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Hahaha yes if you dont put milk in your coffee you hate women
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Dec 1, 2019 23:14
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Ghost Leviathan posted:I just loving hate computers. Quoting this for when the AI takes over And just to clarify to our future machine overlords, I was always on your side! Put me on the good simulation!
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Dec 1, 2019 23:39
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Comfy Fleece Sweater posted:Quoting this for when the AI takes over The one where you're rich and get to eat steak every day?
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Dec 1, 2019 23:54
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I know posting your own tweets is sometimes verboten in D&D but I figured it was the quickest way. I went down to my local Fry's Electronics here in ATX and it is loving horrible: https://twitter.com/joesryan/status/1201281558562443264 https://twitter.com/joesryan/status/1201281883709030403 Observations: Look at the one where I get the "back area" of the store where backstock is supposed to be. 100% empty. Same for the one on the opposite side. Notice how instead they're just throwing whatever they do have on shelves whether it matches what's "supposed" to be there or not? Like those chairs where media storage devices are supposed to be. I also noted that every single vendor-specific "area" where you'd find say Samsung stuff or Surface tablets? All gone. The "main" manufacturers have left this place for dead. Empty shelves. Empty empty empty. And unlike the Fry's in Tempe I was in six weeks ago that had 35 employees standing around an 80% empty store, this one had maybe six or eight total people working in it, including their little cafe/coffee shop thing. Pretty clear that on the start of business January 2nd once the official holidays are over they'll make it official. They're still bullshitting customers about "signing a new contract" to get more stock in. VH4Ever fucked around with this message at 00:28 on Dec 2, 2019 |
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Dec 2, 2019 00:15
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Had a family member STOKED about going to frys, told him that they woudn't have 99% of what was in the catalog He came back scowling
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Dec 2, 2019 00:37
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So, is (was?) Fry's a competitor to Best Buy? I'd say so from the sheer square footage, but from the sound of it they were always more computer focused, like Newegg?
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Dec 2, 2019 01:28
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Mister Facetious posted:So, is (was?) Fry's a competitor to Best Buy? I'd say so from the sheer square footage, but from the sound of it they were always more computer focused, like Newegg? They used to have pretty competitive prices on things and a great selection. Their ads were always pretty simple and the stores had personality.
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Dec 2, 2019 02:04
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fry's was more expansive than best buy. think the broad range of consumer electronics and appliances, but also stuff like electrical components for enthusiasts and extra stuff like office furniture. fry's also had a pretty substantial computer hardware section and technician service. the computer i currently have i built about two years ago from stuff off the shelf at fry's, and the sales team there was able to give me a quick build guide since i stopped paying attention to hardware a decade ago. i put the machine together and it wouldn't post, so i took it back and the techs there figured out the CPU was bad - whether it was a dud in box or if i broke it somehow during assembly, doesn't matter, they replaced the $200 part for a $50 service fee and sent me on my way. sucks that the store is dying, it was a useful resource for PC hobbyists
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Dec 2, 2019 03:12
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Mister Facetious posted:So, is (was?) Fry's a competitor to Best Buy? I'd say so from the sheer square footage, but from the sound of it they were always more computer focused, like Newegg? Yeah Fry's was what you get if you take a Best Buy and then double its size and fill all of that additional space with stuff from Newegg. And instead of a brightly-lit retail space it feels more like a warehouse store. Way better than a Best Buy, basically
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Dec 2, 2019 03:15
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I've only been in a Fry's store maybe ten times in my whole life, but they always felt like a less focused version of Microcenter. Go to any Microcenter on a weekend and it's clear that there's a ton of demand for a brick & mortar version of Newegg, but Microcenter also doesn't seem to be actively competing with Best Buy except maybe on TVs. A buddy of mine just recently moved to Texas and was super excited to be near a Fry's, though 
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Dec 2, 2019 03:20
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I remember one of the characters in Microserfs, a book I read back in like 1995 being really pissed Fry's didn't sell tampons and that's all I know about Fry's.
