Fry's Electronics & Incredible Universe: What Happened? (OUT OF BUSINESS) | Retail Archaeology

In this episode we take a look at Fry's Electronics and Incredible Universe.
Retail Archaeology and Siesta Mall merchandise is available at the official Retail Archaeology merch shop:
teespring.com/stores/retail-a...
Here is Kathy M.'s complete Incredible Universe store tour from 1994:
• 1994 Incredible Univer...
=Social Media=
Twitter: @Ret_Archaeology
Instagram: @Retailarchaeology
Facebook: @RetailArchaeology
Patreon: / retailarchaeology
#RetailArchaeology #FrysElectronics #IncredibleUniverse

[@ArtzieMusic]

The Incredible Universe Store looked so rad!!

[@GuitarAnthony]

Man, I miss Incredible Universe. That store had such a short lifespan.

[@cathrynm]

1994 was better than now.

[@12Mantis]

It does feel that way when the nostalgia hits ya @@cathrynm

[@heyitsnemo]

We need to bring it back

[@scottgfx]

One weekend I drove a couple of hours to Fort Lauderdale and I saw this huge building next to the highway. I had never heard of Incredible Universe. I was so amazed, I had to drive back and bring my brother to see it.

[@peachespulaski5981]

RIP Fry's Electronics. You were where my dad bought me my first explicit CDs. Even though you lost a lot of steam in the end, you'll always have a place in my heart!

[@glittabones]

Incredible Universe looked awesome, like a mini retail theme park!

[@lilkmrt2389]

glittabones that's exactly what I thought. I'm so young my mom told me about it. I might try to film mine some time.

[@MilwaukeeF40C]

Jungle Jim's It's a grocery store so it will never struggle.

[@andrewcomments5812]

@@MilwaukeeF40C Jungle Jim's is amazing!

[@tnbspotter5360]

Poor Fry's. They were THE place to go for computer parts in the 90's. It's ironic that all the liveliness and all those long lines of customers were there to build devices that would enable them to shop on the internet instead of Fry's.

[@chouseification]

this is nuts... I went to a Fry's near DFW maybe 15 years ago on a work trip and was in heaven. The geek books section of Barnes and Noble with the "small components and project supplies" part of back when Radio Shack was good (yeah, another loss) combined with the array of PC parts to upgrade or build-from-scratch. I've mentioned them over the years in fond memory, but had no idea the company had slid so far. I hope the store in DFW is doing better than this golf themed one in the video. We only have one good store in the MSP region, a MicroCenter location; and their selection on parts is pretty sad - they sell Arduinos and Pis but not a lot of logic chips for project work, etc. that one would expect them to carry since they carry Arduinos and Pis :< Ordering a few transistors or shift registers online is lame... would love a good local store with a wide selection. Best Buy is based out of MSP... but they turned into a shit store decades ago, and keep doing stupid things instead of getting back to basics... going after the geeks with disposable income. Sadly their blue shirts always had the tactic of either annoy the shit out of somebody clearly just browsing the discount section of video games, or being utterly nowhere to be found on those occasions when you needed them to fetch something from the back room. Yeah up until the mid 90s, they were pretty good, but ever since, screw them... they actually forced you to print out slips for their reward program vs keeping track of points at their registers - intentionally making it hard to redeem points. Screw them and all that operate like that. :P

[@toddadams8420]

Ironic

[@danielnieto2566]

I enjoy going to frys more than best buy because it feels more adventurous

[@andrewtaylor940]

Adventurous is the word for it. The sales staff at my Fry's border on "Feral". I think a ton of what little they earn is based on commission. So they scour the aisles looking for people who have self selected products begging them to let the sales clerk spend 20 minutes doing pointless paperwork (usually incorrectly) Just so they can get a comission on something they provided no assistance on. They feel like the panhandlers that stand on the highway exit ramps.

[@dalethelander3781]

Oh, it is. You don't know whether or not you'll back tomorrow standing in that long, slow return line. Yes, spin that fortune wheel.

[@dalethelander3781]

@@andrewtaylor940 Oh, yeah, that. I picked up on over-ear headphones, and this skinny-tie associate was all over me like a cheap suit to let him do (what I considered to be) unnecessary paperwork. Then I saw his photo on the aisle captioned "This aisle proudly stocked by Yada Yadda." And then I noticed other associates' photos with the same caption on other aisles.

[@TEDdotcom]

@Andrew Taylor: except for a few honest employees that have worked there for years, don’t bother asking sales associates. I always ask them if they work on commission and ask how long they’ve worked there. Otherwise new Fry’s sales associates would just read the info off the box and then ask you if you want warranty for your purchase.

[@deltaecho5470]

Fry's has a much larger quantity of products.

[@mchief190]

You can tell it was the 90s because of all that neon, ah good times.

[@fredflintstone4715]

And not one person looking at a cell phone!

[@daveandrew6703]

I feel the 90's were truly the best times we,ve had. Everything has been downhill since the early 2000's, economically speaking .

[@bqkmg2037]

The 90s were the last decade for simpler times and innocence and when America was actually America...Since 9-11-2001 America WENT down hill from there.

[@daveandrew6703]

@@bqkmg2037 True.

[@jptang1701]

@@bqkmg2037 9/11/2001---------when the air was let out of America's tires.....it has never been the same...….what the hell happened????

[@cigarobsession]

Wow! I was in that store just a few years ago for Black Friday and it was jam packed with products and people!

[@Htxbt34]

Love ur channel man lol

[@StephanieManley]

I used to love going here, they had everything. But their stores look so bad, and goodness knows if you have to return something its PAINFULL.

[@user-ho3dx3od9y]

I worked for RadioShack when they started this venture. It was going to save RadioShack and take the business to the next level they told us. Why did it fail? Two words, poor management. The stores were way too big to be profitable and consumers became overwhelmed because there was too much choice. Like most other RadioShack ventures the sea of red ink began to flow quickly. Rather than retooling the concept they jumped ship, closed all the unprofitable locations then sold what was left to Fry’s. From what I can see from this video Fry’s are next to close shop. The store is dated and empty. Two bad words in retailing. Another awesome video.

[@common_c3nts]

I think it is just this location. The Frys in Houston are busy when I go in. Always has a line for registers.

[@largol33t1]

LOL, "too much choice." Then when you cut back on the inventory, they complain and bitch that there "aren't enough choices." I worked in retail for 11 years and customers are the most fickle, impossible people to deal with. They seem to find whatever they can to whine about. You could sell a printer that costs only $10 and will do everything, even wash the dishes and they'll whine about something. That's why I wished the store I worked at wouldn't sell computers. It was a waste of money. They only wanted one thing: cheap, cheap, cheap! Then they'd come back two weeks later, cussing about the laptop not doing this or that. The customers have THEMSELVES partly to blame for just about everything that is driving stores out of business. They started this retail depression that will eventually wreck the economy. They only wanted stuff cheap AND cannot get their butts out to do some minor shopping so they keep shopping online. With Amazon taking over everything and shopping malls collapsing, there WILL be another Great Depression but the average American shoppers have nobody to blame but themselves. I'm the only one in my family who goes to shopping malls on weekends once in a while. My lazy brother just gets cranky yells at me: why don't you just order the stuff from Amazon?! I'm glad I got out of retail. It was actually bad for my health. Such a toxic place to work and every retail place I worked at had very bad, corrupt as hell management. One of my bosses is in jail for stealing from his own store. That's how bad it is.

