cctech Digest, Vol 64, Issue 1

Send cctech mailing list submissions to cctech at classiccmp.org To subscribe or unsubscribe via the World Wide Web, visit http://www.classiccmp.org/mailman/listinfo/cctech or, via email, send a message with subject or body 'help' to cctech-request at classiccmp.org You can reach the person managing the list at cctech-owner at classiccmp.org When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific than "Re: Contents of cctech digest..." Today's Topics: 1. One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes (Tom Gardner) 2. Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes (Chuck Guzis) 3. Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes (Fred Cisin) 4. Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes (Ali) 5. RE: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes (Ali) 6. Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes (jim stephens) 7. Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes (Fred Cisin) 8. Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes (John Herron) 9. New Member Introduction (Mike Begley) 10. RE: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes (Mike Begley) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Message: 1 Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2019 10:34:27 -0800 From: "Tom Gardner" <t.gardner at computer.org> To: <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes Message-ID: &lt;002301d5c008$ef5ba650$ce12f2f0$(a)computer.org&gt; Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Palo Alto Fry?s closing < https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-locations-Frys-Electronics-… . Sad, but not the end of an era ? apparently the loss of lease I remember visiting an early Fry?s (first?) in Sunnyvale (541 Lakeside Dr?, near Oakmead and around the corner from Shugart Associates where I then worked). I marveled at the selection of steaks, diet cokes, resistors, capacitors, ICs, etc. They had partially converted a supermarket into an electronics store but I heard they at first kept the food to keep some cash flow. I think I bought steaks J The engineers and technicians at Shugart more than once ran over there to get breadboard parts. ------------------------------ Message: 2 Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2019 11:24:27 -0800 From: Chuck Guzis <cclist at sydex.com> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes Message-ID: <fa07b790-23ac-5492-48f6-631358c69d0a at sydex.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 On 12/31/19 10:34 AM, Tom Gardner via cctalk wrote: https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-locations-Frys-Electronics-… I was at the grand opening of the Sunnyvale Fry's. A great place to purchase Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge soda, which was all the rage back then. A friend purchased it by the caselot. I remember chatting a bit with John Fry who saw the sales margins in electronics and compared them to food sales his family's supermarket chain. He figured that the marketing that worked so well in the grocery business would be a winner in electronics sales. Because of his family's connections, he could also offer popular food items. High volume and low margins. Sigh. It was a time when factory reps would come and give live presentations of their good stuff. And rows and rows of pegboard with plastic bags of components with red-and-white labels. At some point they got some sort of deal with Everex (which was in Fremont) and they had piles of that stuff cheap for sale. In that department, however, their tech support was close to non-existent. ("Doesn't work? Here's another one to try" approach). But then, the area had lots of surplus electronics places back then, probably because things were actually manufactured in the Santa Clara valley. The Palo Alto store was after my time. --Chuck ------------------------------ Message: 3 Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2019 13:08:54 -0800 (PST) From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.1912311301460.24943 at shell.lmi.net> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; CHARSET=X-UNKNOWN; FORMAT=flowed Fry's says that they are doing fine. BUT, that they are moving to a "consignment" model - they now plan to pay their suppliers only AFTER the merchandise sells. Or at least that is what they are telling their creditors. They could revitalize the stores, if they would add Jolt Cola, Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge soda, potato chips, cookies, toothpaste, rosin-core lead solder, and electronic components. Maybe even collaborate with Fat-Brain to open a computer literacy bookstore. -- Grumpy Ol' Fred cisin at xenosoft.com https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-locations-Frys-Electronics-… . Sad, but not the end of an era ??? apparently the loss of lease hadn???t done any restocking to speak of (except a couple video games) for months. The shelves were largely bare, and all the places they used to store excess stock were empty. I might be down that way in a few weeks, if so I???ll try to check on the status of the store. I know in October there was a news article or two claiming they were in the process of restocking, but based on my last visit, they seem dead. ------------------------------ Message: 4 Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2019 13:28:16 -0800 From: Ali <cctalk at ibm51xx.net> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes Message-ID: <1MfprR-1jNMVN4Btx-00gIGd at mrelay.perfora.net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 -------- Original message --------From: Fred Cisin?Fry's says that they are doing fine.BUT, that they are moving to a "consignment" model - they now plan to pay their suppliers only AFTER the merchandise sells.Or at least that is what they are telling their creditors.They could revitalize the stores, if they would add Jolt Cola, Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge soda, potato chips, cookies, toothpaste, rosin-core lead solder, and electronic components.? Maybe even collaborate with Fat-Brain to open a computer literacy bookstore.--No. They are closing: http://www.tonetoatl.com/2019/12/Frys-Electronics-Closed-Duluth-Gwinnett-Pl… really can't see any manufacturers lining up behind the Fry's BS. They just don't have the foot traffic for it.?Now as Fred says if they went back to filling a niche that is very empty (i.e. an electronics part retailer with stock of hard to get goods on hand) that may work. I hate having to order 50 capacitors from China everytime I need one....? ------------------------------ Message: 5 Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2019 13:32:42 -0800 From: "Ali" <cctalk at ibm51xx.net> To: "'General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts'" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: RE: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes Message-ID: <016901d5c021$d6407560$82c16020$@net> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Re-sending for legibility... No. They are closing: http://www.tonetoatl.com/2019/12/Frys-Electronics-Closed-Duluth-Gwinnett-Pl… I really can't see any manufacturers lining up behind the Fry's BS. They just don't have the foot traffic for it. Now as Fred says if they went back to filling a niche that is very empty (i.e. an electronics part retailer with stock of hard to get goods on hand) that may work. I hate having to order 50 capacitors from China every time I need one.... ------------------------------ Message: 6 Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2019 13:53:16 -0800 From: jim stephens <jwsmail at jwsss.com> To: cctalk at classiccmp.org Subject: Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes Message-ID: <e4b87d92-ab2b-de42-6975-33888b5cc384 at jwsss.