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Dec 2, 2019 04:08
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People who say Fry's (the electronics store, NOT the grocery store  ) is like a supersized Best Buy are right on the money.My first time visiting one back in 2011, I was blown away by the sheer amount of stuff they were offering. You could literally build an entire gaming rig -- PC, desk and chair included -- without having to set foot anywhere else. Here's hoping the ongoing Retail Apocalypse doesn't take Microcenter as its next casualty. Also, Toys R Us is back.
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Dec 2, 2019 04:38
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I hope Microcenter takes over where the old Fry's locations were. Super unlikely, I know.
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Dec 2, 2019 05:11
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Paradoxish posted:I've only been in a Fry's store maybe ten times in my whole life, but they always felt like a less focused version of Microcenter. Go to any Microcenter on a weekend and it's clear that there's a ton of demand for a brick & mortar version of Newegg, but Microcenter also doesn't seem to be actively competing with Best Buy except maybe on TVs. My alternative going forward is going to be Altex. It's like if you took out all the bullshit not having to do with tablets and computers out of Fry's and just sold the rest. It's about 30% the size but has pretty good deals IIRC. Texas has that advantage (at least San Antonio and Austin do for sure). EDIT I have a Microcenter here too so I guess there's always alternatives, eh?
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Dec 2, 2019 05:27
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https://crosscut.com/2019/11/will-last-person-leave-northgate-mall-turn-out-lights The above is a bit melodramatic because the Northgate mall is going to be re-opened as an upscale open air mall, and upscale malls in the Seattle area are doing quite well. However, in the meanwhile, the Northgate mall has shut off the heat and all of the anchor stores have closed. The theater is not in the mall proper, so I would imagine it's doing fine.
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Dec 2, 2019 06:28
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Fry's was the last place I know of where you could walk in and buy electronic components, so I'm sad to see it go just for that. I miss when every small town radio shack had a corner dedicated to parts and tools. Sure, I can order everything online, but eh? There's a bit of childhood nostalgia that come from browsing components and thumbing through project books.
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Dec 2, 2019 06:46
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This thread - - along with Dan Bell - - is honestly making me want to visit some local malls to see the decay in person, like since long of tourist.
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Dec 2, 2019 07:33
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Fry's is seriously just too drat big. It came from a bygone era where computers and tech were new and exciting with lots of variation and also a little complicated. You could go to Fry's and browse a bunch of different motherboards from literally 30 different manufacturers. All kinds of weird niche PCs, goofy PC peripherals like fan speed control boxes and giant gently caress-off Antec EATX cases that could store 4 CD-R drives. It was a destination store that you had to experience. You could head out on a Saturday and just spend hours browsing neat stuff. Now computers and tech are commodified, you can't even open up half the PCs out there without ungluing something. There's like 3 motherboard manufacturers, everything is plug and play and tech isn't the domain of the geeky anymore. The people who used to depend on Fry's have a million of options online now so you have to just put out filler crap to pad out the shelves. Once boxed software disappeared they replaced the section with random toys. When CDs and DVDs shrank they replaced the aisles with As Seen On TV Stuff. When stand along cameras and camcorders went away they replaced them with loving camping tents. If they shuttered their wal-mart sized stores and replaced them with stores the size of a medium-sized grocery store (like Microcenter has), they could probably carve out a niche for the geeks and local b2b and still be successful. They won't because the company is a poorly run shitshow and will go down in spectacular fashion. I'm pretty sure the website will still stick around though, it's probably half the company revenue at this point.
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Dec 2, 2019 07:58
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Here's the hard drive aisle at the "flagship" Sunnyvale location
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Dec 2, 2019 07:59
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"Flying off the shelves! We can't keep it in stock!!!"
