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there wolf posted:... I know, but the post I was replying to said French and Italian. He'd read the post he was replying to as generalizing all white people everywhere and was trying to knock down that straw man.
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Nov 12, 2020 00:19
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Zesty posted:I don’t know about Fremont, but Sunnyvale’s doesn’t really have a theme does it? That might be it for the themed locations. I used to work at the Air and Space Museum in San Diego and one time I fielded a call from the local Fry's head, he had been assigned with theming the store here. His plan was to celebrate the military and he wanted to borrow our F-14 and hang it from their ceiling. Our CEO was gung ho to do it but technically the museum didn't have an F-14, the Navy had one parked at our auxiliary location. So I was tasked with calling the Navy, complete with a list of smaller navy planes to ask about if the Navy said no for some crazy reason. Some admiral's secretary pretty much laughed me off the phone. Anyway now the theme of the Fry's in San Diego is "teenagers with two sizes too large of button down shirts shuffle around a giant empty building telling the one customer every three days that they're out of the thing."
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Nov 12, 2020 00:21
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McPhearson posted:Sunnyvale's theme is "The History of Silicon Valley". One of the Fry's in Houston had an enormous, I think almost full size, model of the International Space Station hanging from the ceiling. An astronaut I know said it was the best ISS mock-up he'd ever seen.
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Nov 12, 2020 02:05
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xarph posted:Another Fry’s is dead. This is the Egyptian one where they covered the escalator/ramp with rocks rather than fix it. The other one has fairly-full shelves again, but only because they literally put up modular furniture walls to divide the store in half and move all the stock to the one open side. But I have at least been able to start picking up basic cables and adapters there, so they're getting some new supplies. I doubt they'll survive on cheap cables alone though. Zesty posted:I don’t know about Fremont, but Sunnyvale’s doesn’t really have a theme does it? That might be it for the themed locations. https://www.google.com/maps/place/F...!4d-121.2661618 Did the 50's sci-fi movies one in the LA area close yet? Other than the Bay Area ones that was the only other themed one I'd personally been to.
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Nov 12, 2020 03:18
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Knormal posted:One of the two Fry's in the Sacramento region is "temporarily" closed due to COVID, I'm pretty certain it's never going to open again. There were still two Fry’s here?!  the last time I went to one (can’t remember which one) must have been almost 10 years ago and it felt like it was on its last legs even then.
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Nov 12, 2020 04:45
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Knormal posted:Did the 50's sci-fi movies one in the LA area close yet? Other than the Bay Area ones that was the only other themed one I'd personally been to. That's the one in Burbank across from the airport, it's still open, in the expected state of barren decrepitude. HOLY gently caress posted:There were still two Fry’s here?! The funny thing is the railroad themed one in Roseville was kind of a late addition, at least as far as CA Frys went. I want to say mid 00's, basically right after their best days were over. While we're at it with the themed ones, I feel like a forgotten one is the Atlantis store in San Marcos in north county SD, it's kind of off the beaten path. Not sure if it's still kicking.
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Nov 12, 2020 06:10
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Precambrian posted:There's actually a really interesting story about how "white" food came to be (and came to be bland). It's a complicated mass of cultural changes, and hard to pin down to just one cause, but as a quick summary: In the postwar environment, there was a sudden boom of wealth and technologization hitting Americans more so than any other place on Earth, and specifically, it was doled out to white America. Refrigeration as a status symbol is part of what drove the popularity of gelatins everywhere, plus you suddenly had whole new food production infrastructure that a newly forged corporate America was looking to experiment with. There was a drive to both be inventive with the possibilities of these new technologies (mashing items together and seeing what works!) and being thrifty—women's magazines from the mid century loved printing stories of women who learned at the last moment that hubby's boss is coming for dinner, and they didn't have enough to make a proper cake! But they were able to improvise from their pantry and make something that was novel, efficient, and visually impressive, even if it wasn't a replacement for actual baking (slowly, this would be eroded in their daughters' time). So those insane 50's recipes you see for, like, pureed hotdog and pineapple salad? I don't think anyone thought they tasted good, but it looked striking, it wasn't like anything that came before, and it let a housewife express herself creatively and overcome a challenge that she could brag about to her peers. This is a really good post.^ There was still some creativity, but it wasn't from the people at home, it was from the recipe book and magazine writers who ran out of things that could fit the requirements while staying with a fairly uniform taste, but it ended up as dark creativity that created things like Tuna Jello Pie.
