April 2nd, 2021, passing through the area we noticed the signage for the liquidation sale of the store. Fry's abruptly closed the entire chain on February 24, 2021. Timing was great here as the liquidation opened up the day before. Even better was that we got photos before the signs were covered up with tarp. The store was pretty much open for us to document. Only a small section of the store was blocked off.
Axiom Space took this building over in 2022. A lot of the fixtures were to remain in place, but no photos are available online to see how the building looks now.
So glad we got to see this store again. There was a huge difference now, you will see in a bit.
Unlike most store closing sales, there was no actual inventory left. It was just fixtures and random stuff from backrooms. What happened to the inventory?
A hint on what happened to the inventory is in this photo.
A look at one of the stock rooms.
Found the inventory, it was all pushed here to the back corner of the store. None of it was for sale. A lot of Fry's inventory was sold off in large boxes out of California with advertisements on Facebook Marketplace. The inventory situation was complicated in the final years of the company's existence, so it is anyone's guess where it all went. I would guess that inventory also went to closeout retailers and possibly back to the suppliers.
This is how little they actually had in the store for sale prior to the closure. Almost half of the store was closed off a few months before the store closed due to a lack of inventory. Even after that half of the store was closed off, there were many empty aisles mixed in with the aisles that had some products. With the exception of the perfume and Covid stuff no aisles were filled up with products like we had seen in the past.
Remember when Blu ray movies were a hot commodity? Fry's certainly did even in 2021.
More of the backrooms.
The shopping basket holder on the left is now sitting in my garage. $10 paid for a piece of history. I did get some shopping baskets as well for $5 each.
$1,800 Yeah that is a bit steep for a dusty old astronaut.
Some of the ancient P.O.S. computer systems still in place at the store.
The equipment testing room.
A lonesome P.O.S. computer in the back of the store.
In 2021, the design screen looked well behind the times.
The emptiness of the closed off areas of the store. The next 2 photos were taken in the area of the store that was closed off in late 2020.
Here is a part of the store that I never truly documented before, cafe 34. All Fry's electronics stores had a cafe that was numbered after the store.
Looking back out into the store from the cafe.
Another view from the other cafe entrance.
Now for more images from around the store.
The artwork at the front entrance of the store was so awesome.
A few display appliances were facing the closed off side of the store.
Now for more of the entryway of the store. Lots of random things for sale.
More from around the store. We spent a lot of time looking around. Only a couple of employees were left to finish up the store closing fixture sale.
April 3rd, 2021. Signs tarped up now.
Enjoy the extra round of photos. It was during this visit that we found out how much longer the sale was going to last. We were able to go in one last time after this visit.
More of the store was barricaded off to the public. Lots of noise was also being made as people were taking down fixtures.
April 23, 2021. Final visit to Fry's. The products in the back were now gone.
More of the store was barricaded off and a lot of fixtures were coming down.
The last of the photos as we head out. One of the employees got mad because we were taking videos/photos so this trip was cut short. There is more video footage from this visit that will eventually go up on Youtube.
A sad ending to the once-great electronics chain. We certainly miss Fry's for what it was, not what it became as the company struggled to stay afloat.