[@spredelectric]

My understanding is that the first few stores were quite successful and profitable (the only store I went to was the Wilsonville, Oregon location, one of the first two). Upon the success of the first few stores Tandy overexpanded into unprofitable cities. At the time we didn't have any of the other national chain electronic stores around here or they were just starting to build out stores here, so Incredible Universe seemed to hold their own at the time.

[@Tinomentoll]

Sounds like a venture capital success story. Come in and buy a cheap but well-known brand and stock, load it up with a ton of debt (to your self) then claim bankruptcy and sell off anything of value to pay off that debt. Everyone at the top gets big bonuses and everyone at the bottom get screwed.

[@collin4215]

Wow, this might actually by the most depressing store I’ve ever seen. There is a ridiculous amount of bare shelves and empty floor space. The golf theme seems very odd especially for an electronics store. It seems like they would be better off dividing like a third of the store off and leasing it out to a different store. The store is gigantic and is way too big for today. But most importantly, no people. There is no way a company that looks like this can succeed in the retail apocalypse

[@PolarManne]

I shop at this Fry's regularly and it's actually pretty busy, the size of the store just spreads everyone out. They did recently divide up their massive parking lot into a BK and gas station though.

[@evanb5388]

The Fry's that I go to (Concord Ca) is always really busy, but that may be because the economy is good here. It also doesn't have this terrible golf theme. The other fry's I've been to in California also seem to be doing well, so I'm not sure if the company as a whole Is in trouble.

[@TEDdotcom]

@Lawnmower Freak: try visiting Palo Alto and Fremont Fry’s is you want to see empty shelves and dusty displays.

[@outdoorsguy]

The Fry's in Woodland Hills, CA has an Alice in Wonderland theme. And it hasn't changed since the 90's. But the store is at least moderately busy.

[@simplicityyy21]

There’s a lot of sketchy people who hang out around and inside but you can get really good deals on stuff

[@kaichuni749]

I was so excited when i first saw this video on the recommended list . I used to work at this Frys location back in mid February . And i was one of the people in front greeting customers and checking reciepts. I got many complaints from customers asking if we were going out of business and why our shelves were so empty. The days were super long , especially with the little amount of customers that would come in. Staff and management were awful. Nobody knew what they were doing and they had so many supervisors assigned near the cashiers and like 4 cashiers actually working while the supervisors ran around the store and talked to eachother. The top floor is mainly empty offices, but their is a break room , restrooms and locker rooms for the employees. Depressing place all in all ;-;

[@AshenTechDotCom]

yeah, i had a buddy whos bro worked for the oregon location and he worked there before it changed form incredible universe to frys, management got worse and worse over time, more and more people promoted to supervisor/managment rolls who didnt do anything of use.. really f-ing bad.. and i couldnt blame the staff i could see them trying but when you got as many managers as staff on the floor and the managers dont want to help customers.. your headed to dead..

[@BNGamesYT]

Fry's became a "As seen on TV" store. I used to go there to build my PC's, these days I use Microcenter. Microcenter reminds me of Fry's in the old days.

[@emp0rizzle]

went there during this black friday. Line wrapped around the building.

[@BlargGargle]

There's a Micro Center near me and it's always busy. Go there for random parts and accessories and the employees are always very helpful.

[@ourevilone]

stores these days need the look that Incredible Universe had. why did the future become so dull and boring looking.

[@ourevilone]

@@D3ADP00L52 im just talking about the look of the stores

[@tnbspotter5360]

IU was more of an experiment. Most stores in the 90's were no different than they are today.

[@bartlett2335]

The global depression due to runaway inflation from the private foreign-owned bank that prints the US dollar. 9/11 also played a role, of course. Trillions of tax dollars stolen from the american workers to buy military toys based on a false flag operation. People don't have the money to support such luxurious stores.

[@DanJ30]

It all comes down to money, and sadly brick and mortars have lost of alot of it to the interwebs.

[@watershed44]

@Tnb Spotter Not exactly. I shopped often in the 90s and I can tell you the atmosphere in many stores, even supermarkets was different. The environments of most were more inviting and warm, supermarkets had a lot of plants, warm lighting and paint colors. There were the big box stores but they were well stocked, well staffed, well maintained (no worn carpet, faded paint, burned out lighting,ect)not shabby, like you see today.

[@tjsynkral]

Kinda disappointed you didn't show Fry's porn DVD rack, with the little velvet rope. That always cracks me up.

[@DurkMcGerk]

And the smoky plastic

[@frankdenardo8684]

I went to a store in Concord, California and I saw a lot of changes. Some of the shelves were bare, they stopped carrying DVDs, CD's, they reduced inventory of cam corders, digital cameras, shelves hold flat screen TV, extra DVD and CD players, and they don't have car Audio anymore.

[@princeofdarknessxyz1]

@@frankdenardo8684 i enjoyed their shelves of different magazines

[@andrewcomments5812]

What's weird about Fry's selling perfume? I suppose next you'll think it's weird that I buy my groceries at GameStop!

[@dbsven7282]

6:32 The discount fragrances are probably a play at bringing in some off brand stuff where a deal fell through somewhere else and Frye's got it for pennies on the dollar and they are using them to fill gaps in the empty shelves. I work for a private retailer that does that all the time. Some distributor will get their hands on a few trucks of some random merchandise where a deal fell through and the intended store doesn't want the merch anymore. and sell it to my employer for pennies on the dollar. then my store will put it in our "bargain" area and sell it for cheap. People buy it up cause its cheap and we made a good profit because we didn't pay much for it to begin with.

[@GodOfPopTarts]

It's weird, the first thing you see when you enter Fry's where I am is an entire aisle of cologne. Not what you'd expect at an electronics store.

[@jaimefish173]

i wonder how toxic the cologne are. @@GodOfPopTarts

[@MichaelMangi]

Wow, I can also tell Fry's is in trouble by their FrysDay savings E-mail I just got. They seem to really be going for a "throw anything at the wall and see what sticks" because one of the deals is for mattresses. That's right, you can order a clearance priced mattress from them to pick up or have it delivered in your area. This really really really does not bode well.

[@jeffp3495]

Little kid me could not get enough of the hand drawn map of Incredible Universe that they'd give out

[@chrislemaster2695]

Did they hire the CEO from Defunct Circuit City.

[@1sinister80]

How dare you sir I worked for the circuit from 2000 to 2003 part time installing car audio as a second job. Don't use the circuits name in vain. Lol JK. Yes I did work for them and in the end the CEO did run them into the ground by trying to sell cheap product at a mark up. I also worked at Wards in high school maybe I'm to blame for all of these stores going belly up hmm.

[@princeofdarknessxyz1]

@@1sinister80 good times back then, circuit city, compusa, good guys, radio shack, uhhhhhhhhhhhh fedco

[@bradburyrobinson]

So just to check, an electronics store themed as a golf course, that sells cheap perfume and softcore porn mags but used to have a McDonald's and massage chairs. I can't think why this hasn't worked out.

[@AngelMorales-ko9qj]

I remember hardcore porn

[@AtomicAgePictures]

Being a regular shopper at Fry's Electronics in both Phoenix and Tempe, I can tell you that they are always much busier on weekdays than weekends. I don't know if that is because their primary shoppers are business people or what.

[@Lurker1979]

Not all of them have heavy themeing. The one in Renton Wa is generic. I too remember Incredible Universe, before it moved to Renton as a Fry's. It was at the Auburn Super mall (if you could call it that) It was great themeing. I was impressed by all the stuff you could try out.

