[roger110]

About the iPhone making computing boring: PC video game market got much stronger in the late 2000s and 2010s. Maybe the share of people using phones as computers went up, but also the number of people heavily using computers in general did. (Not saying that playing video games makes someone a PC enthusiast or that it's even a real hobby, but it means they buy the parts.)

I think it was just online shopping that killed Fry's, like you also said. Especially all those expensive parts that far outweigh the shipping costs.

Also idk how Gamestop was a thing once even all the console games went onto non-physical media.

[OkayPhysicist]

I suspect Fry's was too large-scale to be supported by the PC gaming market. They would have had to downscale, drastically. The small, gaming-with-a-bit-of-workstation focused computer part stores near me seem to be doing great. But they would fit into the checkout area of the former Fry's.