I recall a point where I was had to go to Frys because places like Quement Electronics, etc. closed down. Frys was always a "hold your nose" and "be careful/picky" sort of place. Often they restocked bad returns, I had problems with them giving out bad ram at times, etc. Generally, the employees weren't particularly knowledgable either.
It's sad to see it go, especially Palo Alto. It felt like they expanded incredibly rapidly - including to Sacramento/Roseville, southern CA and WA state.
I've been using Newegg almost exclusively these days for components. But, yes, the lack of instant gratification can be trying.
> I recall a point where I was had to go to Frys because places like Quement Electronics, etc. closed down. Frys was always a "hold your nose" and "be careful/picky" sort of place. Often they restocked bad returns, I had problems with them giving out bad ram at times, etc. Generally, the employees weren't particularly knowledgable either.
Yup. I remember a whole lot of scammy behavior on the part of reps, too. After I picked up a box running after me to try and get me to let them write it up for commission. Lies from sales reps. RAM inventory being 80%+ bad, taking 3 trips to try and get a working set and realize that I had been being sold the same DIMM I had just returned (I finally put a dot on it with a sharpie).
There's fewer choices than ever for electronic components and misc fixings in the Silicon Valley. Fry's is gone, Radio Shack is gone, Halted is gone, Weird Stuff is gone, a lot of the computer shops are gone (and the ones that remain are dodgier than ever), Triangle Machinery is gone, etc. We've got Alltronics and Jameco and Excess Solutions now...
Weird Stuff is probably my most missed place. I always found something worth buying even if wandering by on lunch. It was dangerous when I worked a few blocks away from there.
I wouldn't call it hold your nose but I did run into problems with bad returns getting restocked and what I assume was employee theft in the form of putting bad items in new boxes that weren't marked as returns. (And for which the serial # wouldn't match, that's how I realized what was up.)
It's sad to see it go, especially Palo Alto. It felt like they expanded incredibly rapidly - including to Sacramento/Roseville, southern CA and WA state.
I've been using Newegg almost exclusively these days for components. But, yes, the lack of instant gratification can be trying.