Fry's Electronics
Encyclopedia
Fry's Electronics is a big-box store
and retailer of software, consumer electronics
, computer
hardware, with in store computer repair and custom computer building services and household appliances with a chain of superstores headquartered in Silicon Valley
. Starting with one store located in Sunnyvale, California
, by 2008 the chain posted sales of $2.4 billion and operated 34 stores in nine states.
In 1972, Charles Fry sold the Fry's Supermarkets chain for $40 million and gave a portion of the proceeds to each of his sons, John, Randy, and Dave. The Fry brothers had little interest in grocery store retailing. Instead, in 1985, they joined together with a fourth partner, Kathryn Kolder, to open the first Fry's Electronics store at a 20000 ft2 site in Sunnyvale, California
. Today, Fry's Food and Drug
stores are owned and operated by Kroger
and are not affiliated with Fry's Electronics, although they share a similar logo.
The original Sunnyvale
store (located near the intersection of Oakmead Parkway and Lakeside Drive) stocked numerous high-tech supplies such as integrated circuits, test and measurement equipment, and computer
components, as well as software and various other types of consumer electronics. The store also sold T-shirts, technical books, and magazines including Playboy. At first, approximately half the store was stocked with groceries including fresh produce, but the groceries section quickly diminished to displays of soft drink
s and snack food
s. The store billed itself as "The One-Stop Shop for the Silicon Valley Professional," as one could buy both electronics and groceries at the same time.
The second store was in Fremont, California
, on Mission Court, and pioneered the "theme" stores. It had a space theme and had many artifacts from the original Battlestar Galactica
TV series. This was the first store that had people from Industrial Light and Magic
help design the store environments.
As the business expanded, the original Sunnyvale store was closed, and a newer, larger store was opened across Lawrence Expressway on Kern Avenue. The second Sunnyvale store was designed to look like the interior of a giant computer; the walls were adorned with simulated circuit components, and the floor resembled a giant printed circuit board. The exterior was painted to mimic a huge DIP
integrated circuit, and the door handles imitated the ENTER and ESC keys on a Computer keyboard
. As of 2007, this store is now a Sports Basement store (which still bears some of the door handle keys); Fry's moved again to its current Sunnyvale location on the corner of Arques and Santa Trinita Ave. Each of the Sunnyvale store locations has been located within one mile of the others.
Because Fry's stores are enormous, often stocking dozens of variations of a single product, they are popular with electronics and computer hobbyists. As of 2005, Best Buy
is the main competitor to Fry's. While Best Buy sells fully built computers, Fry's also sells computers and components so that consumers can build their own.
As of May 2007, Fry's Electronics operates 34 brick-and-mortar stores in nine U.S. states: California (17 stores - Most Recent: Roseville, California
); Texas (8); Arizona (2); Georgia (2); Illinois (1); Indiana (1); Nevada (1); Oregon (1); and Washington (1). In 2010, all Fry's Stores dressed for the 25th anniversary of the Store with 25's at the registers and 25th Anniversary sign at the entrance.
movies, and features huge statues of popular characters such as the robot Gort
from The Day the Earth Stood Still and Darth Vader
from the Star Wars
movie series. In addition, giant ants (from the movie Them!) hang from the ceiling, and the bodies of 1957 Chevys and Buick
s serve as dining tables in the cafe
. A flying saucer
protrudes above the entrance. With construction, land purchase and theming, the Burbank store cost $15 million to open.
Some other themes include,
California stores:
Arizona stores:
Indiana stores:
Nevada stores:
Texas Stores:
Since Fry's acquired the Incredible Universe
chain of stores, the company has reduced the elaborateness of its theming. With the opening of the Fishers, Indiana
store, Fry's made a "race track" theme with various hanging displays, including "stop" and "go" signs. Also there are many early life photos of what life looked like in late 1800s and early 1900s in Indianapolis, Indiana
reported on a series of issues about Fry's customer service and somewhat unorthodox business practices. Among the allegations was that the company had an internal policy, identified as "the double H" or "hoops and hurdles", to delay or prevent customers from obtaining refunds.
