Numerous times in my blog posts I've talked about Fry's Electronics -- after all, several of the radios I write about here in my blog were purchased at Fry's.
I bought my Sangean PR-D5 there in 2014 -- and I've written maybe three blog posts about that radio alone. I bought my Sony ICF-38 there (featured in maybe three or four blog posts), and I bought my Grundig G2 there (I'm still working on a blog post about that radio).
The few cars that pulled into the Fry's lot earlier tonight were people who weren't aware that the store had already been shuttered permanently.
I also bought my Sangean PR-D18 and PR-D14 there. I got my Eton AN200 loop there when my Radio Shack AM loop went south on me in early 2020. I bought my Sangean HDR-16 AM-FM-HD radio there in March of 2020. I bought music CD's and some movie DVD's there; I bought blank CDRs, printer ink-jet cartridges; a printer and scanner for my old computer; USB memory sticks; cell phone chargers, and numerous other electronic devices and accessories there over the years, including various radio parts.
Going to Fry's was always an adventure of sorts -- there were always plenty of shoppers there, and it was a lively place.
But as of yesterday, Fry's Electronics is no more. The chain is shutting up shop. All remaining stores are closed permanently.
It's a sad day for the radio hobby, and it's a sad day for people who enjoyed shopping there. And, not the least -- it is a sad day for those who worked at Fry's.
Fry's had its only store in Washington state located in the city where I live. I think it opened up in 2001 or 2002. Previously, the property had been a vacant parking lot for Boeing workers, and when Boeing tore down half of their factory buildings in North Renton in the 1990's, the lot was empty -- only used once a summer for the traveling Cirque Du Soleil. Then, after 2001 or so, Fry's arrived.
I was working at a radio broadcast service company at the time, and in the afternoon the computer guys always were looking over the Fry's full-color flyers that came with every Friday newspaper.
Fry's always had bargains every week, as they not only were a high-volume retailer, they were very competitive. The computer and IT guys always were talking about the great prices that Fry's had -- and if you were into computers and other electronics, Fry's had everything.
The tech guys would point at the latest hard drive or video camera, or marvel at the price of the latest desktop computer in the flyer. "Wow, look at that!" was something I heard more than once.
In 2005 or 2011, this parking lot would have been packed with cars. Earlier tonight, there was nothing but emptiness. I took this pic with my once frozen but now revived Fuji AX655 snapshot camera.
Fry's had motherboards, hard drives, laptop and tablet computers, peripherals and cables, TV's and TV accessories, video games, all sorts of cameras, CB's, stereo and audio equipment, and even washers and dryers.
When you walked inside Fry's back in 2005 or 2012 there would be tons of shoppers. The parking lot was usually filled with cars. The store had a checkout counter that seemed to be a mile long, manned by 10-15 people. You had to wait in line for the next checkout stand to open. A light over a checkout stand would flash, and the guy or girl who tended the checkout line would point you to the next open cashier.
Fry's employed a lot of people. My rough guess is the Fry's in Renton probably employed a couple hundred at least.
The first night after Fry's closing: there wasn't even anyone at the store to pick up the morning newspaper.
I used to go to Fry's a lot. Like I mentioned earlier, I bought a few radios there, and when I got into the radio repair hobby in 2011 and 2012, I bought a lot of resistors, capacitors, and similar parts at Fry's.
The Great Recession seemed to have little effect on Fry's, as their prices were so good. And they had the bulk merchandise to back up those low prices -- they apparently had deals with Chinese manufacturers and the major electronics firms based in China, Taiwan, and similar Asian places. In one article I read about the store, they had their own dedicated containers shipped over from Asia.
You'd walk into the store and there would be bins chock full of small items like battery packs, USB drives and phone chargers, at dirt cheap prices -- it was a way to get you into the store, purchasing things.
The internet, along with the corona pandemic, brought another large retailer down.
For a few years -- from about 2015-2019, I hadn't gone into Fry's. I wasn't buying any more radios, and I had stopped trying to fix old radios, being that I hadn't had much luck fixing them, so I lost interest in that hobby. I also didn't have a lot of money to spend on electronics during those years.
When I finally re-discovered Fry's in July of 2019, and went inside the store, I was in for a bit of a shock. The store wasn't so bustling. There were less shoppers, and less people working there. Some of the shelves were a bit spare of product. I bought a radio -- my Sangean PR-D18, a handy little digital AM-FM I use in my car.
