FRY'S ELECTRONICS

'Fry's Electronics' is a specialty retailer of software, consumer electronics, computer hardware and household appliances with a chain of superstores headquartered in Silicon Valley. Starting with one store located in Sunnyvale, California, USA, the chain now boasts sales of $2.4B^[1] with over 30 stores located in several Western states, two near Atlanta, Georgia, two in Arizona, multiple locations in Texas, and one each in Illinois and Indiana.

Contents

History

Criticism

House brands

Online sales operation

Acquisition of domain name

References

Further reading

External links

History

In 1972, Charles Fry sold the Fry's Supermarkets chain for USD $40 million and gave a cut of the money to each of his sons, John, Randy, and Dave.^[2] The Fry brothers had little interest in grocery store retailing. Instead, in 1985, they joined together with a fourth partner, Kathryn Kolder, to open the first Fry's Electronics store at a 20,000 square foot (2,000 m²) site in Sunnyvale, California.^[3] Today, Fry's Food and Drug stores (which still share a similar logo) are not affiliated with Fry's Electronics, but are owned and operated by Kroger.^[4]
The original Sunnyvale store stocked numerous high-tech supplies such as integrated circuits, test and measurement equipment, and computer components, as well as software and various other types of consumer electronics and home appliances. The store also sold technical books, T-shirts, and featured massive displays of soda and snack foods.
As the business expanded, the original Sunnyvale store (located near Oakmead Parkway and Lakeside Drive) was closed, and a newer, larger store was opened across Lawrence Expressway on Kern Avenue. The now-closed Kern Avenue store pioneered a concept that endures to this day: store themes. Designed to look like the innards of a giant computer, the walls were adorned with simulated circuit components, and the floor resembled a giant printed circuit board. The outside of the building was painted to look like a huge DIP integrated circuit, and the external door handles were designed like the ENTER and ESC keys on a Computer keyboard.
Following the lead of the Kern Avenue store, new Fry's locations continued the use of elaborate themes and various painstakingly designed props until well into the late 1990s. For example, the Burbank store which opened in 1995 is themed primarily after 1950s and 1970s science fiction movies and features huge statues of popular characters such as the robot Gort from ''The Day the Earth Stood Still'' and Darth Vader from the ''Star Wars'' movie series. In addition, 100-foot-long giant ants (from the movie ''Them'') hang from the ceiling, and 1957 Chevys and Buicks were gutted for use as dining tables in the cafe. A flying saucer protrudes from the front of the store. After all construction and expenses, including land purchase and theming, the Burbank store cost $15 million to open. In recent years, since Fry's acquired the Incredible Universe chain of stores, the company has drastically reduced the elaborateness of its theming.
Because Fry's stores are enormous, often stocking hundreds of copies of a single product, they are quite popular with electronics and computer hobbyists. As of 2005, Best Buy, the nationwide consumer electronics retailer, is the main competitor to Fry's. However, Fry's stores have more retail floor space and have a wider and much more advanced selection than those of Best Buy. In addition, Best Buy only sells fully built computers with some basic accessories, while Fry's sells all the parts consumers need to build their own. Fry's also tends to have a more upscale atmosphere; many stores have hardwood floors, and employees wear professional attire (white shirts, jackets and ties for men.) Many of the newer stores even have in-store cafes.
As of May 2007, Fry's Electronics operates brick-and-mortar stores in nine U.S. states: California (17 stores); Texas (8); Arizona (2); Georgia (2); Illinois (1); Indiana (1); Nevada (1); Oregon (1); and Washington (1).