In 1998, USA Today reported that many customers had become frustrated with poor customer service at Fry's stores.
Fry's advertising methods have also gone under heavy fire. In 2003, actors Denzel Washington
, Bruce Willis
and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
sued Fry's for $10 million each for posting their images on television sets on their print ads and flyers without permission.
On Black Friday
2007, customers at the Renton, Washington
location complained that Fry's employees were offering to let people cut in front of a long line for a fee. After complaints in the media, Fry's management offered anyone who paid the fee their money back.
In 2008, Fry's vice president of merchandising and operations, Ausuf Umar Siddiqui, was charged by federal prosecutors in an illegal kick back scheme involving Fry's vendors. The alleged scheme was designed to defraud the company in order to cover Siddiqui's gambling expenses.
brands, Fry's also sold two in-house PC designs. Their flagship Fry's PCs competed with similarly featured Microsoft Windows
PC offerings from Hewlett-Packard
, Sony
, and Compaq
. In addition, Fry's offered a lower-end model, branded as Great Quality (or "GQ") PCs. The house branded computer lines are no longer made or offered. They also market accessories like cables and CD-R
discs under the GQ brand name. ECS
brand motherboards are frequently bundled with processors to make them virtually free.
Emprex brand products are manufactured by Behavior Tech Computer (BTC) of Taiwan for Fry's Electronics. Products marketed under the brand include high-definition televisions; small electronic parts; flash drives; and computer peripherals, such as monitors.
in November 2001 and started online sales with a different URL
(Outpost.com), which confused customers who didn't associate the online name with the brick-and-mortar store. In October 2006, a grand re-opening of Frys.com introduced the online store with the same name as the retail outlets. The outpost.com URL now redirects to the frys.com online store.
frys.com was owned in 1997 by David Peter, aka David Peter Burlini, who manufactured and sold French fry vending machine
s under the business name Frenchy Frys and who was also involved in another dispute over the domain newricochet.com with Ricochet Networks. David Burlini attended Santa Clara University around the same time that the Fry Brothers were attending. Fry's Electronics brought suit against him that year, alleging trademark infringement, and ultimately prevailed in a default judgment.
Since then, Fry's Electronics has aggressively tried to defend its trademark and domain names. In 2001, it successfully prosecuted a man who was posting its own print ads on the Web using the domain frysad.com. In 2007, Fry's Electronics lost a domain dispute against Prophet Partners Inc., an online advertising company with thousands of generic and descriptive domain names. The arbitrator dismissed the complaint, which requested transfer of the Frys.us domain, ruling that Fry's Electronics did not have any more right to use the "Fry's" mark than other entities with a similar surname or commercial use of the word.
Big-box store
A big-box store is a physically large retail establishment, usually part of a chain. The term sometimes also refers, by extension, to the company that operates the store...
and retailer of software, consumer electronics
Consumer electronics
Consumer electronics are electronic equipment intended for everyday use, most often in entertainment, communications and office productivity. Radio broadcasting in the early 20th century brought the first major consumer product, the broadcast receiver...
, computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
hardware, with in store computer repair and custom computer building services and household appliances with a chain of superstores headquartered in Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
. Starting with one store located in Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
, by 2008 the chain posted sales of $2.4 billion and operated 34 stores in nine states.
History
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
. Today, Fry's Food and Drug
Fry's Food and Drug
Fry's Food & Drug Stores, Inc., is a chain of supermarkets that has a major presence in the state of Arizona. Fry's also operates under the banner of Fry's Marketplace, a chain of multi-department stores. Fry's is a division of The Kroger Company....
stores are owned and operated by Kroger
Kroger
The Kroger Co. is an American supermarket chain founded by Bernard Kroger in 1883 in Cincinnati, Ohio. It reported US$ 76.7 billion in sales during fiscal year 2009. It is the country's largest grocery store chain and its second-largest grocery retailer by volume and second-place general retailer...
and are not affiliated with Fry's Electronics, although they share a similar logo.
