Fry's Electronics, which opened in Sunnyvale in 1985, has sold its last modem, mouse or motherboard. The store announced on its website Wednesday that it was shutting down permanently.
The retailer, which said it had 31 stores in nine states, sold every gadget, cable and plug that a frantic consumer would ever need to keep up with the ever-shifting modifications and technical standards of the computer age — not to mention racks of snacks enticingly within reach on the checkout line. Fry's also catered to the DIY tech crowd who wanted to put together or enhance their own digital devices. Over the decades, the store became part and parcel of Silicon Valley culture.
Fry's says it's closing "as a result of changes in the retail industry and the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic."
"The Company is in the process of reaching out to its customers with repairs and consignment vendors to help them understand what this will mean for them and the proposed next steps," the company said in its announcement.
—Brian Watt and Jon Brooks