[@robertguy23]

i drove 2 hours to fry's in Burbank, CA around 2012 or so with 2 of my friends to buy all the parts to build my first from scratch pc. Every time i made a trip to LA, I'd stop by there on the way back home, i loved that store

[@Blustride]

Fry's is incredibly nostalgic for me, since that was the one store I always wanted to go to as a kid. It was such an experience. It's pretty sad to see how far the store's fallen. That said, they're still my go-to brick and mortar place for home theater equipment. For all Microcenter does right, they don't do home theater.

[@SueBobChicVid]

I bought a portable TV at Incredible Universe when it first opened in Charlotte, NC. It looked just like that one. Looked impressive, but (like you mention) it didn't last long.

[@riomp300]

Incredible Universe looks neat. Shame it didn't take off.

[@darkblood777]

That was a place where people went to check out the hundreds of demo displays, but not actually by anything.

[@jeremyshaw1]

It's not too far off what the Fry's in Sacramento (Northgate) looked like up until the mid 2000s. Even some of the building architecture inside, like that cinema-signage (around 3:33) and the second floor railing. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a former IU location.

[@Movie-Tech]

@@jeremyshaw1 That one was an Incredible Universe. I applied for a job there in 1995. The round part in the front of the store with the 'dome' with a flag at the top was an architectural trademark of IU - I'm pretty sure all of them had it (two of the three Frys in DFW do and both were formerly IU)

[@mst3kanita]

@@darkblood777 *ding ding ding* that's gotta be why they failed.

[@Tinomentoll]

@@darkblood777 Seemed like they wanted to bring an electronic convention to a store rather than sale anything. This would have been valuable in the early and pre-internet days.

[@misterdumbad]

I worked at the Incredible Universe in '93 in Oregon. Tandy's idea was to have Comdex, open to the public, where they could try out all the latest technology, and buy the items as well. They tried to market themselves as an "experience" rather than a store. At the time, Oregon was their 3rd store and Tandy's goal was to open a new one in the US every 2 months. Our store grossed $1M during the week, and another $1M on the weekend. For big sales, we'd do that in a day.

[@mettakindness5999]

Wow the highlight was definitely the older footage. It was such a different time in terms of how people shopped vs having so many online options today. It also shows how many jobs have been lost to the online shopping model of today. Great video as always.

[@teddybonkers3580]

Wow someone else who remembers the incredible universe. We'd always go to the one in Portland, OR each time.

[@TiberianFiend]

That phone in your pocket does what half the stuff in that 90s store did, so it's no wonder why electronics stores are dying.

[@Soniti1324]

I built my first PC ever from this Fry's Electronics in 2001. Me and my dad must have gone to the store 5 times to get it up and running. I'm so glad this channel is in Arizona, I just keep seeing place after place from my formative years!

[@KingNekro]

I got to go to that Incredible Universe once as a 5-6 year old kid and I'll never forget it till the day I die. As a video game addict and tech lover since pretty much birth, it literally felt as exciting and memorable as going to Disneyland. It really did live up to the name Incredible. When they switched it to Frys, I was disappointed that I'd never get to see Incredible Universe again. But Frys ended up becoming my favorite massive store to explore as a teen/adult. And I built my first PC mostly using parts that I picked up browsing at Frys. I'm so sad that they went out of business... there's nothing else quite like it left. Browsing the store with family was like a whole event, you could spend hours there walking around and looking at stuff. It was damn near the size of a small mall, just filled with tech related stuff. They even had a movie theater you could watch movies in(showcasing the projectors on sale), as well as a little cafe. There's just nothing else like these stores left. I still love Best Buy, but they don't even begin to comare. The sheer scale of these stores and interesting things you could pick up and hold in your hands and look at and discuss with family/friends.... I'm going to miss it so much. As convenient as internet shopping is, it'll never be as intimate of an experience as going to stores like this with family. Kind of like picking up some movies at Blockbuster on friday nights... it was something to do that brought the family together and didn't cost a ton of money. The way the country and tech world is developing, and malls shutting down... I feel like the country is simply running out of casual places to go hang out with family members. :\ So many little kids these days don't even want to leave the house with their parents because the outside world is so boring lately.

[@NeoTurboManiac78]

Love the Neo Turf Masters theme playing in the background. I enjoy seeing the footage you took from the 90's. Those were the best years for retail shopping.

[@cameronshaw8732]

I find it so funny that you posted the video today, because I just visited the Plano, TX location hours ago and it looked very similar to this one in regards to the empty shelves and stuff. (This one just has a generic theme, but the other one in Dallas has a whole western theme) I commented to my friend with me in the store that it was so bare in some spots and that product was missing from half the isles at times. That store never looked like that in the past. But, then something even more interesting happened. I was looking at phone cases and I overheard a customer ask an employee "When are you guys closing for good?" He responded "We're not exactly sure yet". I wanted the employee to elaborate more but he got busy with another customer shortly after so I wasn't able to. I asked the guy checking receipts at the door if they were closing down shop and he told me no, but his response was very fishy. It was like he knew something but he didn't want to elaborate... almost like maybe management told him they couldn't tell people about it or something. There was no store closing signs out front or anything. But man, the store sure did seem empty like they weren't restocking it for some reason. Thanks for the great video as normal!

[@josephtafur]

I visit that location too

[@megsmileyface6202]

The employees arent allowed to talk to customers about us closing for good They would get in trouble

[@megsmileyface6202]

Or at least they would at the one i used to work at

[@JasonJonesPhotography]

The one in Dallas TX was also an incredible universe before it was a Fry's. Same thing you showed in your video. An amazing playground turned into a ghost town. Shortly after they switched, I worked at the Dallas store for around 3 months between real jobs (late 1998- early 1999 through the holidays). Pre Amazon, and internet shopping in general, Fry's was as busy and wild as incredible universe. However we all know video killed the radio star. Some of that slip did occur before that. I was working as a cashier and it was absolutely ridiculous the lengths they went to with customers buying big ticket items to try and make it as horrible of an experience as possible. EVERY check (this was before debit cards were commonplace - they existed but were still new), no matter the amount had to be ran through an ACR machine, dialed into the bank or merchant somewhere and funds verified before completing transactions. This could take 10 minutes sometimes, or it would just come back as no, most likely because it timed out. This would infuriate customers, especially standing there trying to buy large TV's that had to be hauled from the back etc and what should have been a 1 hour trip was 2 hours in the store after the 30 minute cashier lane wait on weekends. Small, but valuable, high theft items were kept in the "cage" at the register. So customer shopped for the item (usually Ram, hard drives, processors, and the like), had to find a salesman to ring up the item on a quote ticket at one of the terminals on the floor (a 5-10 minute wait in line for that too), THEN come wait in the checkout line for a half hour. Once at the cashier, they presented us with the claim ticket, we had to take it to the cage, which was always backed up on Saturdays 10-15+ minutes because very few associates had access to it, so rarely was there ever more than 2 people in there. Once pulled, a supervisor, who was working the entire cashier floor, would have to sign on the cage items pulled as correct, then walk it to the cashier. You PRAYED they didnt pull a checkbook out after that. It was an IMPOSSIBLY cumbersome operation that probably cost them more in customer walk off's, and underutilized labor than any theft would have. To top off the paranoia of "everyone is out to steal from us", which I understand in a retail setting is unavoidable to some degree, you were not allowed to wear any jackets on the floor whatsoever, and when leaving the building, you had to remove any outerwear beyond your white shirt and black slacks, for the exit door associate to check you as you held open palm hands up. They inspected any purse or lunch pail you had too. This went on in full view of customers waiting in line to leave the store as well (which was always backed up too because of these shenanigans.) It was one of the worst examples of paranoia and micromanagement combined into a job Ive witnessed in nearly 4 decades of working for a living. Commissioned salespeople made a LOT of money in those days, pedalling extended warranties on every item over $20, and big ticket appliances with margins unimaginable in todays Amazon quantity over anything model. The rest of us HATED working there. Turn over was high, and despite their best efforts - theft/loss was super high still. Ive always said, treat your employees bad, and even the honest ones will go to the ends of the earth to rip you off, from napping in the bathroom, stealing toilet paper, to handing stacks of laptops out the back door to a buddy as they come off the truck. I hadn't stepped foot in there since I quit until right before Christmas in 2018, literally 20 years later. I disliked the place that much. It was a ghost town during the busiest shopping time of the year. Sure they have signs up saying we match internet prices on in stock items, but you pay 8.25% sales tax on it still, and with the inventory of a white van in the parking lot selling 2 sets of overstock speakers, youre not finding anything to price match. There was less than 30 cars in the lot on a Sat right before Christmas - I bet 15 were employees. I doubt they make it until 12/2019

