Demolishing the Fry's Electronics in Burbank

Nostalgia and Personal Rituals

• Many recall Fry’s—especially Burbank—as a formative place: being dropped off as kids/teens to wander for hours, or making “pilgrimages” from the Midwest to West Coast stores.
• It was a parent–child bonding ritual: building first PCs together, hunting parts for 386/486 builds, Pentium CPUs, early ThinkPads, and boxed Windows 95.
• People remember multi‑hour bus trips, after-work browsing, and stopping in during commutes just to walk the aisles.

Themes, Atmosphere, and Uniqueness

• Burbank’s 1950s sci‑fi/UFO theme is singled out, but many other themed stores are fondly listed: Alice in Wonderland, Roman Empire, polynesian/tropical, oil, train, “space,” Wild West, etc.
• Visitors highlight the surreal mix of fiberglass aliens/cowboys and Hollywood‑style props alongside serious electronics.
• Several link to photo galleries, 3D scans, and mini‑documentaries to preserve that atmosphere.

Insane Product Mix and Hands‑On Exploration

• Fry’s is remembered as a place where you could buy discrete components, racks, motherboards, appliances, RC parts, food, porn, cologne, and random gadgets in one trip.
• It doubled as an educational space: browsing components, racks, and cables in person, similar to surplus shops and earlier electronics stores.
• The weekly newspaper ads and rebate deals also loom large in memory.

Quality Problems, Returns, and Decline

• Multiple comments describe persistent quality issues: dead pixels, minor defects, and “something always wrong.”
• Lax returns allegedly led to obvious used/defective items being reboxed and resold with tiny discounts; some recall boxes containing the wrong product or even junk.
• Later years are described as depressing: nearly empty shelves, single rows of products, abused floor samples, and aisles filled with cheap trinkets.

Third Place and Cultural Loss

• Commenters see Fry’s as a lost “third space” for geeks—more entertainment and community than pure shopping.
• There’s concern that today’s online retail world is more convenient but less authentic, with fewer places for shared in‑person tech experiences.

Afterlife of the Buildings and Successors

• Burbank’s demolition is framed within a broader issue: big‑box stores being hard to repurpose; some praise that 800 homes are planned on the site.
• Other former Fry’s have become empty lots or repurposed venues (e.g., an indoor adventure gym).
• Micro Center is widely mentioned as the closest surviving analogue, with excitement about new locations but acknowledgment it’s not quite the same.