Fry’s Electronics to Close All Locations Nationwide: Report

Fry’s Electronics, a longtime computer chain headquartered on the west coast, will close its doors for good, according to a new report from TV station KRON 4 in San Francisco. The report seems to confirms rumors from Twitter that started appearing late Tuesday claiming Fry’s would be closed permanently.

The Fry’s website currently looks normal, but is expected to include an announcement about the permanent closures sometime on Wednesday, according to KRON 4.

Fry’s was founded in the Bay Area in 1985 and currently has 14 stores in California, eight in Texas, two in Arizona, and single locations in Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state. Several other locations were closed over the past few years.

During the 1990s, Fry’s became known for its weird interior decorating as much as for its computers. The San Jose location has a Mayan theme, while the Burbank location (seen above) is decked out in midcentury sci-fi, complete with a flying saucer made to look like it had crashed into the entrance.

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Fry’s stores are also incredibly large compared with other computer and electronics stores that emerged from the 1980s and 90s. And unlike more “mainstream” retailers like Best Buy, Fry’s sold a wide selection of computer parts that allowed hobbyists to assemble their own machines.

There haven’t been any reliable reports about why Fry’s might be closing nationwide, but the company has seen a number of individual stores close over recent years, including the Anaheim, California location, which was closed in March of 2020.