Business Fry’s Electronics permanently closing all stores nationwide

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SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (KRON) – Fry’s Electronics is going out of business.

KRON4 has confirmed that the iconic Bay Area retailer is permanently closing the doors of all stores nationwide.

The company is expected to post closure information on its website early Wednesday.

Fry’s has more than two dozen stores mainly across California and Texas.

There are 6 stores in Northern California, 8 in Southern California, 8 in Texas, 2 in Arizona, and one store each in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington.

There is a unique theme to each store. The Bay Area locations are:
  • Fremont: 1893 World’s Fair
  • San Jose: First astronomers, the Mayans, with settings from Chichenitza
  • Sunnyvale: History of Silicon Valley
The Concord location was still a “work in progress” and was not yet given a theme.

According to the company website, Fry’s was founded in Sunnyvale in 1985 by the three Fry brothers – John, Randy, and Dave – and Kathy Kolder.

The company aimed to “provide a one-stop-shopping environment for the Hi-Tech Professional,” selling over 50,000 electronic items in each store, which ranged anywhere between 50,000 to 180,000 square feet.

It is unclear at this time why the company is closing.
 
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I remember going to them like 20 years ago. They had a great, big selection of entertainment media/computer games back then. They were cool.

What I remember most about them though is their maze of junk food and gift cards leading to their checkout stations.
 
Another F for Fry's here. I was so stoked when the one in my area opened up, since I had been to one in LA before. I could spend hours wandering the aisles checking out the cool gadgets they had on display, and I'd go there a few times every year to pick up stuff, even if Amazon or Newegg would have been a little cheaper. Their selection of DVDs and Blu-Rays was solid too, which I appreciate being a fan of physical media. A couple years back I bought a racing wheel there for way less than sticker price using their price match policy and they gave me no trouble with it. But the last time I went in there, during the spring of 2019, the aisles were looking a lot more barren. They used to have racks full of boxed goods on the floor that they didn't have room for in the back, but that was gone. Last year around the start of the pandemic I checked their site to see what UPSes they had in stock—they had none. Ended up going to my local Best Buy instead. Now that Fry's is gone, there's no true electronics superstore anywhere near here. Best Buy is OK but their selection is not and will never be what Fry's had at its peak, and their prices on things like HDMI and USB cables are borderline extortionate.

I think they could have weathered the storm if they had improved their online presence. I don't think their site had ever been updated since it launched in the early 2000s. Search was useless, it kept forgetting my closest location, and the design was extremely dated.
 
Fry's Electronics had no street presence here in New England, but I did buy some competitively priced Metal CDs from their online store once. Wasn't much of a part of my life, but it's sad to see giants come and go.
 
Cardenio said:
I was just at a Fry's right before SuperBowl Sunday. They didn't have shit. Not even a single high end TV on display. So management definitely knew this was coming.

I'll miss the awesome front displays, beyond that you've got Newegg and Amazon selling all electronics online and BestBuy has made a miraculous comeback. RIP Fry's.
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I grew up next to one that popped up, it was kinda cool. Have some weird memories of the place, but the thing Ill remember most is the smell. It always had this weird, sterile smell, like the same smell as those blown up plastic baggies they sometimes ship with stuff as cushioning.
 
I remember when i was young I went to a frys in california that had a massive camera section including tons of aisles of cameras available for you to try. Loved trying them all out, especially the larger studio-grade ones that were there for you to try.

Hope guitar center doesn't end up going this route in a few years.
 
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