[@vrettos99]

Got a really cool looking Fry's down near Johnson space center in Houston, all NASA theme with a bunch of satellites and space station mockups hanging from the ceiling. Wasn't too busy last I was there a few months ago. But the interior and exterior aesthetic is absolutely amazing

[@sarjim4381]

There are still a lot of users on CB radio. It's now more of a truck driver's radio than in regular passenger cars but a listen to Channel 19 (or 21 in central Arizona) will reveal a lot of truck traffic. The major use of CB's predated cheap cell phones and GPS, and you could get help, information, or directions from REACT operators on Channel 9. I haven't listened lately but I doubt there's much Channel 9 traffic now. CB's are now incredibly compared to the old days. You can get an acceptable radio for $40 or less. A magnetic mount antenna can be had for about $20 to complete the setup. I rarely listen on a sustained basis while traveling but, if there's a slowdown or stoppage on the road, the CB will tell me why, so it's still a valuable aid to the traveler.

[@GreenAppelPie]

I worked for Incredible Universe from from when the location opened until a month or so before it closed, in Lone Tree Colorado, just South of Denver. I worked in electronics repair so I wasn’t out on the floor too much, but it was an awesome store. They tried ti I still the whole guest, actor, and show theme, it was pretty corny. Purple shirts and beige pants all the way. Even the store manager. It also had a mcDonalds and also a Radio Shack inside. On one sale they announced buy one software program and get another of equal or lower price. But, they didn’t have any limit per person. The software section was huge, the next day the shelves were 98% empty, even I bought some games. But the coolest thing is I met my wife there on the job, at the time she was a manager in the computer department, we were both nerds who hit it off, and we still are. It seems that sales were always good, at least at this location, but yeah the store ps just might have been too big to be profitable.

[@pilotgrrl1]

Isn't Lone Tree south of Denver? I used to live in Thornton and work on Chester, south of the old Charles Schwab building, before they moved to Lone Tree.

[@thrasherx2k1]

GreenAppelPie hard to be profitable when you have sales that don’t limit the transactions per person lmao. That was a bad idea!

[@GreenAppelPie]

pilotgrrl1 yep, I corrected it.

[@GreenAppelPie]

thrasherx2k1 It was suppose to be limited to one to customer, they didn’t mention that in any of the ads, printed or radio. Perhaps it was accidentally on purpose.

[@telesniper2]

your wife sounds fat

[@TwinShadow_Fox]

I'm a former employee for Fry's Electronics in DFW. There are three, one in Irving, one in Garland, and one more in Arlington. (I won't say which I worked at though). Fry's is on a recent downtick and I think its still going down. Although I did somewhat like what I was doing, but I'm still not happy that I had to lose my job because of corporate wanting to save money. I was one of the associates who worked in Electronic Components for E-Cage, which is usually that big cage-like structure you'd find at the front of the building near the registers. This is where they store all the CPU's, most tablets, iPhones, RAM, etc.. High-dollar stuff that would be easily stolen. (some phones aren't in the cage though, and I believe recently tablets were being moved out to be on the floor) I lost my job when E-Cage was eliminated the day I came back from vacation a couple years ago (something that was planned 4 months ahead of time - I didn't know the position was being eliminated until about two weeks prior to leaving the state, so there was no way I was canceling my trip at that point). If I'm correct, none of the stores in DFW are themed. I believe the Garland store has some decorations for the Longhorn, but that's about it. Also, as far as the second floor goes in Fry's buildings, I can't say this is the case for all, but likely, this is what they're used for now. When I was working, our store also used to be an Incredible Universe. There was a cafe on the second floor that's no longer used. Actually, half of the second floor is no longer used and is just a giant empty space. Only the conference room is used by employees and management at this point. The other part is mainly used to store the servers used for the internal POS system, the quote system, break room, lockers, and that's about it. Working at Fry's has its ups and downs. But if there's one thing I don't miss working there.... and that would of been the person who was working in Audit. I have some, let's just say.... choice phrases for said person that I won't get into here..

[@robwebnoid5763]

I used to go to the Incredible Universe (IU) in Wilsonville, Oregon, early to mid 1990's. It was awesome, I loved it, this was the time you can get computer & electronic technology before you could get them at a Best Buy, Circuit City or on the Internet. I was a big fan of Radio Shack (RS) already at that time & bought lots of stuff there at RS, but at IU, the place was much bigger, so it was like RS x 100. If you look at IU compared to Frys, even in the same building, IU had closed-off sections, whereas Frys had an open architecture design. This means that with IU, the vibe was that it resembled a big shopping mall, where each section is a totally different store. So it's the same deal here, but instead of different stores, it's different subject matter. One section is just TV's, another is computers, another is audio. The sectioning walls perhaps made it an exciting mystery as to what's around the corner, just like when you walk the hallway corridor of a big mall, wondering what stores are coming up. We bought a VTech 486 system at UI around 1993. I also bought several Betty Crocker battery powered cup stirrers. I still have that 486 & those stirrers. The reason IU tanked was the business model was a money pit. Tandy used a carnival atmosphere for IU, thus had to bring in employees that I think were like circus acts. But it was fun while it lasted. After IU, just like you said, Frys came in at took over the Wilsonville location. I shopped like crazy over there as well, from the late 1990's to perhaps the really last time about a decade ago. After that, I really only went to Frys to get the free promotional copies of CPU magazine, which itself finally died at end of 2017. These days, I will usually shop online for electronics parts & tools. I miss the bygone eras of Radio Shack, Incredible Universe, Blockbuster, K-Mart & other places I used to shop around as a kid in the 1980's, 90's & Y2k's. I haven't been to the Wilsonville Frys in the last few years (since the CPU died as aforementioned), so I better try to visit soon before they themselves get up-ended. They are probably struggling not just because they have expensive leases due to these humongous warehouse sized locales, but also because of the pandemic. I will also probably miss Frys when it totally goes away just as I missed IU & RS when their brick-mortar physical locations finally left. I bought lots of stuff at Radio Shack in its last days Spring 2017 when stuff were up to 90% off. On the other hand, Blockbuster died & I didn't know it until probably a few months later when I decided to visit my local store back in 2011. Well, there's lots more I want to say, but I'll stop here.