The original Sunnyvale
Sunnyvale, California
Sunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
store (located near the intersection of Oakmead Parkway and Lakeside Drive) stocked numerous high-tech supplies such as integrated circuits, test and measurement equipment, and computer
Computer
A computer is a programmable machine designed to sequentially and automatically carry out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations. The particular sequence of operations can be changed readily, allowing the computer to solve more than one kind of problem...
components, as well as software and various other types of consumer electronics. The store also sold T-shirts, technical books, and magazines including Playboy. At first, approximately half the store was stocked with groceries including fresh produce, but the groceries section quickly diminished to displays of soft drink
Soft drink
A soft drink is a non-alcoholic beverage that typically contains water , a sweetener, and a flavoring agent...
s and snack food
Snack food
A snack is a portion of food oftentimes smaller than that of a regular meal, that is generally eaten between meals. Snacks come in a variety of forms including packaged and processed foods and items made from fresh ingredients at home....
s. The store billed itself as "The One-Stop Shop for the Silicon Valley Professional," as one could buy both electronics and groceries at the same time.
The second store was in Fremont, California
Fremont, California
Fremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...
, on Mission Court, and pioneered the "theme" stores. It had a space theme and had many artifacts from the original Battlestar Galactica
Battlestar Galactica (1978 TV series)
Battlestar Galactica is an American science fiction television series, created by Glen A. Larson. It starred Lorne Greene, Richard Hatch and Dirk Benedict and ran for one season in 1978–79. After cancellation, its story was continued in 1980 as Galactica 1980 with Adama, Lieutenant Boomer and...
TV series. This was the first store that had people from Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light and Magic
Industrial Light & Magic is an Academy Award-winning motion picture visual effects company that was founded in May 1975 by George Lucas and is owned by Lucasfilm. Lucas created the company when he discovered that the special effects department at 20th Century Fox was shut down after he was given...
help design the store environments.
As the business expanded, the original Sunnyvale store was closed, and a newer, larger store was opened across Lawrence Expressway on Kern Avenue. The second Sunnyvale store was designed to look like the interior of a giant computer; the walls were adorned with simulated circuit components, and the floor resembled a giant printed circuit board. The exterior was painted to mimic a huge DIP
Dual in-line package
In microelectronics, a dual in-line package is an electronic device package with a rectangular housing and two parallel rows of electrical connecting pins. The package may be through-hole mounted to a printed circuit board or inserted in a socket.A DIP is usually referred to as a DIPn, where n is...
integrated circuit, and the door handles imitated the ENTER and ESC keys on a Computer keyboard
Computer keyboard
In computing, a keyboard is a typewriter-style keyboard, which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys, to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches...
. As of 2007, this store is now a Sports Basement store (which still bears some of the door handle keys); Fry's moved again to its current Sunnyvale location on the corner of Arques and Santa Trinita Ave. Each of the Sunnyvale store locations has been located within one mile of the others.
Because Fry's stores are enormous, often stocking dozens of variations of a single product, they are popular with electronics and computer hobbyists. As of 2005, Best Buy
Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19% of the market. It also operates in Mexico, Canada & China. The company's subsidiaries include Geek Squad, CinemaNow, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates...
is the main competitor to Fry's. While Best Buy sells fully built computers, Fry's also sells computers and components so that consumers can build their own.
As of May 2007, Fry's Electronics operates 34 brick-and-mortar stores in nine U.S. states: California (17 stores - Most Recent: Roseville, California
Roseville, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Roseville had a population of 118,788. The population density was 3,279.4 people per square mile...
); Texas (8); Arizona (2); Georgia (2); Illinois (1); Indiana (1); Nevada (1); Oregon (1); and Washington (1). In 2010, all Fry's Stores dressed for the 25th anniversary of the Store with 25's at the registers and 25th Anniversary sign at the entrance.
