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Comment by alialkhatib | Hacker News Reader

Is there any documented evidence that Fry's is sinking(/losing money)?

I don't doubt it per se, I just want to pin down that notion. I find it shocking that they outlived Circuit City and Radio Shack, so I'm beginning to wonder if maybe they're actually profitable and we're just annoyed that their target market doesn't necessarily capture us anymore (the way it did in the 90s and to some extent the 00s in my case).

(note: a descendent comment asking about a Best Buy reference pointed out that I inadvertently said Fry's outlived Best Buy; I meant Circuit City and corrected it, but that may just add more confusion with the resulting conversation)

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No, and in fact it is quite the opposite, they have been putting their competitors out of business and were cited by Radio Shack at one point as to why they were going out of business[1].

In the Bay area they have replenished some of their "maker" supplies to be more relevant again but it is spotty. They prefer high margin items like laptops or washer/dryer combinations. This is quite a bit lower than when parts distributors Wyle and Arrow were complaining that Fry's was selling individual parts at the 1K quantity price and cutting off their margins.

They also managed to kill off the electronics stores in the Bay area, Sunnyvale Electronics, Jade Systems, JDR Microdevices, Quement, Quest, Etc. JameCo has survived but in part because they have a decent mail order business and hold the line on their prices. I wrote a letter to Bill Fry complaining because after they killed off those businesses their component supply dropped off dramatically leaving folks in Silicon Valley ordering from a company in Minnesota to get parts they use to source locally.

That said, I find it hilarious when they have in their display case test equipment offered for sale from companies that are no longer in business.

[1] Of course Radio Shack probably cited everything at one time or another as to why they were going out of business.

They also managed to kill off the electronics stores in the Bay area

I'm sure Fry's had a lot to do with it, but a good deal of the problem is that "times are changing".

More stuff gets built exclusively in Asia nowadays, leaving fewer part overruns in the USA that can be sold to surplus companies that used to be in the Bay Area.

As SoCs become more prevalent there is just less need for glue chips. This is all across the board. E.g. 20 years ago every desktop PC needed a graphics card, or at least a graphics chip. But now the vast majority of video needs are satisfied by Intel's on-die graphics. Same with USB, it's in the Intel chipset. No need for SATA cards or chips, it's all in the Intel chipset. So is ethernet. Etc.

Plus in the old days hobbyists had a chance of being able to work with DIP components, or even SOICs. Nowadays the resistors and capacitors are almost too small to see without a stereo microscope. And BGA components can't easily be soldered or reworked without sophisticated equipment.

With more stuff being designed, debugged, and manufactured in Asia, I'm not surprised that Fry's has a lot of older test equipment collecting dust. No demand for it anymore.

We live in interesting times. Sucks for people who used to make a good living in electronics.

Compared to 30 years ago, I think the hobby electronics market has changed a lot.

Partly it's because a lot of the kids who would have been assembling Heathkits in 1980 are now making minecraft mods.

But even without that, there's been a shift in the electronics market. There are high demand, medium demand, and long tail components. Everyone has the high demand components at home. The long tail components aren't in high enough demand to stock in expensive-to-run high street stores, so they can only be mail ordered. The medium demand components are in between - the range is wide enough that people don't have them all already, but limited enough and in high enough demand that a high street store can satisfy demand and make enough money to stay in business.

30 years ago, medium demand components were things like 7400-series logic chips. Today, microprocessors like the arduino have most of that stuff built in, or can be programmed to do it. Nobody needs to go to the shops because they need a positive edge triggered dual D-type flip-flop and all they have at home is a dual master slave JK flip-flop.

I tend to largely agree with this, although if there was a store that stocked what Sparkfun or Adafruit have in their online store that I could go into and browse, I'd probably spend $100 a week in there.

Well, HSC is most certainly still around. Often cheaper than Digikey, with a great selection of jellybean components, as well as a really long tail of more obscure parts.

They're privately owned, so I'm unaware of any data. While an anecdote is not data in and of itself, the Fry's here in WA has been emptier and emptier (both in terms of merchandise on the floor and people) each time I've stopped by from 2008 to the present. I can't say for sure if it's a national trend, but out here Amazon Prime has eliminated the need of basically everyone I know to visit Fry's.

Same trend in Wilsonville, Oregon. It's "emptier and emptier".

What's this "outlived Best Buy" stuff? Best Buy still seems to be operating.

Oh wow jeez that's embarrassing. I was thinking of Circuit City and my brain just replaced it. My bad. Thanks for pointing it out.

I don't know that this indicates a business downturn but Fry's used to have its own 4-6 page insert in the S.J. Mercury in the Friday edition. For the last several years, this advert has been reduced to a single page on the back of one of the regular sections. Also, although very subjective, it appears to me that the huge parking lots at the Sunnyvale, San Jose, and Fremont stores are less crowded than I remember. Indicators? Maybe.

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