[@TEDdotcom]

I used to work at Fremont CA Fry’s. It used to be a really, really busy place teeming with customers! Weekends and especially Black Friday was always crazy back then. I had to work long hours because we had so many customers. I’ve even seen a few incognito celebrities visit the store too lol. I visited Fry’s two weeks ago to buy a JBL Bluetooth portable speaker (70% off!) and it was an empty shell of its former self. It looked like this...empty shelves, fake fragrances, as seen on TV products, it was really sad. What they had left to sell had really good prices, some even better than Amazon pricing! I heard from my employee acquaintances here in Fremont Fry’s that they’re getting rid of a lot of management, like managers and supervisors but the core employees are still there. Good thing I left this sinking ship almost a decade ago.

[@Bones98]

Black Friday was nuts. I was so glad that management used to hook us up with Church's Chicken during our busiest days

[@TEDdotcom]

@Bones98: all we got was Costco pizza during Black Friday sale...I guess because they felt bad for employees working for 12 hours during Black Friday and Saturday.

[@josephtafur]

YES, I LOVE Fry's, i always try to go everytime i 'm on vacation visiting my dad in Dallas.

[@satanas6740]

Is the Fry's on Northwest highway? I live in Dallas too, it's the only Fry's i know of in Dallas.

[@USSRIvan]

Is it Cowboy Themed?

[@darkblood777]

@@satanas6740 We also have a Fry's on Plano Pkwy @ I-75 in Plano, as well as one off LBJ Fwy in Irving, and one on I-20 in Arlington.

[@josephtafur]

@@darkblood777 the plano location i go too

[@J032112]

The Arlington location is always packed

[@mstiefan6996]

That Incredible Universe place looked amazing! So much 90s nostalgia. Teenage me would have probably spent HOURS in there. There was a similar business near where I lived called Tidal Wave that carried all kind of movies, music, and video games and was covered with neon lights everywhere. They sadly did not make it through the 90s either as they were replaced by a Hollywood Video, then a Lifetime Fitness, and now the building is vacant.

[@JsBluRays]

And here we are. Glad you got this footage, as I’m sure very few others will be able to get any with their abrupt closure.

[@Kattywampus]

WOW I can't believe that was what was in the Fry's building back in the day! I also can't believe Fry's sells porno.. I was so disappointed when they installed that golf crap. I've been to the Aztec Temple in North Phoenix and got REALLY excited thinking they'd outdo themselves for this remodel, but NOOOOOOOO, it had to be golf... WTF guys?

[@SalivatingSteve]

A friend of mine used to buy porn DVDs at Fry's when we were in high school lmao

[@MidagedgamerBlogspotter]

Tandy was RadioShack's Parent and there was another store aimed toward the professional electronics market called Tech America. It failed in a year. There's a better themed Frys Electronics at I-17 and Thunderbird that still had the Aztec Temple theme when I was last there.

[@secularargument]

Goodbye, Fry’s! The Dallas location will always be an unforgettable experience!!

[@karlhungus5554]

One of my favorite memories is going to Incredible Universe in Dallas with my cousin. We'd go on the weekend and spend an hour or two just walking around the store checking out so many things. Even if we didn't buy anything, our time together was what I valued. We still did the same thing, even after it turned into Fry's Electronics. That was the mid-90s through the early 2000s. Boy, if only I could time travel back there again and still know what I know now. I'd value the experience even more. He and I grew up in the 70s and 80s and those were great decades. But, so were the 90s. Really, I think the 90s were the last great decade. The changes over the last 20 or so years has been difficult to endure. Anyway, this video brings back some great memories. Thank you very much for sharing it. Also, special thanks to Kathy, M.

[@bigloudnoise]

Me watching at 4:17 when clips from the old Incredible Universe are being shown: "Woah, those slat walls and headers look exactly like the kind RadioShack used to use." Narration, three seconds later: "Incredible Universe was a joint venture between the Tandy Corporation and Trans World Entertainment." Ah, Tandy, no wonder it reminded me so much of RadioShack! Also, seeing the wide shot of that old Incredible Universe store at 6:50 reminds me of a different store I love going to called Nebraska Furniture Mart in Omaha (but they also have stores in Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and even Texas, for...some reason). They have a giant electronics & appliance department that I enjoy visiting whenever I'm in the area. It's not quite as flashy as Incredible Universe was, but there's still a lot of bright lightning, a large model airplane with spinning propeller for decoration, and large scrolling LED signage stretching around the entire store that livens it up a lot more than Best Buy or the Fry's shown here. I've only ever been able to go to a Fry's once in my entire life, that being the one near Chicago back in November 2013. IIRC, back then it still seemed to be doing good, lots of customers and fully stocked on everything. If they're starting to struggle, then perhaps I better make my way back over there while I still have a chance.

[@superhyrulean]

I shop at the Fry's in Renton,WA EVERY MONTH! it's struggling too and doesn't have any theme to it...the shelves are just as bare as you see in this store!

[@Tinomentoll]

Renton's store isn't that bad. It usually has a fair amount of customers during the weekdays when I go to it, and there is usually a queue to the 3-4 cashiers.

[@UncleEarl97]

I also shopped at Frys in Renton. Of the nearly 60 registers in action for opening day and Christmas holiday shopping seasons for a few to several years, they are down to maybe 4-6 registers busy when I've been there recently. Sad, they were my go-to place for more hardware, some software, and picking the brains of knowledgeable guys about what parts I should get for my next PC build. I wish they could save themselves, but probably not as a retail box here. Former customers will miss them when they are gone!

[@superhyrulean]

@Star Trek Theory Actually,YES,they do check your recept at the door and they do this to stop theives and it's not as bad as some stores in seattle...it is run down,due to Amazon,but it's still got some great stuff if you are a techie like me!

[@superhyrulean]

@Star Trek Theory WHAO,WHAO THERE...Tsa bag check? No,they just check your receipt,Mark it with a marker and that's it...if you feel like going to Amazon,fine. I prefer a physical store like this...

[@Balakov100]

I've only been in a Fry's one time. They've got so much product and it seems to be scattered all over the place good luck finding something. At least the store I was in. (Dallas area).

[@kenkobra]

I remember the "black hole" where they sold returned items when it was Incredible Universe.

[@stevew8513]

I bought my first Laserdisc player in the Black Hole clearance section of Incredible Universe. A Pioneer LaserActive, originally something like $1200, got it for $209 if I recall. It had the option of taking "Game Paks", modules that let you play Sega Genesis cartridges & Sega CD games, or TurboGrafx-16 carts and CD games. Originally those retailed for hundreds of dollars, when Incredible Universe was going under they found an old Sega module that wasn't sold off years before and marked it down to $5. Sweet. I remember reading in the newspaper that Tandy was going to sell off Incredible Universe because it wasn't doing as well as expected, compared to the "cash cow" that was Radio Shack. That always confused the hell out of me. Radio Shack stores were always barren of customers and Incredible Universe stores were packed full of people, all the checkout lines were full of customers buying expensive stuff. I still don't get it.

[@EasyCheesyChodes]

I hope you still have that LaserActive, because they are worth thousands now.

[@WhittyPics]

Empty shelfs are a sure sign they are struggling.

[@arthurbertram4398]

Empty shelves are also a good sign.

[@CaptRR]

Arthur Bertram only if they are restocking them promptly. Otherwise it’s an indication that the company can’t afford to buy much new stock.

[@mink5264]

Correct. This location has not received a single truck shipment of product since May this year. It's a wonder they even still manage regular business hours.

[@wilkiedriver]

We bought Lethal Enforcers for SNES around '94 at an Incredible Universe in the Dallas-area.

[@darkblood777]

Is that the one that was off Northwest Highway? We used to go there all the time. Hardly ever bought anything though.

