Fry's Electronics suddenly went out of business

[tripplej]

from cnn,

"Fry's Electronics suddenly closed all of its stores overnight, ending a nearly four-decade run in business. The company, which had 31 stores across nine US states, said in a statement on its website that it "made the difficult decision to shut down its operations and close its business permanently" because of changing consumer shopping habits and the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. "

 

[mechman]

Doesn't shock me. I'm a bit surprised that Best Buy is still around. I still recall buying a pair of speakers at one of the original Best Buy stores. They were called Sound of Music back then.

 

[phillihp23]

Will miss my local Frys. Great place too pick out components to build a computer.

 

[tripplej]

Very difficult to compete against amazon..

 

[Sonnie]

Yep... just about everything they carry can be purchased online cheaper. I think they have suffered from poor management too... always disorganized, stuff in disarray, and a lot of lack of knowledge in the stores I've been in. Only those that don't know any better will buy from them, and nowadays that number is getting small. The online shopping world has grown ten-fold or better during COVID.

 

[JStewart]

It’s sad, but we will come to a point when brick and mortar retail goods is all but extinct. The business cost structure is not competitive with online at all. Next will be a less competition so prices will rise. And labor costs for many services have been and will continue to rise for those where traditionally their sales have included some goods as well as labor.

 

[iamstubb]

I remember Cyberian Outpost, which could deliver computer parts faster than the CompUSA two blocks away. They were bought out by Fry's but they never learned the lesson. But they had pretty awesome themed stores. Our local was Atlantis, with huge fish tanks and all and a huge Jacob's Ladder out front.