Re: Funky electronics chain Fry’s is no more (Seattle Times)

On Wed, Feb 24, 2021 at 10:07 PM Al Kossow via cctalk <cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote: And of course that process required them to get you over to the computer, ask for your phone number, enter the item#, and wait for the LaserJet to spit out the proto-invoice. The dumb/lazy ones would then hand you the paper along with the item and tell you to show it to the cashier. Of course you had the item so you could just throw the paper away and they would get nothing. The crafty ones though would give you the invoice and then walk the item up to behind the register area where the cashier would have to go retrieve it so you were stuck. Basically you wanted to avoid interacting with them if possible. The fact that most stores had the ability to have 80 active cashiers has to be some sort of record, though I don't think I ever saw the registers on the far side get much use even at Christmas. And then there was the "Fry's seal of quality" as we called the return/restock slip plastered to items on the shelf that had already been returned (at least) once. No sane person ever touched those unless completely desperate. My first Fry's story though comes from the early 1980s when I was visiting HP in Cupertino and went to the original Sunnyvale Fry's and only had a check for payment and they weren't going to take an out of town check until they asked what I was in the bay area for and I said "visiting HP" and then it was "oh, that will be fine then". It says something about HP's reputation at the time that even their customers were considered more trustworthy by a Fry's manager. I also remember on that visit that the aisle-long magazine rack at Fry's had many different nerdy publications but only two which rated an entire double column of rack slots. They were Byte and Penthouse IIRC. We all had a love/hate relationship with Fry's, but they were an institution and will be missed.