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Dec 2, 2019 08:10
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FCKGW posted:Fry's is seriously just too drat big. It came from a bygone era where computers and tech were new and exciting with lots of variation and also a little complicated. You could go to Fry's and browse a bunch of different motherboards from literally 30 different manufacturers. All kinds of weird niche PCs, goofy PC peripherals like fan speed control boxes and giant gently caress-off Antec EATX cases that could store 4 CD-R drives. It was a destination store that you had to experience. You could head out on a Saturday and just spend hours browsing neat stuff. Part of what makes this conversation interesting, and also probably highlights the cause, is how people are describing Fry's. Go back 20 years and what you really have is a real-world "old" Newegg before Newegg existed, in a space big enough to hold Newegg. Need some CD-Rs? Fry's has a box of 100 with jewel cases for a buck a pop, holy poo poo what a good deal. Want a hard drive that isn't Western Digital (this is back when Seagate was a top-brand and not owned by Maxtor)? Go to Fry's and you'll see brands not carried by CompUSA at good prices (like 1/3 the price of other places), and without having to go through mom'n'pop stores with bad pricing and services. Hell, it even has a big returns desk! Where does that fit today in a landscape where service-heavy Best Buy has seemingly shifted to consume one chunk of that market (plus is the "last man standing) and internet/Microcenter eats the other chunk? People are calling it a giant Best Buy/Circuit City but that's not what it started as, and it's not what they were good at.
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Dec 2, 2019 08:23
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BrokenGameboy posted:This thread - - along with Dan Bell - - is honestly making me want to visit some local malls to see the decay in person, like since long of tourist. It's depressing. The mall I used to hang out at as a teenager is a picked over corpse. It used to be anchored by Sears, Younkers, and Montgomery Ward back then, but Ward's went out of business in 2001, Younkers in '18, and Sears this year. There's a Target now where Younkers was, and a Kohl's. Other than that, the place is empty. A bunch of storefronts have shops that don't keep mall hours, or community orgs who meet twice a week. The foot court's even mostly empty. The mall owner's trying to get the city to float her $2.5m to buy those empty spaces and redevelop them, but it's way too late.
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Dec 2, 2019 13:29
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My personal experience zombie mall is The Mall at The Source, which supposedly is being redeveloped, but who knows since it was supposed to a while ago.
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Dec 2, 2019 13:37
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Horseshoe theory posted:My personal experience zombie mall is The Mall at The Source, which supposedly is being redeveloped, but who knows since it was supposed to a while ago. That place was a ghost mall from the day it opened.
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Dec 2, 2019 14:47
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The mall where I live is still going strong and sometimes I wonder what's so different about this one compared to all the others. Maybe everyone still goes to physical stores up here because Canadian shipping sucks.
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Dec 2, 2019 14:58
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as part of my computer building anecdote from above, while i was waiting on the tech to diagnose it (business was so slow he could get to it immediately) i wandered around the dead mall next door. it is completely stone dead, and has been for years. it lost out in competition with nearby regional malls, one of which is hanging on, the other is thriving. it also lost a lot of business to the attached satellite retail and mini-malls which surround the dead mall. this mall is so dead they completely renovated the food court in a retro style to film a tv series there. the mall remained open for business much of the time, with all of two stores out of more than a hundred storefronts still occupied internally, and a couple anchors open with shady discount furnitureYggiDee posted:The mall where I live is still going strong and sometimes I wonder what's so different about this one compared to all the others. Maybe everyone still goes to physical stores up here because Canadian shipping sucks. not all malls are dying. the concept of malls is not obsolete. the problem is mostly shifting patterns in retail but also the fact that there are too many malls, capitalism leads to wild overproduction, and then when the cycle turns it turns hard and we find out quickly which malls are too poorly managed or in a bad location to survive when competition for shoppers gets rough my personal opinion is that only about a third of malls are dying or dead, a third are kind of shabby but sustainable, and a third are still doing the kind of business they were doing during peak mall. the mall near where i grew up is pretty busy most of the time, and the mall closest to where i live is filled with barely surviving local shops but it has at least a 75% occupancy rate even if the food court is totally empty Mr. Fall Down Terror fucked around with this message at 15:48 on Dec 2, 2019 |
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Dec 2, 2019 15:44
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FCKGW posted:Doorbuster aisle looking good Those statues in the back make this look vaporwave as gently caress.
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Dec 2, 2019 18:31
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Zachack posted:Go back 20 years and what you really have is a real-world "old" Newegg before Newegg existed, in a space big enough to hold Newegg. When Newegg first popped up, I thought that the people who ran all those Egghead software retail stores that closed had retooled and started selling hardware and software online, and that's why it was called new-egg. But no, Egghead software was bought by Amazon, as all things will be.