Store Themes
Following the lead of the Fremont store, new Fry's locations continued the use of elaborate themes and various designed props until well into the late 1990s. For example, the Burbank store which opened in 1995 is themed upon 1950s and 1970s science fictionScience fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
movies, and features huge statues of popular characters such as the robot Gort
Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)
Gort is a fictional humanoid robot in the 1951 film The Day the Earth Stood Still and its 2008 remake.In the original short story "Farewell to the Master", on which the two films are based, the character was called Gnut.- 1951 depiction :...
from The Day the Earth Stood Still and Darth Vader
Darth Vader
Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy....
from the Star Wars
Star Wars
Star Wars is an American epic space opera film series created by George Lucas. The first film in the series was originally released on May 25, 1977, under the title Star Wars, by 20th Century Fox, and became a worldwide pop culture phenomenon, followed by two sequels, released at three-year...
movie series. In addition, giant ants (from the movie Them!) hang from the ceiling, and the bodies of 1957 Chevys and Buick
Buick
Buick is a premium brand of General Motors . Buick models are sold in the United States, Canada, Mexico, China, Taiwan, and Israel, with China being its largest market. Buick holds the distinction as the oldest active American make...
s serve as dining tables in the cafe
Café
A café , also spelled cafe, in most countries refers to an establishment which focuses on serving coffee, like an American coffeehouse. In the United States, it may refer to an informal restaurant, offering a range of hot meals and made-to-order sandwiches...
. A flying saucer
Flying saucer
A flying saucer is a type of unidentified flying object sometimes believed to be of alien origin with a disc or saucer-shaped body, usually described as silver or metallic, occasionally reported as covered with running lights or surrounded with a glowing light, hovering or moving rapidly either...
protrudes above the entrance. With construction, land purchase and theming, the Burbank store cost $15 million to open.
Some other themes include,
California stores:
- 1950s Sci-Fi (BurbankBurbank, CaliforniaBurbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
) - TahitiTahitiTahiti is the largest island in the Windward group of French Polynesia, located in the archipelago of the Society Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean. It is the economic, cultural and political centre of French Polynesia. The island was formed from volcanic activity and is high and mountainous...
(Manhattan BeachManhattan Beach, CaliforniaManhattan Beach is the wealthiest beachfront city located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, USA. The city is on the Pacific coast, south of El Segundo, and north of Hermosa Beach. Manhattan Beach is the home of both beach and indoor volleyball, and surfing. During the winter, the...
) - Ancient RomeAncient RomeAncient Rome was a thriving civilization that grew on the Italian Peninsula as early as the 8th century BC. Located along the Mediterranean Sea and centered on the city of Rome, it expanded to one of the largest empires in the ancient world....
(Fountain ValleyFountain Valley, CaliforniaFountain Valley is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 55,313 at the 2010 census. A classic bedroom community, Fountain Valley is a middle-class residential area.- History :...
) - Wild West (Palo AltoPalo Alto, CaliforniaPalo Alto is a California charter city located in the northwest corner of Santa Clara County, in the San Francisco Bay Area of California, United States. The city shares its borders with East Palo Alto, Mountain View, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Stanford, Portola Valley, and Menlo Park. It is...
) - Mayan temple at Chichen ItzaChichen ItzaChichen Itza is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site built by the Maya civilization located in the northern center of the Yucatán Peninsula, in the Municipality of Tinúm, Yucatán state, present-day Mexico....
(San JoseSan Jose, CaliforniaSan Jose is the third-largest city in California, the tenth-largest in the U.S., and the county seat of Santa Clara County which is located at the southern end of San Francisco Bay...
), - Spirit of Oxnard (OxnardOxnard, CaliforniaOxnard is the 113th largest city in the United States, 19th largest city in California and largest city in Ventura County, California, by way of population. It is located at the western edge of the fertile Oxnard Plain, and is an important agricultural center, with its distinction as the...
