[_nothing]

It's cool to hear about everyone's good experiences with Fry's in the 90s; maybe they would have managed to stay in business longer if they'd ever updated since that period. I worked at a Fry's (the lone location near Chicago) for a few months in 2014 and it felt like they'd never upgraded anything since the 90s. Not the systems, not the decor-- nothing. If they were trying to make it seem retro, it failed. It just felt _stagnant_. Sad and tacky. I would understand trying to maintain the 90s tech shop feel for their nostalgic techie clientele, except that most of the customers were average Joes buying TVs, normal laptops, or toys for their kids.

All in all it created kind of a miserable environment for employees. After I'd left, I went to a different Fry's in San Jose to buy a laptop and the worker helping me just openly admitted, unprompted, that they hated working there.

Of course, maybe not upgrading anything is actually part of the reason they even made it this far. Everything technically worked, after all, so perhaps the savings were worth it, at the expense of the experience for employees (and likely, then, customers). Do deal-seekers really care what their shopping experience is like as long as they're getting good deals? Perhaps not.

[epc]

The Downers Grove store was in a weird location, it's not really on the way to or from anywhere except the freeway exits or if you’re trying to bypass Highland.

[_nothing]

It seemed like an area lots of suburbanites liked to go to shop. Yorktown mall was right down the road and there were lots of other retail stores and restaurants all down Butterfield Road. That was definitely where my family would go when we wanted to go shopping or have a "fancy" meal (lots of fond memories of the Red Lobster on the corner).

[pcvarmint]

I stood in a long line outside the Downers Grove store before they opened on the day of the HP Touchpad $99 fire sale.

As soon as the door opened, I ran as fast as I could to the computer department desk, near where laptops and tablets were on display. The sales associate, who I had seen the night before, when Touchpads were $299, said that they were sold out.

I later heard that if you bought it within 30 days before the fire sale, they would offer you a price-matching rebate.

I had already bought a $99 Touchpad at Wal-Mart around midnight that morning, and I got the last one in the store, right before someone else came looking for it.