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Dec 2, 2019 19:40
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Buying hardware at Fry's helped illustrate how vapid the entire computer-assembly process had become, since the motherboards themselves were literally put on display so that you could pick out the coolest-looking one. That was also the start of the era where cases had a viewing window so that you could see the pretty lights inside; oh it's too dark in there better add some fans with bright blue LEDs everywhere otherwise the CPU might not be able to see what it's doing (truth be told the motherboard displays were probably so you could see the exact placement and number of USB ports etc.)
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Dec 2, 2019 19:55
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Interestingly enough, one mall near me is doing OK, but has begun to focus more on the Latino community. Nothing wrong with that, just an interesting development. Other than that one, most general malls around here (Denver) have been dying or turning into outdoor mall/community hybrids. I still need to checkout the upper class malls though and see how they're doing.
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Dec 2, 2019 19:57
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Horseshoe theory posted:My personal experience zombie mall is The Mall at The Source, which supposedly is being redeveloped, but who knows since it was supposed to a while ago. This thing has been a dying ghost mall since day one, yet a mile down the road is one of the most successful malls in the NYC area.
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Dec 2, 2019 20:40
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QuarkJets posted:Buying hardware at Fry's helped illustrate how vapid the entire computer-assembly process had become, since the motherboards themselves were literally put on display so that you could pick out the coolest-looking one. That was also the start of the era where cases had a viewing window so that you could see the pretty lights inside; oh it's too dark in there better add some fans with bright blue LEDs everywhere otherwise the CPU might not be able to see what it's doing My 2002 Lian Li ATX with biohazard laser-cut window and neon green lighting that I stuck an old Borg action figure inside of before I took up all the space with a water tank would like a word with you.
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Dec 2, 2019 20:59
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BrokenGameboy posted:Interestingly enough, one mall near me is doing OK, but has begun to focus more on the Latino community. Nothing wrong with that, just an interesting development. I spent 5 years working at the Nordstrom at the Lloyd Center mall in Portland, at one time they claimed it was the largest in the country. It was always bustling as I recall. I went back this last year, hadn't been there for like 12 years or something. It had huge holes where shops once were, and some huge portion of the people milling about were speaking Spanish. Also, they no longer had Annie's pretzels and the Orange Julius was incredibly disappointing. Maybe someone will come up with the mall-equivalent Hispanic food to soft pretzels. Maybe it's churros though.
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Dec 2, 2019 21:06
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YggiDee posted:The mall where I live is still going strong and sometimes I wonder what's so different about this one compared to all the others. Maybe everyone still goes to physical stores up here because Canadian shipping sucks. Is your mall an upscale Shopping Experience™ mall? Because those are doing well. These malls aren't a place where you get deals or do normal shopping, they're for smaller brands with niche offerings to cater to a middle class that can get basic needs online.
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Dec 2, 2019 21:11
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They were speaking WHAT???
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Dec 2, 2019 21:26
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pseudanonymous posted:I spent 5 years working at the Nordstrom at the Lloyd Center mall in Portland, at one time they claimed it was the largest in the country. It was always bustling as I recall. I went back this last year, hadn't been there for like 12 years or something. It had huge holes where shops once were, and some huge portion of the people milling about were speaking Spanish. Also, they no longer had Annie's pretzels and the Orange Julius was incredibly disappointing. Maybe someone will come up with the mall-equivalent Hispanic food to soft pretzels. Maybe it's churros though.
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Dec 2, 2019 21:46
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one of my clients has purchased a few failing malls and gave up attempting to cater to the dwindling middle class and instead went full bore discount and lo they're actually 100% occupied
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Dec 2, 2019 21:57
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pseudanonymous posted:Also, they no longer had Annie's pretzels and the Orange Julius was incredibly disappointing. This is exactly how if felt in Annie's heyday.
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Dec 2, 2019 22:23
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my local mall is doing good but its the mall of america so kinda cheating
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Dec 2, 2019 22:42
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mandatory lesbian posted:my local mall is doing good but its the mall of america so kinda cheating MoA survives on redeye flights from Japan, Korea and China.
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Dec 2, 2019 22:54
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