[@ebayerr]

Aaron Wilkins : You can actually watch Lethal Enforcers arcade play through on KZbin now.

[@5roundsrapid263]

Didn’t they recall that because of the included revolver?

[@historiclift27]

I remember going to Incredible Universe in my hometown. After they closed the city could not figure out what to do with it because it was too big. It ended up becoming a campus for Houston Community College. I bought my first Star Trek TNG VHS at that store.

[@ninjaawesomebattlepower]

This was so cool to see. I still remember my first visit to Incredible Universe in TX, Garland I believe. My dad and I (11) spent hours in there. I don't think we missed one aisle. I bought an amazing flight stick for my pc, which I still miss to this day. I also got some SNES games, a few $5 pc games, I think one was Duke Nukem the old school 2D one, and loads of candy. Good times...

[@azsharksfan1608]

I was just at this location last week buying a couple $1 blu rays and was shocked at how empty it was when I walked around. It's been a couple years since I had been there and they had so many empty shelves. Sad

[@PiitaaDerbez]

I went to the one in City of Industry not too long ago and it was okay in terms of number of customers. However, I did scratch my head and think they can't possibly be doing so great these days. I mean with Amazon and Newegg it wouldn't surprise me. Personally I try to shop in person so I can employ a local person vs fattening up Jeff Bezos's pocket. Um anyway, I don't wanna get political here haha I love Frys 😭I don't wanna see it die

[@bassfan71]

Ikr I'm with ya there. I was kinda depressed when I went in a couple days ago. So empty and not many people. Although when i went it was busier than when RA went.

[@9HighFlyer9]

When I worked for Fry's back in 99 we were told that store had no theme.

[@mikecowen6507]

We always joked it had the "former Incredible Universe store" theme.

[@flip889RoR]

not so incredible universe

[@coreylee9342]

Ah the Willsonville store

[@TheAntiqBoutiq]

I live in Houston, and with NASA right here, they have the NASA/spaceship theme. In the late 90s/early 2000s I always bought online from Frys. Being in NYC, I also had B&H photo and J&R Music world in my back yard, but I still managed to make purchases at Frys. They shipped for free, that was why mostly. When I moved to Houston in 2014, Frys was fun to go to, but it seemed about a year later in 2015, their shelves started to look bare. Today, even their employees are alarmed at how bare the shelves are. It seems they are focused on their online business, so don't be surprised if you see them stay open, but their brick and mortar stores close.

[@ericsomerville9895]

Thanks for the sanity check! I walked into the Tempe Fry's about two months ago on a weekday night, and thought I had walked in on a "Closed for Inventory" situation--very few customers, several bored-but-trying-to-look-busy sales staff, and absolutely no one in line at the checkouts! I don't think I've ever seen that at Fry's! This must be something recent. I visited a few months before that--probably the end of July--to look for network equipment and a backup hard drive, and the place was its usual busy self. No one I know seems to know what's going on.

[@notthegoatseguy]

Also about 4 years ago they still had 30+ some checkout machine areas but only 2 or so checkout employees. Apparently they've since heavily reduced the checkout area.

[@NathanielClay]

I regularly go to Fry's Electronics in Manhattan Beach California and its way busier than this store. Matter a fact the shelves look fully stocked, now there are wierd isles selling cereal and perfume...other than that its smaller and more busy.

[@ShenmueAtheist]

They built an Incredible Universe here in Colorado in 1996 and I had the opportunity to go there once in it's very short life. I remember being overwhelmed by how awesome it was, and it was the one and only time I saw a Neo Geo AES in a retail store. Sad that it didnt even last a year before it went under :/

[@SilverGemini]

I went to that Incredible Universe once as a kid, all that neon and such left a big impression. I never remembered the name of the store so I had always thought it was Frys the whole time. So glad you made this video and helped clear up a fun childhood memory of mine.

[@thedungeondelver]

@2:30, that looks like the CompUSA store in Altamonte did before it closed (for the first time, before it "came back" as C-USA/Tiger Direct for a while in the late 00s.) West coast friends in the 90s used to gush about Fry's, I wish we'd had gotten some in the Southeast, but it looks pretty dead now. EDIT: Discount cologne/perfume? Jeeze man that's straight into Big Lots territory.

[@andrewtaylor940]

There is a Fry's outside of Atlanta. From what I can tell it's one of the ones doing better. But that's not saying much. It's adjacent to the Gwinett Place Mall, just off I85 at Pleasant Hill Rd. And yeah, Fry's has a sort of "Asian Flea Market" vibe to some of it's product selection.

[@pilotgrrl1]

I read a dead tree book that had a female protagonist who got a lot of other women to protest at Fry's because they didn't sell tampons. Sounds like they do now!

[@ArtzieMusic]

aww man kathys incredible universe store tour was set to private :(

[@user-neo71665]

Musta been changed back

[@cooldude8551]

As of today, they closed all their stores. Thank you for the amazing video.

[@jscountrygirl85_326]

That footage from inside the Incredible Universe really took me back and brought back some wonderful memories. For that alone, thank you so much! Ours opened in 1995 and closed in the spring of 1996. I still miss that store today. By far, one of the coolest and most exciting stores I've ever experienced going to. :)

[@AndrewTheRadarMan]

Fry's used to display REAL motherboards on the wall, I'm guessing this was really costly because they replaced them with photos.

[@brandonallen2372]

Probably because people kept damaging them and that made it harder to sell them when they discontinued them.

[@posae86]

I loved the Arlington TX Incredible Universe store. It was always an event going there. I was said to see it go but I still frequent the Fry's that took it's place. It's great for soldering stuff and oddball wiring adapters.

[@ChodaRagu]

Chris Putnam - My dad bought a huge (at the time) 35” Sony TV from that store a week before the Cowboys played in the Super Bowl in 1993. The thing was so heavy it took 3 of us to get it in the living room. However, as a testament to the quality of the television, my step-brother now uses it to play retro video games, and my Dad upgraded to a 55” Mitsubishi.

[@bnwinsf]

I loved going to Frys in Woodland Hills, CA beginning in the late 90s when visiting my parents. It was almost a pilgrimage. It had an Alice in Wonderland theme. This store was bustling back then. And also the store in Burbank near the airport (I’d visit that store just before my flight back home). It had UFO/alien theme. A flying saucer was crashed into the front facade, and it had a lifesize Darth Vader, Alien, etc. Incongruously, it also had 50’s style diner (with cars as booths). Also bustling. I still make the pilgrimage a couple times a year on visits, but the store is just a shell of its former self. More employees than customers. Huge empty spaces. A truly weird selection of merchandise. It provides a great manifestation of the Amazon effect. I used to enjoy shopping for dvds. There was a huge selection. Over the past few years, it was astonishing to see the section get smaller on each visit. It’s funny... I said I stopped by the store on each visit home a couple times a year (though I haven’t bought much of anything there in a long time). During my visit home this past Christmas, I actually didn’t visit the store. All good things must come to an end, I guess.

