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Fry's Electronics was started in 1985 by the three Fry's brother's, John, Randy, and Dave, and Kathryn Kolder. The brothers were heir to the Fry's Supermarkets chain, but had little interest in grocery store retailing. Instead of groceries, the brother experimented with a single 20,000 ft2 store in Sunnyvale, California.
The Sunnyvale store stocked numerous high-tech supplies, such as ICs, software, computer components , all types of consumer electronics and numerous other computer geek delights. Since the store also has massive displays of soda and snack foods, as well as dilbertDilbert is a popular American comic strip. Written by Scott Adams, the comic is known for its heavily satirical humor about a micromanaged office, featuring a software engineer as the title character and his clueless boss. The strip has run in newspapers t-shirts; a running Silicon valley joke is that a geek can live his/her entire life without going to any other store other than Fry's.
For a number of years during the 1990sCenturies: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s 2010s 2020s 2030s 2040s Years: Events and trends Computers, technology Explosive growth of the Internet; decrease in the cost of computers and other techn, a computer surplus/salvage store named Weird Stuff was located across the street from the Sunnyvale Fry's store. The combination of a large store selling new computer components and another large store selling surplus computer components made the location a prime shopping stop for computer hobbyists. This fortutious co-location helped distinguish Fry's from the many other stores within Silicon valley selling computer components.
The first store also pioneered a concept that endures to this day: store themes. The original store was designed to look like the innards of a giant computer. The walls were adorned with IC patterns and blinking lights. One of the next stores in CampbellCampbell is a city located in Santa Clara County, California, part of Silicon Valley. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 38,138. Although not a major high-tech city like many of its neighbors, Campbell is the original home of eBay a resembles an Ancient EgyptAncient Egypt (also see Ancient Egyptian) was the civilization of the Nile Valley between about 3000 BC and the conquest of Egypt by Alexander the Great in 332 BC. As a civilization based on irrigation it is the quintessential example of an hydraulic empiian tombA tomb is a small building (or "vault") for the remains of the dead, with walls, a roof, and (if it is to be used for more than one corpse) a door. It may be partly or wholly in the ground (except for its entrance) in a cemetery, or it may be inside a chu. The outside is pyramidThis is about the polyhedron. For information on the pyramids of Egypt, see Egyptian pyramids. Geometric shape ''formed by connecting a polygonal base A pyramid is a geometric shape formed by connecting a polygonal base and a point called the apex, by tri-ish and the inside is embellished with artifacts that look like they could've been lifted straight from King Tut's tomb. The Fountain Valley location pays tribute to the ruins of Ancient Rome, complete with a flowing aqueduct. The Palo Alto location has a wild west flavor.
All the stores are enormous, often stocking hundreds of copies of one product. Some stores (such as the Campbell location) also have a special " Bose theater" that showcases the abilities of the diminutive speakers.
Today the stores are still a geek Mecca. The stores often run special sales and host events, such as the launching of new products and free give-aways. Such events jam parking lots and intersections for blocks in all directions of the stores.
As of 2004, Best Buy, the nationwide consumer electronics specialty store is the main competitor to Fry's. Generally, the Fry's stores are larger in square footage and have a wider selection than the Best Buy stores.
Fry's practices the unusual policy of placing returned and repackaged merchandise on the same display counters with new merchandise.