Then I didn't return until March 2020. By then, Fry's looked like a ghost town. The radio shelves were spare, with just a few models available. The parts racks still had plenty of parts, but there were some areas of the parts department that weren't well stocked. The TV and video corner of the store -- instead of having lots of movies playing, and audio booming from the audio room, and lots of customers looking over the merchandise -- was amazingly silent, with a dearth of high-caliber video and audio equipment for sale.
Fry's during better times -- July 2019. I took this pic and the next few pics with my cell phone camera.
In July 2019, the Shortwave radio section still had some product. I bought the AN200 loop antenna seen in the upper center of the picture.
The Sangean radio section still had a lot of product in July 2019, too.
There were only a few Sangeans remaining at Fry's in March 2020, when I bought my last radio there.
In March 2020 were also many bare shelves at Fry's. Very sad.
March 2020: a once bustling computer section, now mostly spare of product.
This time, in March 2020, computer corner of the store was almost devoid of laptops, tablets, and desktops. The computer parts desk wasn't busy as it used to be earlier in the decade.
And there weren't many people working at the store, either. Instead of 10-15 checkout people, there were only one or two. The rest of the checkout stands looked like they hadn't been manned in weeks. The floor help at the store were hard to find, because there weren't many people manning the floor. The espresso bar -- located in the middle of the store -- was closed.
The trade war with China, combined with the growth in online retail, had both taken their toll on Fry's. Now, with the corona shutdowns looming, it didn't look bright.
It was then that I purchased a couple radios (my HDR-16 and PR-D14) because the prices were good, and -- well -- just because. I had a feeling the store might not last through the corona pandemic. I wanted to buy my last radios there, and hope for the best for the store, being that it was a big radio retailer with people still working there, and it was a convenient place to get electronics. The last radio I got there was my PR-D14 (which I wrote about a couple months ago in this blog), which I bought a day or two before the corona shutdowns.
THE END COMES FOR A ONCE BURGEONING RETAILER
I read earlier today that Fry's were closing, and drove down to see if the store was still open. I arrived to an empty lot -- the only cars were the few would-be customers that drove up not knowing that the store had already been shuttered for good. There was a small sign posted on each door notifying people that the store was permanently closed, thanking them for their business over the past 36 years (Fry's opened up in California in 1984).
The local news says the building will be torn down and the lot will be filled with a few blocks of apartments.
Is this a picture of the future of brick and mortar retail -- permanently shuttered doors and empty parking lots? Hopefully not.
As I drove away earlier tonight from Fry's, after taking a few photos of the shuttered building and the empty lot, I felt a severe twinge of depression. There is something wrong with a world where all shopping is done online, and there aren't any retail stores manned with people and stocked with goods for customers to buy.
It's not just the corona pandemic that has done this to us: it's the trend for everything to be purchased via phone or computer screen, and it makes the entire experience -- although convenient -- very impersonal.
And then you have the lost jobs. It used to be a pleasant experience to interact with the checkout people at Fry's while buying the latest electronic gizmo, CD, or even a few packs of batteries. Being able to engage in some light conversation while buying stuff adds something to everyday life. It makes us more human. Now our lives are more and more impersonal. It's no wonder that increasing numbers of people don't know how to engage with each other on a civil basis anymore.
Shopping used to be a pastime. When I was a kid, we'd sometimes go to the nearest mall, to shop for things, or just people watch. It was a social activity, and it was a good time. Most men don't love shopping, it's true. But there is something to be said for the social interaction one gets going into an actual store and talking to a real person -- like a clerk -- with your purchase in your hands when you buy it. Those days are leaving us.
Of course, none of this is going to change. More and more stores like Fry's will probably be shuttered due to the pandemic, and even afterwards. I think we're in for a few rough economic years ahead, and brick-and-mortar may suffer for it. But that's all for another blog post, perhaps.
To any of you who may have worked at a Fry's, I hope for the best for you all. I've been unemployed before. It's not fun, nor is it easy. God speed to you.
I took this pic of my last purchases at Fry's, my PR-D14 radio and some USB drives. It was March 25th, 2020, right before the corona shutdowns started.
For right now, I'm going to switch on my PR-D5 radio I bought at Fry's in 2014, DXed with, listened to every night while fiction writing, almost wrecked and then fixed, wrote a few blog posts about, and had fun listening to during the 2017 Solar Eclipse.
I got it at Fry's, and even though Fry's is no more, a little bit of the store is still in my life.
Star Gallery Mart in Al Ain, Sharjah, UAE is my go-to destination for all things electronic! Their wide range of products and knowledgeable staff make shopping for gadgets a breeze.
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