<story><title>The Fry’s Era</title><url>https://mondaynote.com/the-frys-era-8709a7e602eb</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mc32</author><text>Fry’s have always had the stigma that they hired unknowledgeable floor staff.  If you knew what you were after you were fine.  On the non technical side, half the time the staff didn’t know where to find items and would take you on wild goose chases.&lt;p&gt;The stock was better than Microcrocenter or Central Computers (when they were relevant), and their sandwiches weren’t held bad.  But the floor staff and that stupid thing where they have people at the exits pretend to check receipts on the purchase side.  On the return side it was just awful.  Today in age their return policies are just bad.  On some items they have restocking fees.</text></item><item><author>teuobk</author><text>Microcenter is a great counterexample. The one here in Denver is always full of customers, and it&amp;#x27;s stuffed with all manner of computer parts, hobby electronics, and so on. It&amp;#x27;s how I too remember Fry&amp;#x27;s being back in the day.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t really understand how Microcenter does it, but they often have equal or better prices than Amazon, and in any case, they&amp;#x27;ll price-match. Also, there&amp;#x27;s no worry about whatever I buy turning out to be counterfeit.&lt;p&gt;The one slightly odd thing about the Microcenter experience is how all of the salespeople have little stickers to take credit for when they help a customer find something. Are they on commission? Is this Microcenter&amp;#x27;s way of identifying the most useful floor staff? They&amp;#x27;re never pushy about it, but it does stand out in stark contrast to pretty much every other retail shop I can think of.</text></item><item><author>InTheArena</author><text>I was in San Jose, and visited their store there (Which I believe is also their headquarters &amp;#x2F; central distribution point), and it was just sad. The CPU section &amp;#x2F; MB was completely bare. I hadn’t heard of what was going on, so I assumed that they were revamping the area or something.&lt;p&gt;That said, I am not sure we can put the blame only on Amazon. I was in Microcenter the day after, and it was stupid busy - took 30 minutes to check out and was packed to gills. They crammed all of the good stuff of Frys into a much smaller space - mostly focused around PC electronics.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>DrScump</author><text>&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  they hired unknowledgeable floor staff
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
In some areas, yes, like anywhere else. For a counterexample, the female manager(?) in Components in Sunnyvale has an almost encyclopedic knowledge of everything in the department.&lt;p&gt;The receipt-check theft-deterrence theater &lt;i&gt;is&lt;/i&gt; annoying. I never wait for it.&lt;p&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;code&gt;  Today in age their return policies are just bad.
&lt;/code&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;
Oh, I disagree. As long as you keep proof of purchase (which can be as minimal as saving the invoice number), return friction within 15 days is as low as Costco... and they usually make reasonable extensions beyond 15 days (&amp;quot;I missed the rebate period&amp;quot;).</text></comment>
<story><title>The Fry’s Era</title><url>https://mondaynote.com/the-frys-era-8709a7e602eb</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mc32</author><text>Fry’s have always had the stigma that they hired unknowledgeable floor staff.  If you knew what you were after you were fine.  On the non technical side, half the time the staff didn’t know where to find items and would take you on wild goose chases.&lt;p&gt;The stock was better than Microcrocenter or Central Computers (when they were relevant), and their sandwiches weren’t held bad.  But the floor staff and that stupid thing where they have people at the exits pretend to check receipts on the purchase side.  On the return side it was just awful.  Today in age their return policies are just bad.  On some items they have restocking fees.</text></item><item><author>teuobk</author><text>Microcenter is a great counterexample. The one here in Denver is always full of customers, and it&amp;#x27;s stuffed with all manner of computer parts, hobby electronics, and so on. It&amp;#x27;s how I too remember Fry&amp;#x27;s being back in the day.&lt;p&gt;I don&amp;#x27;t really understand how Microcenter does it, but they often have equal or better prices than Amazon, and in any case, they&amp;#x27;ll price-match. Also, there&amp;#x27;s no worry about whatever I buy turning out to be counterfeit.&lt;p&gt;The one slightly odd thing about the Microcenter experience is how all of the salespeople have little stickers to take credit for when they help a customer find something. Are they on commission? Is this Microcenter&amp;#x27;s way of identifying the most useful floor staff? They&amp;#x27;re never pushy about it, but it does stand out in stark contrast to pretty much every other retail shop I can think of.</text></item><item><author>InTheArena</author><text>I was in San Jose, and visited their store there (Which I believe is also their headquarters &amp;#x2F; central distribution point), and it was just sad. The CPU section &amp;#x2F; MB was completely bare. I hadn’t heard of what was going on, so I assumed that they were revamping the area or something.&lt;p&gt;That said, I am not sure we can put the blame only on Amazon. I was in Microcenter the day after, and it was stupid busy - took 30 minutes to check out and was packed to gills. They crammed all of the good stuff of Frys into a much smaller space - mostly focused around PC electronics.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>Stratoscope</author><text>If you ever do visit a Fry&amp;#x27;s again, the trick for that &amp;quot;let me check your receipt and mark it with a pink sharpie&amp;quot; person is to just smile and walk right by. They won&amp;#x27;t stop you or question you, because they have been trained that it would be unlawful to do so. They can &lt;i&gt;ask&lt;/i&gt; to see your receipt and check it, but they can&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;demand&lt;/i&gt; it.&lt;p&gt;More than once there has been a line of a half dozen people at the pink sharpie exit, and I&amp;#x27;ve just walked on by, much to the amazement of the people waiting in line.&lt;p&gt;Note: I&amp;#x27;m talking about Fry&amp;#x27;s, not Costco. I&amp;#x27;m told Costco is different because it&amp;#x27;s a membership club and you have to agree to their terms and conditions to shop there. (I&amp;#x27;m also told that even Costco can&amp;#x27;t &lt;i&gt;demand&lt;/i&gt; to see your receipt, but they can cancel your membership if you don&amp;#x27;t show it.)</text></comment>