Criticism

Many websites have been set up—like http://www.FrysForum.com where employees and customers can discuss their negative and positive experiences at Fry's. Some of the categories for discussion are long lines in the returns department, dishonest sales people, and poor service in the Service Department. The website is not owned or affiliated with Fry's Electronics, and it can't be sued for the comments posted there, as it falls under Section 230 Protection (47 USC § 230).
A number of customers have reported frustrating customer service experiences at Fry's stores.^[5] Many of these customers have established personal sites to discuss their experiences. In 2006, Outpost.com was renamed "Frys.com," and in December of that year, Fry's/Outpost was the 30th-lowest ranked store on the ResellerRatings.com website [2] (although all its major brick-and-mortar competitors, including Best Buy, Circuit City, and CompUSA, were ranked even lower). As of early 2007, the site is currently undergoing major renovations in order to prepare its online store for a "buy online, pick up in store" feature.
Like most retailers, Fry's has a practice of repackaging some of its returned merchandise and reselling. Fry's has a standard practice of discounting its opened but saleable merchandise—almost always by 5%. All returned discounted merchandise has a label stating that the package has been returned and giving the discounted price. According to Fry's, this is only done if items are returned and have been opened or used.

House brands

In addition to selling many major brands of PCs, Fry's also sells two models of in-house PC designs. Their flagship Fry's PCs compete with similarly featured Microsoft Windows PC offerings from Hewlett-Packard, Sony, and Compaq. In addition, they offer a lower-end model branded as Great Quality (or "GQ") PCs. GQ PCs tend to be Fry's most inexpensive PC offerings, often priced in the sub-$200 range during daily and weekly sales. GQ PCs are often bundled with the Linspire Linux based OS as well as Windows, one of the few Linux offerings available in a retail PC configuration. Some of their Linux PCs feature AMD Geode processors, a processor normally sold in computers for developing countries. They also market accessories like cables and CD-R discs under the GQ brand name and simple computer peripherals products under the Emprex brand name. Also notable are the ECS brand motherboards that are frequently bundled with processors to make them virtually free.

Online sales operation

Fry's Electronics was late in establishing an online sales presence. They began offering low-cost Internet access in 2000 through their original Web address (''outpost.com''), but only introduced an e-commerce site in October 2006 with the grand re-opening of ''frys.com''.^{[6] [7] [8]}

Acquisition of domain name

The URL "''www.frys.com''" was owned in 1997 by David Peter, who manufactured and sold french-fry vending machines under the business name ''Frenchy Frys''. Fry's Electronics brought suit against him that year, alleging trademark infringement^[9], and ultimately prevailed in a default judgement.^{[10] [11]}
Since then, Fry's Electronics has aggressively defended its trademark and domain names. In 2001, it successfully prosecuted a man who was posting its own print ads on the Web using the domain ''frysad.com''^[12] and it recently sued a New York registrant of the ''frys.us'' domain.^[13]

References

1. Hoover's entry for Fry's Electronics
2. Pat Lopes Harris, "Fry's mystique: timing, focus, frugality—and lots of advertising," ''San Jose Business Journal'' 17, no. 39 (14 January 2000): 52.
3.
4. Kroger's website showing its ownership of the Fry's "brand"
5. Julie Schmit, "Techies flock to Fry's despite its flaws," ''USA Today'', 11 February 1998, 1B.
6. Fry's may launch ISP as part of new Net strategy
7. Fergie's tech blog 10/21/06
8. Fry's Electronics (Finally) Launches Online Store
9. The fight over "frys.com"
10. Securing and Protecting a Domain Name for your Web Site
11. Invasion of the Domain Snatchers
12. Fry's accuses site owner of cybersquatting
13. Report of Arbitration Between Fry's Electronics and Prophet Partners

Further reading

★ "The Future of Retail," ''Wired'' 6.07, July 1999, page 146. Photo essay showing customers and their purchases; reference to customer service.

★ "The Hacker & The Ants," Rudy Rucker contains a passage describing vintage pre-expansion era Fry's and is the first mention of it in published fiction.

External links

★ Fry's Electronics official website

★ Fry's Electronics History

★ FrysForum.com - A site for customers and current and past employees to discuss things relating to Fry's

★ Fry's Photo Project, containing photos of most Fry's stores.

★ ''Wired'' Magazine article; Issue 2.01, 1994

★ A page discussing customers' experiences with Fry's customer service

★ A page discussing customers' experiences with Fry's customer service (another)

★ ''Salon.com'' article, "customer Disservice"

★ "Breakfast at Fry's"

★ Internet reprint of Fry´s newspaper advertisements

★ San Jose Mercury Daily Fry's Ads

★ Downer's Grove, IL Fry's Ads, posted by forum regulars