Inhumans99

I recently watched Nope on Peacock, and I smiled when I saw that Fry's was featured in the film. I just now googled and learned it was the Burbank Fry's location featured in the film, which really brings back memories of spending Black Friday's in an early morning line at the Burbank and sometimes Woodland Hills locations. Fry's is one of those stores where the line would be crazy long and snake throughout the store on BF, but it also was a pretty fast line because they had so many cashiers working and you had a chance to chit chat with other folks in the line who were usually a friendly bunch.

TomOpus

One Black Friday at Fry's, the line snaked all around. I made it up to the phones area. A guy opened a register. He looked at me so I asked if he check me out. He sure and saved me about 30 mins of line waiting.

Texan26

Before I saw the actual Fry's signage, I knew it was a Fry's in the movie when I saw a lot of empty shelves.

Josh-da-man

Featuring Fry's so prominently in Nope gave the film a weird and uncomfortable apocalyptic feel.

Why So Blu?

Out here I only ever went to Fry's in Burbank and the one in City of Industry.

Alan Smithee

Fry’s was also in the movie The War With Grandpa, though it appeared as a more squeaky-clean version.

Went by the Fry’s building in Burbank last month, fence was all around it. Very sad. Wonder if they sold all the alien stuff inside?

fujishig

I loved Frys, went to the Burbank one all the time, and yeah resurrecting this thread makes me sad even if it was a shell of it's former self in their dying days.

But TRU still makes me sadder.

Kevin Phillips

I went to the Manhattan Beach location once out of curiosity. I just did a google maps street view of that location, which was updated around September, 2022. It was still vacant and you can see the faded outline of the "Fry's" sign above the door. There were a few cars and a dumpster in the parking lot, so they were either still cleaning out the building, or maybe prepping it for a new tenant.

Troy Stiffler

I drive by a Phoenix location frequently. They sold the giant parking lot to a gas station and Burger King. Knowing wonky real estate climate, they probably made good bank. The parking lot was so big I don’t remember ever seeing it over 20% capacity.

Last time I drove by the other Phoenix location, I remember it looking like I Am Legend out front. Lots of unkept landscaping.

Troy Stiffler

Probably not the best place for it. But I have a feeling that malls and stores will make a comeback in some leaner form.

Going to shop and pickup was never my problem. My problem was that I'd want a pair of headphones, and the store wouldn't have anything close. On Amazon, you can pick anything you want. At Fry's, you'd have to select from the models they curate.

Maybe someday, the OEM's will integrate with distributors to say exactly how much of what model a location has. In example, you could go to JVC's website, pick out what you want, and it'll show that this Best Buy has 2 in stock, etc.

fujishig

That would be interesting... I think vendors already come by to curate their own areas of certain stores so they should certainly know or keep track of updated stock numbers, the question is would the retailers play nice with each other, and I don't think they would. Best Buy already has stock numbers and ship to store, no reason to collaborate on something that might send business to a competitor.

The problem with most of these places like Walmart is that their stock numbers are crap, and shipping to a store is less convenient than shipping to home, especially for those stores that don't feel the need to dedicate space/employees to pick ups. The main benefit to going to a retail store is trying something out before you buy and/or getting a pristine copy of something, and for that the curated stock thing is still a major issue.

And I don't think you can give out discounts if you're paying top dollar for mall space or a huge store.

Alan Smithee

Not a day goes by where I don’t miss Fry’s

Giantrobo

I pass by this location a few times a month. When it was open, it was the only Fry's I had ever shopped.

PhantomStranger

Highly doubt malls are ever coming back in the form we all knew them for the past 40 years. The math for them doesn't work since the youngest generations have been trained to order everything from the internet. Once they break women of the habit for clothes shopping in person, it's game over.

AaronHernandez

Outside of socks,underwear or t-shirt which all have straight forward sizing/look that can be done online am not sure you are gonna break people needing to buy clohtes in person. Every pair of shoe's or pair of pant's fit's different by size even with the same company. For example if you buy a size 11 Puma their running shoe,basketball and regular sneaker may all fit different

fujishig

I think that's why places like Zappos let you have near unlimited returns on shoes. I wonder how much that costs them. It's the lack of availability for some of these shoes that makes it impossible to buy online and do constant returns, though.

BobO'Link

Yeah... there's no way I'm buying clothes or shoes online. Sizes are just too inconsistent and fabric quality is all over the place. I have *very* specific needs for shoes and need to try them on to make sure of a proper fit - ordering is a royal pain and only done once I find the "right" shoe. At that point I'll order replacements online if necessary.

slop101

LOL, yeah, my wife constantly buys clothes/shoes online that end up not fitting her and she has to return it, and even if it's a free return shipping (it usually is, she won't buy something that doesn't have that), it's still a pain to have to repackage and drop off at the UPS store or wherever. But then that's still more convenient than going to a store and trying on things there in person. Though she has said that less and less places are offering free return shipping. Shipping's just gotten way too out of hand expensive.

jjcool

In person clothes shopping isn't going away anytime soon.

Texan26

Many of the stores in the 80s that made malls popular by teens are not going to happen again, The music/movie stores, book/magazine stores, the arcade, and many malls had a movie theater attached. It made this a great hangout place for teens.

Alan Smithee

Only thing I still go to the mall for now is the food court.

Speaking of which, our Fry’s was an Incredible Universe when it first opened, I never liked that store as much as Fry’s but it was cool they had a McDonald’s located inside. After the store change it became a generic cafe with unappealing food.

TomOpus

Sounds like a plot of a sad Sean Baker movie. Dude keeps showing up at a dead mall, just to eat. No shopping, no walking exercise. Just eating. Can't find any better places to eat. Just the food court.

fujishig

The food court at my local mall is awesome.

On a side note, were malls thriving because of mall rats, because at least when I was a teen I would hang out at the mall but not buy much at least not in the stores (maybe some food or a video game or something)

Troy Stiffler

I guess I'm just going from what I know around Phoenix. The handful of "nice" malls around here still seem to be doing good (they look good, I guess the prosperity of the renters is what matters). Pretty to look at, good casual restaurants, shops are nice, parking is hard to find, etc. Two are indoor, two are outdoor. One "dead" mall just got $1B invested to hit the reset button (though it still has a problem of being in a rough part of town). And one is still abandoned (it was supposed to turn into a medical center at one point).

Maybe, like movie theaters, it became too saturated. Movie theaters took initiative to do reserved seating and cut their occupancy in half. Maybe that happens with malls, and people who still want to go find the right ones to go to.

For me, the hard part is still the selection. There are models and product lines of common products (ie headphones) that I wouldn't know exist without Amazon.

Josh-da-man

I think shopping malls became a "thing" from around the 1970s to the 1990s because of suburbanization and an increase in consumerism. Cities were expanding outward, leaving the downtowns behind. Shopping malls started popping up as an alternative downtown shopping district. These were indoor complexes, provided a safe, clean place to shop, socialize, exercise, grab small meal, see a movie, and play video games. And with an increasing number and variety of books and records being released, they quickly became the go-to place to pick up a record album or book.

As we entered the 21st century, online shopping became a thing, home video game consoles were more sophisticated, and gentrification revitalized the old downtowns, which once again became destinations for shopping and dining. And the 21st century generation became more interested in shopping in independent boutique-type shops than the 70s and 80s generation who tended to favor corporate chains. And if they were looking for bargains and the corporate experience, the chains like Walmart and Target were expanding the sizes of their stores and the quality and variety of items they carried. The old shopping malls of the 80s were essentially pinched out of relevance within a handful years by a variety of independent factors.