Fry's Electronics
912959
225765191
2008-07-15T08:33:12Z
71.158.165.226
/* Online sales operation */
{{Infobox Company
| company_name = Fry's Electronics, Inc.
| company_logo =
[[Image:Frys-electronics-logo-0001.gif|center|Fry's Electronics logo]]
| vector_logo =
| company_type = Private
| genre =
| foundation = 1985 <!-- this parameter modifies "Founded" -->
| founder =
| location_city = [[San Jose, California]]
| location_country = [[United States]]
| location = <!-- this parameter modifies "Headquarters" -->
| origins =
| key_people = [[John Fry (shopkeeper)|John Fry (CEO)]], Randy Fry (President), Dave Fry (CIO) Kathryn J. Kolder (Executive Vice President), Omar Siddiqui (Vice President of Merchandising Operations and Advertising).
| area_served =
| industry =
| products =
| revenue = $2.4B
| operating_income =
| net_income =
| num_employees = 300 employees per store
| parent =
| divisions =
| subsid =
| owner =
| company_slogan = Home of Fast, Friendly, Courteous Service Your Best Buys are always at Fry's!
| homepage = [http://www.frys.com http://www.frys.com]
| dissolved =
| footnotes =
}}
'''Fry's Electronics''' is a specialty [[retailer]] of [[software]], [[consumer electronics]], [[computer]] hardware and household appliances with a chain of [[superstore]]s headquartered in [[Silicon Valley]]. Starting with one store located in [[Sunnyvale, California]], [[United States|USA]], the chain now boasts sales of $2.4B<ref>[http://www.hoovers.com/fry's-electronics/--ID__40949--/free-co-factsheet.xhtml Hoover's entry for Fry's Electronics] </ref> with over 30 stores located in several [[American West|Western states]], two near [[Atlanta, Georgia]], multiple locations in [[Texas]], and one each in [[Illinois]] and [[Indiana]].
==History==
[[Image:Fryselectronicspaloalto.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Fry's Electronics oldest operating store, in [[Palo Alto, California]]]]
[[Image:Fryselectronicssunnyvale.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The flagship store, in [[Sunnyvale, California]]]]
[[Image:100 1729.JPG|right|thumb|250px|Fry's Electronics store in [[Downers Grove, Illinois]]]]
In 1972, Charles Fry sold the [[Fry's Supermarkets]] chain for [[United States dollar|USD]] $40 million and gave a cut of the money to each of his sons, [[John Fry (shopkeeper)|John]], Randy, and Dave.<ref>Pat Lopes Harris, "Fry's mystique: timing, focus, frugality—and lots of advertising," ''San Jose Business Journal'' 17, no. 39 (14 January 2000): 52.</ref> 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 20,000 square foot (2,000 m²) site in [[Sunnyvale, California]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://kepler.ss.ca.gov/corpdata/ShowAllList?QueryCorpNumber=C1270788|title=California Secretary of State - Corporation Search Results|accessdate=2007-01-02|publisher=California Secretary of State|work=C1270788}}</ref> Today, [[Fry's Food and Drug]] stores (which still share a similar logo) are not affiliated with Fry's Electronics, but are owned and operated by [[Kroger]].<ref>[http://www.thekrogerco.com/ Kroger's website] showing its ownership of the Fry's "brand"</ref>
The original Sunnyvale store (located near the intersection of Oakmead Parkway & 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 technical books, [[T-shirts]], and featured displays of [[soft drink|soda]], [[snack food]]s, and copies of [[Playboy Magazine]].
The second store to open was in Fremont, on Mission Court. This was the store that pioneered the "theme" stores. It had a space theme and had many artifacts from the original Battle Star 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 innards of a giant computer, the walls were adorned with simulated circuit components, and the floor resembled a giant printed [[circuit board]]. The outside of the building was painted to look like a huge [[Dual in-line package|DIP]] integrated circuit, and the external door handles were designed like 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 to the current Sunnyvale location (shown in the images) previously.
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]], the nationwide consumer electronics retailer, is the main competitor to Fry's. However, Fry's stores have more retail floor space and have a wider selection. In addition, Best Buy sells fully built computers, while Fry's sells computers and the parts consumers need to build their own from scratch.
As of May 2007, Fry's Electronics operates 34 brick-and-mortar stores in nine U.S. states: California (17 stores); Texas (8); Arizona (2); Georgia (2); Illinois (1); Indiana (1); Nevada (1); Oregon (1); and Washington (1).
===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 primarily after 1950s and 1970s [[science fiction]] movies and features huge statues of popular characters such as the robot [[Gort (The Day the Earth Stood Still)|Gort]] from ''[[The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951 film)|The Day the Earth Stood Still]]'' and [[Darth Vader]] from the ''[[Star Wars]]'' movie series. In addition, 100-foot-long giant ants (from the movie ''[[Them!]]'') hang from the ceiling, and 1957 [[Chevy]]s and [[Buick]]s were gutted for use as dining tables in the [[cafe]]. A [[flying saucer]] protrudes from the front of the store. After all construction and expenses, including land purchase and theming, the Burbank store cost $15 million to open. {{Fact|date=February 2007}}
Some additional themes include, California stores: Tahiti (Manhattan Beach), Roman (Fountain Valley), Wild West (Palo Alto), Mayan Temple (San Jose), Alice in Wonderland (Woodland Hills), Astrophysics (loosely themed) (Sunnyvale), Egyptian (Campbell), [[World's Columbian Exposition|1893 Chicago World's Fair]] (Fremont), Industrial Revolution (City of Industry), Movies (Sacramento), NASA Space Center (Anaheim), 19th-Century California Railroads (Roseville), and Atlantis (San Marcos). Arizona stores: Aztec (Phoenix). Nevada stores: History of the Strip (Las Vegas). Texas Stores: Music Industry (Austin), Lazy-K Ranch (Dallas), Oil Industry (Houston) and Space Exploration (Webster). In recent years, since Fry's acquired the [[Incredible Universe]] chain of stores, the company has reduced the elaborateness of its theming.