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Nov 12, 2020 07:49
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Also possibly relevant- way more people smoked back then. People’s taste buds were hosed.
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Nov 12, 2020 16:28
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Also all the middle to upper class people were hosed up on over the counter medications.
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Nov 12, 2020 18:07
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Ghost Leviathan posted:Also all the middle to upper class people were hosed up on over the counter medications. Laura Bush faced
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Nov 12, 2020 18:34
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Guitar center filing for bankruptcy. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/11/14/guitar-center-chapter-11-bankruptcy/6294720002/
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Nov 15, 2020 15:09
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Duckman2008 posted:Guitar center filing for bankruptcy.
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Nov 15, 2020 16:42
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FilthyImp posted:Weird. You would think more people decided "THIS is the year I learn the guitar!" thanks to COVID. They all bought their guitars from Amazon.
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Nov 15, 2020 16:45
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I got an email yesterday from Payless Shoes, and I was stupid excited to shop online. Of course, no Canadian site, so whatever, but it looks like they've gone online only.
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Nov 15, 2020 21:26
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Duckman2008 posted:Guitar center filing for bankruptcy. It finally happened. Guitar Center has been rumored to to be going under for a decade now or something, but never thought it would actually happen RIP
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Nov 15, 2020 22:34
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FilthyImp posted:Weird. You would think more people decided "THIS is the year I learn the guitar!" thanks to COVID. I don't know for sure, but it seems that guitar-based music just isn't as popular as it once was, and maybe has been trending that way for at least a decade? If less are listening to it, less are inspired to learn to play it.
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Nov 15, 2020 23:09
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I thought Guitar Center was a victim of typical private-equity management fuckery rather than poor sales?
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Nov 15, 2020 23:13
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Ofecks posted:I don't know for sure, but it seems that guitar-based music just isn't as popular as it once was, and maybe has been trending that way for at least a decade? If less are listening to it, less are inspired to learn to play it.
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Nov 15, 2020 23:19
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FilthyImp posted:Weird. You would think more people decided "THIS is the year I learn the guitar!" thanks to COVID. "Fender has sold more guitars in 2020 than any other year in its history" https://www.guitarworld.com/news/fender-has-sold-more-guitars-in-2020-than-any-other-year-in-its-history
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Nov 16, 2020 00:00
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Ofecks posted:I don't know for sure, but it seems that guitar-based music just isn't as popular as it once was, and maybe has been trending that way for at least a decade? If less are listening to it, less are inspired to learn to play it. My daughter’s guitar teacher says she hasn’t been this busy in years. I just think people aren’t buying stuff at Guitar Center.
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Nov 16, 2020 00:30
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Finally Guitar Center dies. My most hated store chain closes.
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Nov 16, 2020 01:14
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The big issue with Guitar Center much like other retailers is that they're owned by a private equity firm who acquired them through a leveraged buy out so they have tons of debt. The pandemic just pushes them over the edge. Tho their bankruptcy here keeps most of their stores open it's just restructuring all that debt they had. Kinda like toys r us the problem wasn't that selling toys was a bad business it's just hard to do when you have huge debt obligations foisted on you by private equity firms sulking your business dry like a capitalist vampire.
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Nov 16, 2020 01:21
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The article says that they are not expecting to liquidate. Mainly that they have to go into Chapter 11 in order to shed some debt that they aren't going to be able to repay. But they say specifically that they do not expect to close stores.
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Nov 16, 2020 01:21
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Being able to try out instruments in person is really nice but Guitar Center tends to have everything on the shelf be completely beat to hell by people loving them up with no intent to buy them. I was trying a 4k acoustic guitar that sounded nice but already was covered in so many scratches that I'd never have bought it from them after I noticed.
