Well, after growing up on the east coast reading about how great Fry’s Electronics was on all of the computer technology websites, I finally had a chance to witness it for myself.
I’d say Fry’s Electronics was a mix between Best Buy, Circuit City, and Costco. The Phoenix (Tempe, really), location was a large warehouse with bins, racks, shelves, and dirty floors. The DVD prices were nothing spectacular (typically $20 for just about any DVD). The computer hardware offerings were a bit nicer (I found a rather hard to find USB header cable that goes from a spare usb header on the mother board to a rear expansion slot), but still not spectacular. They did happen to have a decent hobbyist electronics section, but the prices were not on par with what I could get parts for from Digikey. And the other consumer electronics offerings left a little to be desired.
Another let down was the “help” (if you call it that) I received from two of the employees. Neither one really knew what I was looking for (a bluetooth GPS receiver that didn’t cost $200 and the aforementioned USB expansion cables), but after wandering around for over an hour in a store with almost no organization, I finally found one of the two sought-after items, the USB cables. The first employee handed me off to the second employee after realizing that I wasn’t looking for a USB hub. The second was a touch more helpful, but still said “it could either be here with the cables or over in that section there with the random stuff.” It turned out, the cables were in the random crap section next to some TV antenna cables and BNC connectors, who’d of thunk?
Well, at least I can say I’ve been there. As for going again, I’d have to be near there already for something else to even consider it. I’m not going to make a special trip up to Phoenix just for the Fry’s Electronics store. Now, IKEA, on the other hand…