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8; format=flowed On 12/31/2019 1:32 PM, Ali via cctalk wrote: http://www.tonetoatl.com/2019/12/Frys-Electronics-Closed-Duluth-Gwinnett-Pl… just don't have the foot traffic for it. Now as Fred says if they went back to filling a niche that is very empty (i.e. an electronics part retailer with stock of hard to get goods on hand) that may work. I hate having to order 50 capacitors from China every time I need one.... They actually were changing to a way of flooring the merchandise closer to the food industry.? Many things on the shelf in larger supermarkets are actually managed and stocked at the expense of the people who have the shelfspace.? So that becomes critical. Years ago a drug chain called Zody's used the same method, but for entire areas of stock, not by item. A friend had a pitabread business and went into Ralphs (Krogers in Southern ,CA).? The buyin for about 2' of space was about $500,000 then you had to supply the stock.? Payback came to you when you shipped more to them than they returned or discarded stale (or put in markdown). Frito-Lay as well as some of the alcohol aisle actually send in personnel twice a day to do the stocking.? The store staff doesn't touch it. Anyway it doesn't seem to be happening, i heard the story Fred has 3 months ago, and it doesn't take this long to do the deal if it's going to work. Years ago when they expanded a friend who had a similar electronics business said that the electronics side of Fry's was done with large amounts of debt.? My friend's store was well positioned to expand, but they wouldn't do the debt model Fry's did. That said, either Fry's is profitable, or they've paid down their debt to where they can withstand what is going on.? If it were a business with a large debt load the banks wouldn't let them take a week, must less 3 months and counting to do what is going on. And those 100,000sf store rent keeps on ticking full or empty. thanks Jim ------------------------------ Message: 7 Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2019 14:02:13 -0800 (PST) From: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes Message-ID: <Pine.LNX.4.64.1912311359300.24943 at shell.lmi.net> Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed Who else, but Fry's, has had the impact that third parties have posted Fry's employment applications? jhttp://homepage.smc.edu/engfer_mark/frys.htm ------------------------------ Message: 8 Date: Tue, 31 Dec 2019 16:28:34 -0600 From: John Herron <barythrin at gmail.com> To: Fred Cisin <cisin at xenosoft.com>, "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: Re: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes Message-ID: < CAEOGs+hu+qFbb--rJKLdA8PK7Lk8jfFzOCPXQE5krx76Ber+JQ at mail.gmail.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Two brilliant minds on this list drinking Canfield's Diet Chocolate Fudge soda? Guess I need to hop on this mystery band wagon. Our Fry's in Austin has also suffered over months of almost nothing on shelves. Definitely doesn't have the feeling of a company doing well. They've lost several sales from friends and myself that would have bought an item if we could see it in person and had it "now". Ashame they (and online shopping?) knocked out almost all the other retailers and competition from town. ------------------------------ Message: 9 Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2020 04:24:03 +0000 From: Mike Begley <spam at hell.org> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: New Member Introduction Message-ID: < MWHPR1801MB1870FFAA07F9ED7D333F4A96AC210 at MWHPR1801MB1870.namprd18.prod.outlook.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" Hello! New member to cctalk here. I am located in Seattle, and in the past have worked for a couple largish companies in the Seattle area you've heard of. Through the 80s and 90s I had accumulated a fairly sizable collection of classic (and not yet classic) computers. Mostly this was along two branches of machines - Atari 8 bit computers and 80s-era minicomputers & workstations, including a couple smaller VAXen, a PDP-8 and a large stack of HP9000/300 machines. Also I had a couple of no-name S-100 machines and a pretty nice one from California Computer Systems. When I moved from the Midwest following college I had to abandon much of that collection. In the last several years I have started to reconstitute that collection, at least in the basics. I'm still looking for a genuine VT100 (or stretch goal - VT278), and in 2020 I'm planning to finally bring up a simulated VAX cluster using Raspberry Pis and SIMH, since original hardware is pretty much impossible to find anymore (and fragile when you can find it). It's frustrating to be hunting for things I had three or four of at one point... Happy to be here, -mike begley spam at hell.org ------------------------------ Message: 10 Date: Wed, 1 Jan 2020 04:38:35 +0000 From: Mike Begley <spam at hell.org> To: "General Discussion: On-Topic and Off-Topic Posts" <cctalk at classiccmp.org> Subject: RE: One of Bay Area's last Fry's Electronics stores closes Message-ID: < MWHPR1801MB1870BB1A1A2E01BB2D6ECC06AC210 at MWHPR1801MB1870.namprd18.prod.outlook.com Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8" https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Bay-Area-locations-Frys-Electronics-… >> . Sad, but not the end of an era ? apparently the loss of lease hadn?t done any restocking to speak of bare, and all the places they used to store I?ll try to check on the status of the were in the process of restocking, I went to the one outside Seattle a few months ago, and the shelves were perhaps 15-20% full, at best. It was kinda creepy and kinda sad. We chatted with one of the stockers, and they said that they just didn't have the traffic to bring in inventory, so it's the chicken & the egg problem. They're were also allocating part of the store to do online fulfillment, and just trying to ramp up their online presence. I doubt they'll last until spring. There's no way they can afford the rent, inventory and payroll on the amount of customers they have these days. -mike spam at hell.org End of cctech Digest, Vol 64, Issue 1 *************************************