[@xeaudg]

I have always loved Fry's Electronnics. Being in the IT field professionally and an electronics DIYer, this place was my "Mecca for Tech". I would visit regularly ... at least 2-3 times/month! Over the last year I had noticed the dwindling selection, but employees assured me they were just getting ready to restock the shelves. I build cutom PC's for clients and have many times brought clients with me to this exact store to shop for components to build a custom PC for them. Last time, I was truly disappointed and shocked by what I saw. The store had *SO* many empty shelves and very limited selection for items that were still on the shelves. While with my client, we went to the Motherboard section to select one for their new PC build (Fry's used to have 30+ different motherboards mounted on a display wall for you to read the specs, etc ), but now they only have maybe 9-10 motherboards in stock (and the wall now has only pictures for each board). We went to buy RAM, but they didnt have ANY DDR4 memory for the selected board. They also had NO internal CD/DVD drives left. Nor any GPU. A most disappointing experience... Did a google search a while back and found a story involving one of the top officials of the company was busted for embezzling $60 Million for gambling debts in 2016(?) Maybe the windfall from that incident is finally forcing the company out of business?

[@Deadaim-sb4bk]

We still have a Fry's Electronics where I live and I live going and browsing on the weekends. It's usually busy on the weekends but on the weekdays it's a ghost town.

[@Chris.Cronin101]

Fry’s Electronics is now officially closed

[@splittybooms]

I frequented that specific location quite often just to look around and get lost in all the cool electronics. Then, when I built my PC, I was in there all the time for components and tech advice. This was early 2017, and the crowds were more than what we see in the vid, but still...the store was never crowded or very busy. However, the stock situation was NOT like what we see here. I would spend time walking up and down just about every aisle and section, and never saw this kind of barrenness. My last visit here was mid-2018 for a uninterruptable power supply. I remember checking out GPUs and mechanical keyboards during that visit and the shelves were not only empty, but what WAS there was thrown about with open boxes and your obligatory empty beverage cans. Seems like these might be the final hours for this place. Unfortunate. Thanks for your content, I always look forward to it!

[@MidwestMisfit]

I remember back in the 90's we had an Incredible Universe open up about an hour away from us. First place I ever saw a Sega Saturn or a Virtual Boy. The place was massive and amazing for it's time. The operating costs had to be massive.

[@diggingattycho7908]

Tandy was Radio Shack, honestly after Incredible Universe folded I was expecting Radio Shack to go not long after. That sure took a long time. IU was fun to visit, I do not remember buying anything there. I think they would have been better off making it an amusement park. It sure took them a long time to remove all of the old IU stuff from that Fry's. I would love to get my hands on the Bose wave cannons over the old video display.

[@devincreislerstudios]

Rest in Peace Fry's Electronics

[@johndornoff]

I used to live near the Fry's in Wilsonville, Oregon outside Portland which also used to be an Incredible Universe. I was not a big fan of Fry's because it seemed to always be too busy, could never get help on the floor, and check out took forever. I went into a Fry's in Las Vegas one time and the store seemed to be a lot smaller than the one in Oregon and look less like a warehouse. Its been about 3 years since I was in Fry's but back then they were still doing pretty good. I worked for Future Shop and they transferred me to one of their Salt Lake Stores. There was an Incredible Universe there that closed shortly after I arrived but it was an unique place to go into, more a destination than a regular store. After they closed and we went through one of our regular changes in management they hired some former Incredible Universe management into our store but they didn't last long.

[@peanutismint]

Fascinating story, thanks! I remember finding a Fry's in California on my first trip to the USA and thinking it was the most incredible thing, not only to have such a huge selection of electronics but also to be themed and interesting and actually drawing people in.....really fun company.

[@mikekz4489]

My Fry’s in Downers Grove, IL looks like that too. I found out about the place maybe ten years ago. It was a really cool store and loaded with movies. I hadn’t been there in a few years, but happened to be in the area during the summer. It was not exactly the sensory overload of all things electronics that I remembered. The movie section, while still miles above other retailers, was reduced in size. The video game are was shrunken by a little bit. A lot of empty shelving and display units. The discount fragrance area at the front of the store was bizarre. Like you said, it now looks like too much space for what they carry now.

[@mallaholicretailadventures]

That's a shame. I live nearby. I'll admit I haven't been over in a while. Maybe something I need to cover on my channel. It is a nice store. I remember when it was the place to go.

[@TEDdotcom]

I guess we need to go around more and visit actual brick and mortar stores if we want this business model to last, instead of clicking “buy it now” on Amazon, Monoprice and Newegg. Good exercise too.

[@thrasherx2k1]

Michael Kuzmanovski I remember there being a weird restaurant in the middle of the downers grove store. Is it still there?

[@mikekz4489]

thrasherx2k1 Yes.

[@kenevanchik4478]

I live near that Fry's location as well. The flow of customers in there is weird in that I've seen some busy and dead times but it doesn't seem to follow any kind of pattern. I hope they stay around because it's one of the few places left I can actually go to for computer components and know they'll have items in stock.

[@mustangs-marketing]

Reminds me of the Fry's Electronics in San Marcos CA. Awesome Atlantis theme, and was packed when it opened around 2004. Its a ghost town now, I have noticed a lot of the merchandise has switch from electronics to trendy junk.

[@PumaM90]

Yes that's the Frys closest to me.

[@Silver-pm5ft]

When I moved here to Arizona from Colorado and visited Fry's Electronics for the first time, I was blown away! The place was HUGE, and there was sooo much to see and discover. I must have spent 4 hours there the first time. I loved that store, and Im so bummed it went under. I don't know where I'll get the stuff that Fry's provided? What a fun place to shop. I'll miss you Fry's!!! 😭

[@roblutter]

The Fry’s store in Austin is the exact same way. I used to go there for Blu-rays all the time but they literally removed 80% of their disc product and replaced it for made-for-TV crap and fragrances. Will still stop by if I need a SATA cable or something but I don’t understand how our store is still in business. Very low traffic compared to 10 years ago.

[@steverogers8163]

Yeah the Fry's up in Seattle (well Renton to be exact) is dead inside too. Not at as bad as this store but pretty close. Lots of empty shelves or shelves full of crap that have nothing to do with "electronics". I agree that the store is simply to big for its own good. It feels like they need a space that's half their current size. No themeing inside the store from what I remember.

[@briangriffith4574]

Damn I thought that one would always stay busy. I remember back in 2014 I was in there and they had a 4k TV that was $16,000.

[@largol33t1]

Even 3-4 years ago, they had tons of shelves of products that weren't electronics-related such as massagers, board games and cases of drinks and snacks. I don't find that unusual.

[@Henners]

It was lively about 12 years ago, but I go there once in a while and it’s dead every time. For better it for worse, the last 4 times I’ve gone shopping there I’ve been been in the building for over an hour without a single employee asking me if I need help.

[@SimonFoxVids]

Sacramento has an identical store (which has some train/wild west theme) and it's just as sad and empty inside as this one, with the same big empty area near the TV section. Want to talk about old and dusty? They were selling blank Betamax tapes when I was in there about a year ago. I've seen several locations selling HP printer paper that uses packaging design identical to the design of the stuff my parents bought with their first color Inkjet in 1996. It's like a time capsule inside many of these stores.

[@CosmicKangaroo]

I actually visited that one back in 2017, the first thing I thought was how big and open it was. After about an hour I realized how bad of a frys it was.

[@CamdenBloke]

Have you been to the one in Roseville?

[@irtbmtind89]

>Betamax tapes Sony actually made new Betamax blanks until 2016, I last saw them for sale in 2008 at an independent Sony dealer.

[@aeroraccoon4167]

Hate to say it, but that's the same thing with the Fry's that is near me as well. The only difference though is that my Fry's (Store 16, Wilsonville) is one of the most busy in the entire company. Shelves upon shelves of empty space. Last time I was there I went back to the computer department and they only had maybe ~ 10 new computers on display, 5 video cards to choose from, ~ 20 monitors to choose from. It's really a sad sight as even at my local busy store there is the dust and decay at that store as well. It's a big shame because Newegg kind of sucks now that they somewhat broke their website, so if we lose Fry's as a company at least here in Oregon we're going to be left with just Best Buy or Walmart/Target for getting computers, components etc. I remember the early days of when our Fry's was an Incredible Universe - it even had a Pizza Hut upstairs. Sad to see a company with so much potential just wasting away.

