Fry's Electronics: Difference between revisions
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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.<ref>{{cite news | author=Bernard Choi | title=Fry's Shoppers Offered Chance to Cut in Line - For a Price | url=http://www.king5.com/business/stories/NW_112307BUB_frys_electronics_KS.300a9b66.html | work=KING 5 News | date=23 November 2007 | accessdate=2009-03-17}}</ref> |
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.<ref>{{cite news | author=Bernard Choi | title=Fry's Shoppers Offered Chance to Cut in Line - For a Price | url=http://www.king5.com/business/stories/NW_112307BUB_frys_electronics_KS.300a9b66.html | work=KING 5 News | date=23 November 2007 | accessdate=2009-03-17}}</ref> |
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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.<ref>{{cite news | author= |
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.<ref>{{cite news | author=Jordan Robertson | title=Feds indict former Fry's exec accused of embezzling | url=http://www.dailybreeze.com/ci_11409077 | work=The Daily Breeze | date=8 January 2009 | accessdate=2009-11-07}}</ref> |
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== House brands == |
== House brands == |
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Revision as of 18:39, 7 November 2009
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Consumer electronics retail |
| Founded | 1985 |
| Founder | John Fry William Randy Fry David Fry Kathy Kolder |
| Defunct | 24 February 2021  |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | John Fry, CEO William Randy Fry, President David Fry, CFO/CIO Kathy Kolder, Executive Vice President |
| Revenue | $2.35 billion (2007) [1] |
Number of employees | 14,000 (2007) [1] |
| Website | www.frys.com |
Fry's Electronics is a big-box store and retailer of software, consumer electronics, computer hardware and household appliances with a chain of superstores headquartered in Silicon Valley. Starting with one store located in Sunnyvale, California, by 2007 the chain posted sales of $2.35 billion and operated 34 stores in nine states.[1]
History
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.[2] 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 sq ft (1,900 m2) site in Sunnyvale, California.[3] 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.[4]
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 drinks and snack foods.
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.[citation needed] This was the first store that had people from Industrial Light and Magic help design the store environments.[citation needed]
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 emulated 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).
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, but Fry's stores have more retail floor space and have a wider selection. In addition, 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).
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 fiction 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 Buicks 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. [citation needed]
Some additional themes include, California stores: Tahiti (Manhattan Beach), Ancient Rome (Fountain Valley), Wild West (Palo Alto), Mayan temple at Chichen Itza (San Jose), Alice in Wonderland (Woodland Hills), History of Silicon Valley (Sunnyvale), Ancient Egypt (Campbell), 1893 Chicago World's Fair (Fremont), Industrial Revolution (City of Industry), California Gold Rush (Sacramento), NASA Space Center (Anaheim), 19th-Century California Railroads (Roseville), and Atlantis (San Marcos). Arizona stores: Aztec temple (Phoenix). Nevada stores: History of the Strip (Las Vegas). Texas Stores: Music Industry (Austin), History of Irving (Irving), Lazy-K Ranch (Dallas), Oil Industry (Houston) and Space Exploration, including a replica of the International Space Station (Webster).[5] 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.
Criticism
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" was alleged to have been designed and employed in part to excessively delay or prevent customers from obtaining refunds.[6]
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.[7]
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.[8]
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.[9]
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.[10]
House brands
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In addition to selling many major PCs brands, Fry's also sells two models of in-house PC designs. Their flagship Fry's PCs compete with similarly featured Microsoft Windows PC offerings from Hewlett-Packard, Sony, and Compaq. In addition, they offer a lower-end model branded as Great Quality (or "GQ") PCs. 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, 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".[11] The company later bought e-commerce website Cyberian Outpost on November 2001 and started online sales with a different URL (Outpost.com),[12] which confused customers who didn't associate the online name with the brick-and-mortar store.[13] In October 2006, a grand re-opening of Frys.com introduced the online store with the same name as the retail outlets.[14][15] The outpost.com URL now redirects to the frys.com online store.
Domain name acquisitions
The domain name frys.com was owned in 1997 by David Peter, aka David Peter Burlini[16], who manufactured and sold french-fry vending machines under the business name Frenchy Frys and who was also involved in another dispute over the domain newricochet.com with Ricochet Networks[17]. David Burlini[18] attended Santa Clara University at and around the same time that the Fry Brothers were attending[19]. Fry's Electronics brought suit against him that year, alleging trademark infringement,[20] and ultimately prevailed in a default judgement.[21][22]
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.[23] 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.[24]
References
- ^ a b c "Fry's Electronics, Inc. Overview". Hoover's, Inc. 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Pat Lopes Harris, "Fry's mystique: timing, focus, frugality—and lots of advertising," San Jose Business Journal 17, no. 39 (14 January 2000): 52.
- ^ "Corporation Search: Fry's Electronics". California Business Portal. California Secretary of State. 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ "Kroger's Corporate Home on the Web". The Kroger Co. 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ "History of Fry's Electronics". Fry's Electronics. 2009. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Ann Marsh and Scott Woolley (3 November 1997). "The customer is always right? Not at Fry's". Forbes. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Julie Schmit (11 February 1998). "Techies flock to Fry's despite its flaws". USA Today. p. 1B.
- ^ News wire (20 June 2003). "Arnold, Bruce, Denzel Sue Fry's". ExtremeTech. Ziff Davis Publishing. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Bernard Choi (23 November 2007). "Fry's Shoppers Offered Chance to Cut in Line - For a Price". KING 5 News. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Jordan Robertson (8 January 2009). "Feds indict former Fry's exec accused of embezzling". The Daily Breeze. Retrieved 2009-11-07.
- ^ "Fry's Electronics Home Page:". Fry's Electronics. 2000. Archived from the original on 2000-10-18. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ "Welcome to Fry's Outpost.com". Cyberian Outpost, Inc. 2002. Archived from the original on 2002-09-14. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Natali T. Del Conte (27 October 2006). "Fry's Electronics (Finally) Launches Online Store". ExtremeTech. Ziff Davis Publishing. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Greg Sandoval and Jeff Pelline (18 February 2000). "Fry's may launch ISP as part of new Net strategy". CNET News. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Michelle Quinn (21 October 2006). "California: Fry's Electronics Steps up Web Presence". The San Jose Mercury News. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0168.html
- ^ http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/decisions/html/2002/d2002-0168.html
- ^ http://www.classmates.com/directory/college/Santa%20Clara%20University_5.jsp?org=17717131
- ^ http://www.scu.edu/about/alumni/notable.cfm
- ^ The fight over "frys.com".
- ^ Mitchell Zimmerman (1998). "Securing and Protecting a Domain Name for your Web Site" (.PDF). Fenwick & West LLP. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Will Harper (19 August 1999). "Invasion of the Domain Snatchers". Metroactive. Metro Publishing Inc. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Greg Sandoval (23 February 2001). "Fry's accuses site owner of cybersquatting". CNET News. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
- ^ Steven M. Bauer, Esq. (15 February 2007). "Reward of Arbitrator: Fry's Electronics and Prophet Partners" (.PDF). American Arbitration Association. Retrieved 2009-03-17.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help)