Fry’s Electronics is calling it quits after 36 years of business.
Citing pandemic-related challenges, the electronic retailer has permanently closed all of its locations nationwide.
Techies seeking nuanced electronics and software products will have to fall back on Best Buy or Amazon, as Fry’s Electronics is closing all of its 31 stores across the country for good.
While the gadget chain had already struggled with the competition posed online retail monolith, Amazon, and go-to tech giant, Best Buy, it was the financial challenges caused by the pandemic that finally did the company in.
“After nearly 36 years in business as the one-stop-shop and online resource for high-tech professionals across nine states and 31 stores, Fry’s Electronics, Inc. (“Fry’s” or “Company”), has made the difficult decision to shut down its operations and close its business permanently as a result of changes in the retail industry and the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic,” the company wrote on its website. “The Company will implement the shut down through an orderly wind down process that it believes will be in the best interests of the Company, its creditors, and other stakeholders.”
According to its website, the retailer ceased all regular operations, implementing a wind-down process so as to “reduce costs, avoid additional liabilities, minimize impact on [its] customers, vendors, landlords, and associates, and maximize the value of the [company’s] assets for its creditors and other stakeholders.”
Fry’s first opened in 1985 in Sunnyvale, California.
The company encourages customers waiting on repairs to retrieve their items or else email customerservice@frys.com. Customers under a Performance Service Contract can call (800) 811-1745. Consignment vendors seeking to retrieve their consignment inventory from Fry’s are advised to email omnichannel@frys.com.
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