[@KnightOfZero00]

@@CamdenBloke In my experience, the Roseville Fry's does decently. The Sacramento location feels like a giant Circuit City and although that does fill me with nostalgia, we all know what happened to Circuit City.

[@garattyfisher]

I live near the Burbank, Ca spaceship store. It's a mess. They seem not to have a back room since all their boxes of washing machines, dryers, and refrigerators are in the aisles in the way of customers. It seems to always be filled with customers, but they lack organization. Customer service is mixed, but variety is awesome. I wish they would pay attention to cleanliness though. When it opened up, it was exciting to see the spaceship theming and the alien invasions going on inside. I love the place, but it needs a massive clean up. And even though they have tons of boxes full of both large and small products, their shelves seem to bare. Minimally stocked. And there are tons of marked down returned items, that's what Fry's is known for over here. I would love to see this store cleaned and refurbished back to its opening day appearance. If there is anyone visiting near or around Burbank, visit this store... The theming is beautiful.

[@stevefellows3027]

From 2000-2015 they were what Costco is today in 2020. I remember being amazed standing in labyrinthine lines waiting to get to 1 of the 20+ or so cash registers they had. Only in amusement parks and rock concerts had I ever seen lines like that. I remember picking up chocolate and a whole bunch of other assorted gadgets while waiting in line. I think Fry's was the originators of that - placing candy and cheap stuff between the checkout lines. For early computer builders, it was a computer amusement park. If a computer part was featured in a PC Gamer Magazine Fry's had it. They must have been making a ton of money back then. They were so wealthy they even ran a golf tournament that was part of the PGA tour. It's easy to blame the internet for their failure now, but I suspect it has more to do with shenanigans at the very top of the corporate management.

[@cardfrek]

We have a bunch of Fry’s Electronics locations here in So Cal. These days, I prefer to get my electronics and computer stuff from NewEgg or Amazon. If I need to get something in a pinch, I head to the Microcenter location here.

[@Flexin010]

Same.

[@dalethelander3781]

I'll go to the Fry's in Woodland Hills, but only to pick up something I've purchased online and have waiting for me at the checkout.

[@pilotgrrl1]

I prefer MicroCenter.

[@smirage22]

Las Vegas needs a MicroCenter, the Fry's out here is pretty much kept alive by tourists

[@chbrules]

NewEgg has terrible customer service. I refuse to shop with them unless they have some spectacular deal (usually a Black Friday deal). I take my business to Amazon these days. Surprisingly, Walmart's online store is becoming HUGE with incredible amounts of SKUs. I could buy head gaskets for my LS engine on there!

[@GrayContrast1]

I used to work at one and in some departments sales were paid on commission only. So all those guys on the floor with no customers? No pay. Also whenever there is a sale or discount code the first thing cut off the margin is the commission.

[@Ant_Stark]

Yeah and they really promote those codes

[@GrayContrast1]

@@Ant_Stark Same with price matching. The sales person does more work to fill that out for less or no commission.

[@blue.5058]

I would get poached by salespeople all the time when I went to Fry’s. They’d try to start up invoices for stuff I’d gotten off a rack (even stupid crap like micro-SD cards) just to try to get the commission. Kinda sad, actually.

[@MikeHarris1984]

That store used to be PACKED, the shelves are EMPTY now. No one shops there because they dont have any product on hand anymore. Same with the Thunderbird location. I used to shop there all the time, but stopped when the shelves started getting empty.

[@Razgriz_Reborn]

I shop at this exact store. It really is very sad how it’s declined over time. Was just there about a week ago and the employee I was talking to said the same stuff about the company not doing well and how in my specific case was not ordering certain products much at all.

[@Beastmasterislive]

Came from linus tech tips

[@uss_04]

Here from Linus’s video. And your misdirected reply ;)

[@alexanderbanos8125]

R.I.P. Fry's Electronics. The chain has now gone out of business all of a sudden. Sad that the chain with funky themes inside and two formerly Incredible Universe locations in San Diego CA and Wilsonville OR with former chain's decor inside has ceased to exist.

[@mred884]

This store was the first job I had when I moved to the phoenix area. Fry's was the best place to get anything electronics related. There were people camping out for many days before black friday 2004. It was the management that killed it and the archaic commission based salary with strict policies for quotas and clock-in, and dress code. As a sales person, your paycheck depended on ripping people off with the highest commission items with over priced $45 cables (when there was a $5 option down the aisle) and the tedium of printing out a quote on their dos based inventory and quote system. The store manager and the computer sales manager were offended because I first spoke to the home electronics managers about whether they had a position open I could transfer to because I was in tele-sales - (a commission based role spent answering calls about inventory and hoping that when they came in, they would find you and or mention that they had a 'quote' at the cashiers waiting...which usually ended with the customer exploring the store and a floor sales person getting the sale instead. oh, and technically tele-sales weren't allowed on the sales floor either, management denied us a wireless phone that would have helped us actually verify inventory and item descriptions) - where the pay was slightly more than minimum wage at the time and the home electronics position earned an actual decent wage. So, when they denied my request for a week off to visit family over christmas, I accidentally slept in and said eff it and stopped showing up. At least then they had good reason to be offended :)

[@highvoltage12v]

Tiger Direct (CompUSA) has been closed since 2015. I thought I'd miss it, but I have moved on. Every computer part I bought has been from Amazon/Newegg (Newegg takes forever to deliver anything) and I haven't looked back. TD was always overpriced for anything anyways.

[@thrasherx2k1]

highvoltage12v tiger direct is still a website?

[@SalivatingSteve]

Tiger Direct still has a website. I didn't know they ever had physical retail locations other than CompUSA which went out of business a long time ago, along with Circuit City.

[@thrasherx2k1]

Stephen Gregson I don’t think Tiger ever has physical retail locations. I just believe Compusa merged with them online.

[@5roundsrapid263]

thrasherx2k1 They had a few. I think mainly in Florida and California.

[@sarjim4381]

I always liked Fry's ,just to browse around on a Saturday afternoon. Unfortunately, they closed all the stores around me and the closest one was 70 miles away. Back in the early days of computers they sold their own line of PC's at good prices.

[@TEDdotcom]

FYI all 34 stores are operating normally and no Fry’s Electronics store has shut down yet.

[@dalethelander3781]

Loaded with the latest Linux OS.

[@CHaas-bn3xi]

I spent about $10,000 in 1994 at the incredible universe in Garland Texas I'll never forget that day walking and believing this it was an incredible place to shop. That day I purchased a Bose 701 soround sound system a 52 inch Mitsubishi TV an onko dvd player it was an experience. Cool video thanks for sharing

[@ThatBum42]

I dunno what it's like in Arizona but here in California, Fry's is thriving. The Sunnyvale one is always packed with people, and has a badass ol' west theme.

[@soinelle85]

They suck here in Phoenix. Not many shoppers there. PC component variety is abysmal. Only time I ever go there for now is case fans and thermal compound. I used to find a lot of anime there many years ago. But now, it is in a sad state. Only thing that is going for the stores is the movie section and console games.

[@ThatBum42]

@@soinelle85 That sucks :/ I've built many high end PCs from Fry's parts, they have walls and walls full of parts.