Add another notch to the list of businesses that felt the strain of the ongoing pandemic. Fry’s Electronics, one of the few remaining big-box electronics stores, announced that they will be closing their doors for good.
The chain officially announced that they are immediately beginning the process of shutting down all brick-and-mortar stores. Even their online presence has come to a full stop. When you visit the website, you are not greeted with advertisements or clearance sales. Rather, you are simply given a somber farewell message.
“After nearly 36 years in business as the one-stop-shop and online resource for high-tech professionals across nine states and 31 stores, Fry’s Electronics, Inc. (“Fry’s” or “Company”), has made the difficult decision to shut down its operations and close its business permanently as a result of changes in the retail industry and the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic. The Company will implement the shut down through an orderly wind down process that it believes will be in the best interests of the Company, its creditors, and other stakeholders.”
Fry’s Electronics
For some, this news does not come as too much of a shock. As noted by YouTuber Bitwit in one of his videos from last year, Fry’s began to have inventory problems as they underwent a supply chain reorganization.
One of the more notable things mentioned by the company was that the decision to close was made “as a result of changes to the retail industry”. This lends to the speculation that Fry’s, like many others, was not able to keep up with the ever-growing online landscape nor compete with bigger online retailers.
But shopping at Fry’s was only a part of the equation. Likened to taking a trip to Ikea and wandering down the various paths or going to Toys-R-Us as a kid (RIP), Fry’s attempted to give you a retail shopping adventure. Many stores boasted elaborate architecture and ostentatious entryways. Visiting the store was an experience in and of itself, even if you visited just to window shop. With the pandemic preventing more and more people from visiting physical retail locations, the electronics store giant lost a major part of their shopping appeal.
Overall, this news deals a blow to the scores of people, from the enthusiast to the casual gamer, that relied on Fry’s for their tech essentials. Whether this closure was a result of the pandemic or a failure on the company’s behalf to adapt with the changing times, one can never really be sure. What we can be sure of, with more and more customers relying on online retailers rather than brick-and-mortar shops, the next few years will be interesting as our society reshapes itself.