) - Alice in Wonderland (Woodland HillsWoodland Hills, Los Angeles, CaliforniaWoodland Hills is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California.Woodland Hills is located in the southwestern area of the San Fernando Valley, east of Calabasas and west of Tarzana, with Warner Center in its northern section...
) - History of Silicon ValleySilicon ValleySilicon Valley is a term which refers to the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area in Northern California in the United States. The region is home to many of the world's largest technology corporations...
(SunnyvaleSunnyvale, CaliforniaSunnyvale is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. It is one of the major cities that make up the Silicon Valley located in the San Francisco Bay Area...
) - Ancient EgyptAncient EgyptAncient Egypt was an ancient civilization of Northeastern Africa, concentrated along the lower reaches of the Nile River in what is now the modern country of Egypt. Egyptian civilization coalesced around 3150 BC with the political unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the first pharaoh...
(CampbellCampbell, CaliforniaCampbell is a city in Santa Clara County, California, a suburb of San Jose, and part of Silicon Valley, in the San Francisco Bay Area. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Campbell's population is 39,349...
) - 1893 Chicago World's FairWorld's Columbian ExpositionThe World's Columbian Exposition was a World's Fair held in Chicago in 1893 to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. Chicago bested New York City; Washington, D.C.; and St...
(FremontFremont, CaliforniaFremont is a city in Alameda County, California. It was incorporated on January 23, 1956, from the merger of five smaller communities: Centerville, Niles, Irvington, Mission San Jose, and Warm Springs...
) - Industrial RevolutionIndustrial RevolutionThe Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions of the times...
(City of Industry) - California Gold RushCalifornia Gold RushThe California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The first to hear confirmed information of the gold rush were the people in Oregon, the Sandwich Islands , and Latin America, who were the first to start flocking to...
(SacramentoSacramento, CaliforniaSacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
) - NASA Space Center (AnaheimAnaheim, CaliforniaAnaheim is a city in Orange County, California. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city population was about 365,463, making it the most populated city in Orange County, the 10th most-populated city in California, and ranked 54th in the United States...
) - 19th-Century California Railroads (RosevilleRoseville, California-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Roseville had a population of 118,788. The population density was 3,279.4 people per square mile...
) - AtlantisAtlantisAtlantis is a legendary island first mentioned in Plato's dialogues Timaeus and Critias, written about 360 BC....
(San MarcosSan Marcos, CaliforniaSan Marcos is a suburb of San Diego in the North County section of San Diego County, California. As of the 2010 census, the city had a total population of 83,781. Outside the San Diego region, it is best known as the home of California State University, San Marcos...
)
Arizona stores:
- AztecAztecThe Aztec people were certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl language and who dominated large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the late post-classic period in Mesoamerican chronology.Aztec is the...
temple (PhoenixPhoenix, ArizonaPhoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
) - GolfGolfGolf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
theme (TempeTempe, ArizonaTempe is a city in Maricopa County, Arizona, USA, with the Census Bureau reporting a 2010 population of 161,719. The city is named after the Vale of Tempe in Greece. Tempe is located in the East Valley section of metropolitan Phoenix; it is bordered by Phoenix and Guadalupe on the west, Scottsdale...
)
Indiana stores:
- History of Indianapolis Motor SpeedwayIndianapolis Motor SpeedwayThe Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the Brickyard 400....
(FishersFishers, IndianaFishers is a town located in Fall Creek and Delaware townships, Hamilton County, Indiana, with a population of 76,794, according to the 2010 census. A suburb of Indianapolis, Fishers has grown rapidly in recent decades: about 350 people lived there in 1963, 2,000 in 1980, and only 7,200 as recently...
)
Nevada stores:
- History of the StripLas Vegas StripThe Las Vegas Strip is an approximately stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard in Clark County, Nevada; adjacent to, but outside the city limits of Las Vegas proper. The Strip lies within the unincorporated townships of Paradise and Winchester...
