Abandoned - Fry's Electronics

As a former Fry's employee, I can assure you it wasn't online shopping or the pandemic that killed Frys. Upper management was completely incompetent, and they seemingly refused reinvest in their business. They also treated their employees like garbage.

The Fry’s location in south east Houston (close to Kemah and Houston Space center) was space themed and left abandoned for a little over a year. Now, Axiom Space, a private space company local to Houston, is moving their engineering offices in there. As part of the deal, they stated that "the space theming, which includes a full scale mock-up of the ISS inside, is a great match for us". After all, they are building private modules that will connect to ISS. Pretty cool…

I miss those old weird Frys stores. Probably the only place you could buy a computer, oscilloscope, and a hotdog 😀

When my Dad heard that Fry's Electronics was going out of business, he and I went to the one in the thumbnail near Burbank and ate lunch in the empty parking lot. I miss this place!

The last few times I was in a Fry’s was a really dystopian experience. It was like a warehouse-seized dollar store with random merchandise that had fallen off a truck. Super sad that it’s gone though because the heyday was amazing.

The best thing about Fry's was how easy it was to get answers to technical questions about the product you were looking at. Just ask the customer standing next to you in the store, for an in-depth 5-minute explanation. Just don't ask an employee.

There was a guy named Billy that handled all of Fry's social media in its last few years of existence. That was no easy feat as passionate and loyal customers were using social media to show their frustration over Fry's that Billy had no control over. If Billy ever read this.... I just want to say that you did an amazing job.

Damn. We're never gonna get any more weird/fun/quirky stores again, huh? Everything is so bland and corporate now so if shit falls through the building can be sold faster. I miss quirky and fun stores like Fry's. Or even just how Target and Walmart used to look..

Fry's used to be awesome 15 years ago. Like a mix of bookstore, bestbuy, radio shack, and PC supply store all in one.

It's so awesome to see Frys getting love again from the movie NOPE and this video. Thank you for bringing all these photos. It's actually pretty rare to see photos and video from inside the stores. I may have spent $500,000 there over the course of two decades! It was one of my three reasons to stay in the bay area. A couple points to add: 1) There was no mention or photos of the Las Vegas Nevada Fry's that looked like a giant slot machine. (I'm wondering if it was the last one that opened) 2) Near the end they were moving toward a consignment only model. They were requiring that companies that sold their goods would not get paid until they sold. Most companies declined, leading to bare shelves. They were bare for about 2 years. I stopped going often since it was just plain depressing. It was like watching your loved ones decline in old age. 3) In the Bay Area where they started, they did NOT do liquidation sales. They were open one day and closed the next. I'm not sure about other states, but here it was just done overnight. Even the employees did not know until the last second. I nearly went on the last day by chance but was too tired. I wish they had announced the last day. The crowds would have been massive just to say goodbye. 4) Fry's online experience was the worst on the internet. You would do a search and the part you wanted wouldn't show up. It was near unusable. Or they'd sell you something, and then send you a notice that it was not in stock later. Or you'd find out when you went to pick it up at the store. This was AFTER you'd paid online and had to get refunded. 5) Their customer support was world renown bad. But the true faithful didn't care. It was just part of the Fry's experience. 6) The Sunnyvale location quite often would have taxis dropping off tourists from around the world. It was truly a destination for some. (And this wasn't even the coolest theme'd store) 7) Fry's may have been the first store to do ONE line for all the registers. It was fantastic. 8) They didn't just sell electronics, it was amazing the variety and oddities they had for sale. It was way better than Best Buy ever hoped to be.

Fry’s was so awesome, I loved that place it was like a play ground for smart people

I loved the LA ones so much. Going with friends and taking in the themes and taking pics next to stuff, having lunch at the cafe, browsing the expansive as-seen-on-tv aisle and the vinyl music library, staring at the endless knick-knacks wading through the checkout line. Of course we weren't going there just to have fun, there was always something to buy, and Fry's had it. It wasn't just about the shopping, it was the experience. And now we can thank Amazon and the like for killing that off.

We visited a Fry's on vacation once and I was absolutely blown away by the amount of stuff they had in there. The best way I could describe it was a computer bazaar. I always wanted them to build one close to me.

The decline and fall of Fry's Electronics was very bittersweet for me. Being just shy of 60 myself, I was one of those "older customers" that kept returning... until they slowly ceased to have anything for me as the shelves got emptier and emptier. Sometime around 2015 I just didn't bother with them anymore when I was looking for electronics and components. But I was one of those who shopped at the original store on Oakmead, for the short time it was there. A few friends and I - all tech workers and hobbyists - went the weekend after they first opened, and immediately fell in love with the place. No "theming" at that time or location; just piles of electronics and components we could rummage through and lust over. There really wasn't anything like it in the Valley; the closest was the used electronics shops of Halted/Haltek just up the expressway. next best was probably Quement, but they were much more "ham radio" oriented. Plus, my folks had shopped at Fry's grocery store when I was younger, and while that particular location had closed, seeing the name live on in the electronics store gave me a bit of pleasure at the whole venture as well. Now, as noted, I live in Arizona... and my heart lept when I first caught sight of a "modern" Fry's grocery store. The "Fry's" branding and logo will always be nostalgic to me, and living as a young techie in "Silicon Valley 1.0".

I loved going to Fry's ( electronics). It was a bit of drive, but was always worth it. More electronic stuff than you knew was possible. Their stores dwarfed places like Best Buy and Circuit City. I remember the first time I took my husband to one he fell in love immediately! Sad to see this chain went the way of the dodo. :(

Worked at the one in GA. they refused to update their POS system and taking a check was like a 5 minute process. And getting around the interface was anything but intuitive. Plus they refused to be forward thinking in their business practices. People assumed we were going out of buisness for years before it actually happened due to the empty shelves, way before covid. It felt like it was run like a disorganized mom and pop shop rather then a massive tech store.

Fry's was sort of the 'last man standing' for the generation of nuts-and-bolts tech. Basically was a blend of Radio Shack and Best Buy. Loved it during the 2000's for buying bare bones components for all things tech (especially computers and networking and home theatre). Frequently shopped at the one in Alpharetta GA (metro ATL).

Really going to miss Fry's, it was a huge candy store for electronic geeks. Sad to see it go.

I was briefly an employee of Fry's Electronics in the early 90s. My experience as an employee was entirely negative. In my opinion, ALL employees were assumed to be thieves and, in my opinion, we were abusively treated as such despite having done nothing wrong. I was never treated so badly by any employer. Fry's Electronics gone - I say GOOD RIDDANCE!

I miss Fry's. Miss being able to go there and buy literally EVERYTHING I needed. Cables, PC parts for builds, DJI drones, I mean everything. They had 100×'s more than shitty Best Buy. Then just like that... they were gone. Very sad day as I loved physically shopping instead of online shopping.