves, it looks like a looted grocery store after a natural disaster. You could literally probably condense all the stock in the store down to 1/8th of the stores current square footage.
It looks like they're in a death spiral to me. Also, within the last year they built a Frys gas station out front. Why? Is gas a money maker? I wonder how much money they've wasted on things like that and also all the money they spent on their themed stores. They put a strange golf theme on the Tempe store about 5 or 6 years ago that is just odd.
I follow their promo code emails and I've noticed how they're less and less interesting but it feels like they're desperately trying to get bodies in the store, even if they have to give the store away. For, example, for months they've frequently had Nintendo eshop cards on 10% to 20% off. This makes no sense to me. How are they discounting these and why? It can't be Nintendo so why is Frys doing this? Are they hoping once you're in the store you'll buy other stuff. I don't. I go there get the promo item and leave. They must be simply trying to get cash but they're digging themselves in a hole. Desperately discounting items to get enough cash to pay their current debt but they're not making any money so they'll only tread water this way for so long until they drown.
I've shopped there for probably fifteen years or more, however long they've been there when they bought and converted an Incredible Universe store and it's just depressing and the state of the store is probably driving people away which will accelerate their demise.
We noticed it at the Oxnard, CA location! Crazy to see the bare shelves. Thank
Seriously...do people only post here when they CAN'T find something? Sometimes I've had that issue, but more often than not...I find what I need in the Las Vegas location(...which I admit looks more barren than the desert at times). Additionally, there's a same-day in-store delivery service for some other items (haven't tried it yet so not sure how effective it is).
For all its faults, Fry's is the only place I can go to and get some esoteric electronic components now that Radio Shack, Circuit City, and others don't exist anymore. Until I can get an item within an hour, Amazon and most online ordering doesn't cut it for me. There is a demand for brick and mortar stores like this. Hopefully it sticks around for awhile, because unfortunately there's nothing else left :/
Visited the Frys store in Phoenix just yesterday. Shelves almost bare. Employees being laid off. Was told it was due to tariffs on Chinese goods by manager. Don't believe it though. So sad. Do not want to go to Best Buy. No other places here to buy electronics.
Frys Electronics in Woodland Hills just layed off more than half their staff in 1 week. At least 30 hard working associates just got lost their jobs or had their hours dramatically decreased forcing them to quit. Frys does not care for their employees. If they want to fix their problems they need to fix it from the inside out.
Went to the Burbank store yesterday and was shocked at the empty shelves and complete lack of restocking, etc. The atmosphere was like every other place I've ever been in that was going out of business. I'd noticed over the last year or so that they were selling a lot more junky, low-quality merchandise than before, and the last few times I've gone to get something, I've left empty-handed. I think I'll make one more trip to the Woodland Hills store to see if there's anything worth picking up, but I guess I won't have any reason to go back. I can't imagine them lasting beyond the end of the year, but I also wonder who will buy their properties, since the only other retailers I can think of with spaces as big as the average Fry's are Walmart and Costco, and there are already one of those nearby anywhere where there is a Fry's.
I was in Oxnard, CA store a couple days ago and experienced similar things already posted here. It is crystal clear that their stores will soon be shuttered due to BK - - - - sad situation but not totally unexpected - -
I was in the Burbank store this morning. The opening mechanism of the front door was broken. That should have been a hint of things to come. Once inside, the shelves were mostly bare. What stock they had, was lined up one deep. Passing through the hard drive department, I saw the woman who usually waits on me. I asked what was going on. She said they hadn't been able to get shipments from Taiwan but when I pressed it, she was obviously not going to discuss it. I did find the HDMI cables I was looking for but nothing else. At the checkout, there were ten people in line but only two cashiers. I asked the woman waiting on me what was going on. She said "I wish I knew. If they would tell us, we could try tocome up with a plan B". This has been coming for a long time but it was still sad to see it go like this. I remember the day when I would look forward to wandering the aisles. Now the experience is a lonely one. I won't be going back.
I went to the Alpharetta, GA, store last week. It was nearly bare. I asked my sales guy if they were going out of business and he said he couldn't say, but he did say that everyone was looking for new jobs.
7/12 - walked into Fry’s to see what’s up as i was visiting town and the parking lot was nearly empty and the traditional sales crowd that greeted customers at the door was non-existent. Aisles lacked stock and walking through the camera section, I was disappointed that they only appeared to carry at most a Nikon d610.
Walking out completely saddened I searched the internet for Frys going out of business and found this site.
The writing is on the wall. RIP Frys. Sad day.