(Las VegasLas Vegas metropolitan areaThe Las Vegas Valley is the heart of the Las Vegas-Paradise, NV MSA also known as the Las Vegas–Paradise–Henderson MSA which includes all of Clark County, Nevada, and is a metropolitan area in the southern part of the U.S. state of Nevada. The Valley is defined by the Las Vegas Valley landform, a ...
)
Texas Stores:
- Music Industry (AustinAustin, TexasAustin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
) - Warehouse (ArlingtonArlington, TexasArlington is a city in Tarrant County, Texas within the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. According to the 2010 census results, the city had a population of 365,438, making it the third largest municipality in the Metroplex...
) - History of Irving (IrvingIrving, TexasIrving is a city located in the U.S. state of Texas within Dallas County. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city population was 216,290. Irving is within the Dallas–Plano–Irving metropolitan division of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan area, designated...
) - Lazy-K Ranch (Dallas)
- Oil Industry (Houston)
- Space Exploration, including a replica of the International Space StationInternational Space StationThe International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
(WebsterWebster, TexasWebster is a city in the U.S. state of Texas within the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown metropolitan area. The population was 9,083 at the 2000 census.-History:...
). - History of Plano (PlanoPlano, TexasPlano is a city in the state of Texas, located mostly within Collin County. The city's population was 259,841 at the 2010 census, making it the ninth-largest city in Texas and the 71st most populous city in the United States. Plano is located within the metropolitan area commonly referred to as...
)
Since Fry's acquired the Incredible Universe
Incredible Universe
Incredible Universe was the name of a chain of American consumer electronics stores in the early to mid-1990s. A typical Incredible Universe was of sales floor and warehouse, stocking around 85,000 items....
chain of stores, the company has reduced the elaborateness of its theming. With the opening of the Fishers, Indiana
Fishers, Indiana
Fishers is a town located in Fall Creek and Delaware townships, Hamilton County, Indiana, with a population of 76,794, according to the 2010 census. A suburb of Indianapolis, Fishers has grown rapidly in recent decades: about 350 people lived there in 1963, 2,000 in 1980, and only 7,200 as recently...
store, Fry's made a "race track" theme with various hanging displays, including "stop" and "go" signs. Also there are many early life photos of what life looked like in late 1800s and early 1900s in Indianapolis, Indiana
Criticism
In 1997, ForbesForbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
reported on a series of issues about Fry's customer service and somewhat unorthodox business practices. Among the allegations was that the company had an internal policy, identified as "the double H" or "hoops and hurdles", to delay or prevent customers from obtaining refunds.
In 1998, USA Today reported that many customers had become frustrated with poor customer service at Fry's stores.
Fry's advertising methods have also gone under heavy fire. In 2003, actors Denzel Washington
Denzel Washington
Denzel Hayes Washington Jr. is an American actor, screenwriter, director, and film producer. He first rose to prominence when he joined the cast of the medical drama, St. Elsewhere, playing Dr...
, Bruce Willis
Bruce Willis
Walter Bruce Willis , better known as Bruce Willis, is an American actor, producer, and musician. His career began in television in the 1980s and has continued both in television and film since, including comedic, dramatic, and action roles...
and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
sued Fry's for $10 million each for posting their images on television sets on their print ads and flyers without permission.
On Black Friday
Black Friday (shopping)
Black Friday is the day following Thanksgiving Day in the United States, traditionally the beginning of the Christmas shopping season. On this day, most major retailers open extremely early, often at 4 a.m., or earlier, and offer promotional sales to kick off the shopping season, similar to Boxing...
2007, customers at the Renton, Washington
Renton, Washington
Renton is an Eastside edge city in King County, Washington, United States. Situated 11 miles southeast of Seattle, Washington, Renton straddles the southeast shore of Lake Washington. Founded in the 1860s, Renton became a supply town for the Newcastle coal fields...
location complained that Fry's employees were offering to let people cut in front of a long line for a fee. After complaints in the media, Fry's management offered anyone who paid the fee their money back.