== Criticism ==
Fry's Electronics has seen criticism through the years. In 1997, [[Forbes]] reported on a series of issues relating to Fry's customer service issues and somewhat unorthodox business practices. Among the findings, an internal policy identified as "the double H" or "hoops and hurdles" it was alleged to have been designed and employed in part to excessively delay or prevent customers from obtaining refunds.<ref>[http://www.forbes.com/forbes/1997/1103/6010086a_2.html The customer is always right? Not at Fry's - Forbes.com<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>
In 1998, Fry's received attention when it was published that a number of customers had been reporting frustrating customer service experiences at Fry's stores.<ref>Julie Schmit, "Techies flock to Fry's despite its flaws," ''[[USA Today]]'', 11 February 1998, 1B.</ref>
Fry's pays its employees' benefits using a VEBA (Voluntary Employee Beneficiary Association), and maintains a policy that all employees forfeit any accrued vacation pay upon leaving the company, even when employees work in states like California which mandate that vacation benefits accrue and are to be treated as wages. <ref>Fry's Company Handbook, page 11</ref>
== House brands ==
In addition to selling many major brands of [[Personal computer|PC]]s, Fry's also sells two models of in-house PC designs. Their flagship Fry's PCs compete with similarly featured [[Microsoft]] [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] PC offerings from [[Hewlett-Packard]], [[Sony]], and [[Compaq]]. In addition, they offer a lower-end model branded as Great Quality (or "GQ") PCs. GQ PCs tend to be Fry's most inexpensive PC offerings, often priced in the sub-$200 range during daily and weekly sales. GQ PCs are often bundled with the [[Linspire]] [[Linux]] based [[operating system|OS]] as well as Windows, one of the few Linux offerings available in a [[retailing|retail]] PC configuration. Some of their Linux PCs feature [[AMD Geode]] processors, a processor normally sold in computers for developing countries. They also market accessories like cables and [[CD-R]] discs under the GQ brand name. Also notable are the [[Elitegroup Computer Systems|ECS]] brand motherboards that are frequently bundled with processors to make them virtually free. The GQ brand of computers has not been sold at most of the stores now for over a year.
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, 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).<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20001018065527/http://www.frys.com/ archive.org] lookup '''frys.com''' entry for October 18, 2000.</ref> The company later bought e-commerce website [[Cyberian Outpost]] on November 2001<ref>http://www.scripophily.net/cyboutinwebs.html</ref> and started online sales with a different [[Uniform Resource Locator|URL]] (Outpost.com),<ref>[http://web.archive.org/web/20020914074223/http://www.outpost.com/ archive.org] lookup '''outpost.com''' entry for September 14, 2002.</ref> which confused customers who didn't associate the online name with the brick-and-mortar store.<ref>[http://www.extremetech.com/article2/0,1697,2042816,00.asp Fry's Electronics (Finally) Launches Online Store]</ref> In October 2006, a grand re-opening of Frys.com introduced the online store with the same name as the retail outlets.<ref>[http://news.com.com/2100-1017-237110.html Fry's may launch ISP as part of new Net strategy]</ref><ref>[http://fergdawg.blogspot.com/2006_10_15_archive.html Fergie's tech blog 10/21/06]</ref>
As of July 2008, browsing to Outpost.com redirects to the Frys.com online store.
===Acquisition of domain name===
The [[DNS domain]] ''frys.com'' was owned in 1997 by David Peter, who manufactured and sold french-fry vending machines under the business name ''Frenchy Frys''. Fry's Electronics brought suit against him that year, alleging trademark infringement,<ref>[http://www.igoldrush.com/threads1-2.htm The fight over "frys.com"]</ref> and ultimately prevailed in a default judgement.<ref>[http://www.fenwick.com/docstore/Publications/IP/Securing_and_Protecting.pdf Securing and Protecting a Domain Name for your Web Site]</ref><ref>[http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/08.19.99/cover/domains2-9933.html Invasion of the Domain Snatchers]</ref>
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''.<ref>[http://news.com.com/Frys+accuses+site+owner+of+cybersquatting/2100-1017_3-253096.html Fry's accuses site owner of cybersquatting]</ref> 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.<ref>[http://www.nic.us/policies/docs/aaa/Award_49_413_1_06.pdf Report of Arbitration Between Fry's Electronics and Prophet Partners]</ref>
==References==
<references/>
==Further reading==
* "[http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/6.07/negroponte.html The Future of Retail]," [[Wired Magazine|''Wired'']] 6.07, July 1999, page 146. Photo essay showing customers and their purchases; reference to customer service.
* "The Hacker & The Ants," [[Rudy Rucker]] contains a passage describing vintage pre-expansion era Fry's and is the first mention of it in published fiction.
==External links==
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*[http://www.frys.com/ Fry's Electronics official website]
*[http://www.frys.com/isp/history.html Fry's Electronics History]
[[Category:Companies established in 1985]]
[[Category:Retail companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Consumer electronics retailers]]
[[Category:Privately held companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Companies based in San Jose, California]]