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Nov 16, 2020 02:36
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Subjunctive posted:My daughter’s guitar teacher says she hasn’t been this busy in years. I just think people aren’t buying stuff at Guitar Center. Yeah it seems likely to be a cyclical thing. Guitars have been around forever, with occasional dips in popularity, but they're pretty versatile and can be used in basically any style of music. This same "computers are taking over" thing happened in the '80s. (Heck, even in the '60s there was that infamous "Guitar music is on its way out" take from the guy who declined to sign The Beatles.) Eventually whatever's popular now becomes Dad Music and it's all fair game again. So yeah, this might be more about Guitar Center specifically.
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Nov 16, 2020 14:34
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I had a friend win some contest where he got like $5000 in store credit for Guitar Center, and he bought me some earplugs so that I wouldn't be deafened at a concert. That was the only time I've ever been in an Guitar Center.
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Nov 16, 2020 14:46
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The local independent music store near us closed a few years ago because they couldn't make it work even with a fairly robust music lesson business and a goldmine renting overpriced instruments to band students. You couldn't find a parking space for a week every August because of all the parents getting rent-to-own trumpets for 3x their MSRP. Makes me think it's a tough business to succeed in. Also Guitar Center is bad, but Mars Music man. They blew into town, killed a bunch of smaller shops, and then imploded under their own lovely business model. But hey, free drumsticks with any purchase.
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Nov 16, 2020 15:57
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Krispy Wafer posted:Also Guitar Center is bad, but Mars Music man. They blew into town, killed a bunch of smaller shops, and then imploded under their own lovely business model. But hey, free drumsticks with any purchase. Hell yeah, Mars Music. That place was like mecca to a pimply teenager drummer.
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Nov 16, 2020 16:39
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Krispy Wafer posted:The local independent music store near us closed a few years ago because they couldn't make it work even with a fairly robust music lesson business and a goldmine renting overpriced instruments to band students. You couldn't find a parking space for a week every August because of all the parents getting rent-to-own trumpets for 3x their MSRP. Makes me think it's a tough business to succeed in. It seems the successful model for music stores is to own the building and then rent out 80% of it to other, successful businesses.
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Nov 16, 2020 18:00
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Duckman2008 posted:Guitar center filing for bankruptcy. 
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Nov 16, 2020 18:19
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Nov 16, 2020 19:04
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Rick posted:It seems the successful model for music stores is to own the building and then rent out 80% of it to other, successful businesses. The local bookstore, a small locally owned one, rents out ~75% to a gun shop.
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Nov 16, 2020 19:33
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ChickenDoodle posted:I got an email yesterday from Payless Shoes, and I was stupid excited to shop online. Of course, no Canadian site, so whatever, but it looks like they've gone online only.
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Nov 16, 2020 19:45
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I've actually seen Claire's opening in Walmarts. And Fedex Offices, which I thought was dumb, but it seems pretty smart because the only other copy/ship places nearby are usually UPS stores. I still find it hilarious that Dress Barn ever opened. Great name for a store selling clothes to overweight women.
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Nov 16, 2020 19:49
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Yeah I assume Frump Shack was already trademarked
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Nov 16, 2020 20:01
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Carrion Luggage posted:The local bookstore, a small locally owned one, rents out ~75% to a gun shop. am I taking crazy pills or was this literally a King of the Hill episode
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Nov 16, 2020 20:06
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Cowslips Warren posted:I've actually seen Claire's opening in Walmarts. All I ever see in those Walmart stalls are banks and optometrists.
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Nov 16, 2020 20:12
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there used to be little arcades in a lot of them not great but they had those Fast and Furious games that were basically just pretty versions of Cruisin USA, and that was fun when i was in middle school
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Nov 16, 2020 20:13
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Carrion Luggage posted:The local bookstore, a small locally owned one, rents out ~75% to a gun shop. How is Peggy doing? e:fb
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Nov 16, 2020 20:14
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WeedlordGoku69 posted:am I taking crazy pills or was this literally a King of the Hill episode Yeah there was a book club as a front for a gun club or something like that. Free gun with every purchase.
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Nov 16, 2020 20:23
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