In 2008, Fry's vice president of merchandising and operations, Ausuf Umar Siddiqui, was charged by federal prosecutors in an illegal kick back scheme involving Fry's vendors. The alleged scheme was designed to defraud the company in order to cover Siddiqui's gambling expenses.
House brands
In addition to selling many major PCPersonal computer
A personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end-user with no intervening computer operator...
brands, Fry's also sold two in-house PC designs. Their flagship Fry's PCs competed with similarly featured Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
PC offerings from Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard
Hewlett-Packard Company or HP is an American multinational information technology corporation headquartered in Palo Alto, California, USA that provides products, technologies, softwares, solutions and services to consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and large enterprises, including...
, Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, and Compaq
Compaq
Compaq Computer Corporation is a personal computer company founded in 1982. Once the largest supplier of personal computing systems in the world, Compaq existed as an independent corporation until 2002, when it was acquired for US$25 billion by Hewlett-Packard....
. In addition, Fry's offered a lower-end model, branded as Great Quality (or "GQ") PCs. The house branded computer lines are no longer made or offered. They also market accessories like cables and CD-R
CD-R
A CD-R is a variation of the Compact Disc invented by Philips and Sony. CD-R is a Write Once Read Many optical medium, though the whole disk does not have to be entirely written in the same session....
discs under the GQ brand name. ECS
Elitegroup Computer Systems
Elitegroup Computer Systems Co., Ltd , is a Taiwan-based electronics firm. It is the fifth largest PC motherboard manufacturer in the world , with production reaching 24 million units in 2002...
brand motherboards are frequently bundled with processors to make them virtually free.
Emprex brand products are manufactured by Behavior Tech Computer (BTC) of Taiwan for Fry's Electronics. Products marketed under the brand include high-definition televisions; small electronic parts; flash drives; and computer peripherals, such as monitors.
Online sales operation
Fry's Electronics was late in establishing an online sales presence. They began offering low-cost Internet access in 2000 through their original Web address "Frys.com". The company later bought e-commerce website Cyberian OutpostCyberian Outpost
Cyberian Outpost was an online vendor of discount computer hardware and software, and was one of the first successful online retailers. CybOut was founded in 1994 by Darryl Peck and announced its IPO in 1998 . After its stock reached a high of $60 in 2000, Cyberian Outpost fell victim to the...
in November 2001 and started online sales with a different URL
Uniform Resource Locator
In computing, a uniform resource locator or universal resource locator is a specific character string that constitutes a reference to an Internet resource....
(Outpost.com), which confused customers who didn't associate the online name with the brick-and-mortar store. In October 2006, a grand re-opening of Frys.com introduced the online store with the same name as the retail outlets. The outpost.com URL now redirects to the frys.com online store.
Domain name acquisitions
The domain nameDomain name
A domain name is an identification string that defines a realm of administrative autonomy, authority, or control in the Internet. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of the Domain Name System ....
frys.com was owned in 1997 by David Peter, aka David Peter Burlini, who manufactured and sold French fry vending machine
Vending machine
A vending machine is a machine which dispenses items such as snacks, beverages, alcohol, cigarettes, lottery tickets, consumer products and even gold and gems to customers automatically, after the customer inserts currency or credit into the machine....
s under the business name Frenchy Frys and who was also involved in another dispute over the domain newricochet.com with Ricochet Networks. David Burlini attended Santa Clara University around the same time that the Fry Brothers were attending. Fry's Electronics brought suit against him that year, alleging trademark infringement, and ultimately prevailed in a default judgment.
Since then, Fry's Electronics has aggressively tried to defend its trademark and domain names. In 2001, it successfully prosecuted a man who was posting its own print ads on the Web using the domain frysad.com. In 2007, Fry's Electronics lost a domain dispute against Prophet Partners Inc., an online advertising company with thousands of generic and descriptive domain names. The arbitrator dismissed the complaint, which requested transfer of the Frys.us domain, ruling that Fry's Electronics did not have any more right to use the "Fry's" mark than other entities with a similar surname or commercial use of the word.