The Official "Business Destroyed By Lockdown" Thread

[hoosierdoc]

COVID was the final nail

Fry’s Electronics permanently closing all stores nationwide, including Fishers location

Fry’s Electronics is going out of business.

fox59.com

 

[Cameramonkey]

COVID was the final nail

Fry’s Electronics permanently closing all stores nationwide, including Fishers location

Fry’s Electronics is going out of business.

fox59.com

And dont expect a sale. That place was virtually empty the last time I was in there. Looked like a Soviet era market. Row after row of empty shelves. I guess they were trying to switch to a consignment model with their suppliers, and wanted to get stock levels down to a "manageable" level before introducing somebody else's stock. I presume so they didnt have to worry about sending their stock back to a supplier if they recalled their wares? I dunno. All I know is it looked like they were going to close their doors any day. And it was like that for a year or so.

 

[IndyBeerman]

COVID was the final nail

Fry’s Electronics permanently closing all stores nationwide, including Fishers location

Fry’s Electronics is going out of business.

fox59.com

Covid was NOT the final nail, mismanagement by sons who took over before their father's death was the problem. They bleed the company dry, failed to pay their bills. Try to blame all yo want, but COVID was NOT the reason.

And dont expect a sale. That place was virtually empty the last time I was in there. Looked like a Soviet era market. Row after row of empty shelves. I guess they were trying to switch to a consignment model with their suppliers, and wanted to get stock levels down to a "manageable" level before introducing somebody else's stock. I presume so they didnt have to worry about sending their stock back to a supplier if they recalled their wares? I dunno. All I know is it looked like they were going to close their doors any day. And it was like that for a year or so.

I visited the Fisher's store in September, if the store had 10% of it's normal stock, that was a generous guess.

Yes they was trying to switch to a consignment model, but coupled with the sons mismanagement and out of stock on shelf's and online availability, it was a death blow.
There was no such thing as buying a name brand item, even with TV's, most of the crap that was being sold was cheap knock offs.

My trip there in September was to buy items to upgrade a computer for my cousin. 99% of the mother boards was OOS, no memory, a few SSD's and virtually no video cards.
There was only 5 TV's on display and they was Silo, TLC brands. The Gaming software and Movie DVD seelection was non existent.


I wish people would stop blaming some closings on COVID, this was not one of them.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Covid was NOT the final nail, mismanagement by sons who took over before their father's death was the problem. They bleed the company dry, failed to pay their bills. Try to blame all yo want, but COVID was NOT the reason.


I visited the Fisher's store in September, if the store had 10% of it's normal stock, that was a generous guess.

Yes they was trying to switch to a consignment model, but coupled with the sons mismanagement and out of stock on shelf's and online availability, it was a death blow.
There was no such thing as buying a name brand item, even with TV's, most of the crap that was being sold was cheap knock offs.

My trip there in September was to buy items to upgrade a computer for my cousin. 99% of the mother boards was OOS, no memory, a few SSD's and virtually no video cards.
There was only 5 TV's on display and they was Silo, TLC brands. The Gaming software and Movie DVD seelection was non existent.


I wish people would stop blaming some closings on COVID, this was not one of them.

Its the SOP now. Just like the reports of people added to the COVID deaths because they had COVID when they died. Yeah, Jimmy got T-Boned by a semi while riding his Harley, but when they swabbed the puddle of goo that WAS Jimmy, it tested positive, so he got added to the death list.

 

[IndyBeerman]

Its the SOP now. Just like the reports of people added to the COVID deaths because they had COVID when they died. Yeah, Jimmy got T-Boned by a semi while riding his Harley, but when they swabbed the puddle of goo that WAS Jimmy, it tested positive, so he got added to the death list.

Like all things, there is no truth in most that is told to us majority of the time.

 

[bwframe]

Fry's Electronics goes out of business, closes Fishers location amid coronavirus pandemic

The California-based chain, which arrived in Fishers in 2005, attributes its demise to challenging retail industry and COVID-19.

www.indystar.com

.........................................

Regardless of management or ownership issues, NO business can stay in business when they have limited/low or no counts coming through the doors. How long were Frys ordered to close doors and subject to the fear tactics of government?

 

[IndyBeerman]

Fry's Electronics goes out of business, closes Fishers location amid coronavirus pandemic

The California-based chain, which arrived in Fishers in 2005, attributes its demise to challenging retail industry and COVID-19.

www.indystar.com

.........................................

Regardless of management or ownership issues, NO business can stay in business when they have limited/low or no counts coming through the doors. How long were Frys ordered to close doors and subject to the fear tactics of government?

People not coming through the door because of COVID was not their problem. Their problem was they had NO MERCHANDISE to sell. Not only did they not have the product to sell in the stores, they did'nt have it to sell online either, I know, I WAS a avid customer of their's and used to make the 75+ mile round trip frequently to Fishers. Because going to Fry's was like going to Menards/Lowes/Home Depot, I could spend a whole day there shopping and get a wide variety of things.

When a person comes through a stores door and sees a 125,000 square foot building that is mostly bare shelf's and can't buy what they're looking for, the handwriting is on the wall and they're never coming back.

What part of that do you not understand?

Let's put this into perspective, you invite some friends over for lunch/dinner.
They arrive thinking that something halfway decent is going to be served.
You pull out 2 hotdogs for 6 people and divide the 2 hotdogs into 6 pieces. You think they're ever coming back to eat there again? Heck No.

The same applies to Fry's, stores have been closing around the country for 2 years. Heck they closed one of their main stores in Palo Alto CA in December 2019.

Is this the new Normal, we're going to blame EVERY closing on COVID?

I guess you can't fathom that a business can falter because of mismanagement/over expansion, which is exactly what a lot of business you have posted about in this thread have happened to them.

 

[bwframe]

People not coming through the door because of COVID was not their problem...

That's every business' problem, especially when competition like Walmart and Amazon is allowed to thrive on the customers not allowed to shop anywhere else.

People coming through the door is the only thing keeping business afloat. When that stops, so does the business.

It's not the Covid that's the problem, it's the mandated lockdowns and the gov't fearmongering that cease business for so many of these places. Businesses whose only existence depend on customers in high volume to justify their thin margin of profit.

Regardless of the health of the business, gov't overreach can be attributed to their closure. If there had been no overreach, then maybe you could actually call the actual virus the culprit, but the overreach also fed the fear.

I'm not saying you are incorrect about whatever failings the business may have had prior to the scamdemic, but you cannot know what pushed them over the edge to closure with all the anti-business gov't factors involved.

 

[HoughMade]

That's every business' problem, especially when competition like Walmart is allowed to thrive on the customers not allowed to shop anywhere else.

Except the supply issue predates COVID.

However, I agree that for whatever time retail was shut down, that certainly didn't help and likely drove people online and to open retailers. Some would probably never return, but I was done buying electronics in person well before 2020.

 

[bwframe]

Except the supply issue predates COVID.

However, I agree that for whatever time retail was shut down, that certainly didn't help and likely drove people online and to open retailers. Some would probably never return, but I was done buying electronics in person well before 2020.

I don't disagree.

Did the supply issue ultimately finish them off though? Did open businesses like Walmart and Amazon get their shipments prioritized over closed and limited access businesses like Fry's?

Back when we were calling truck and delivery drivers "heroes," and every order had a "COVID!!!" delayed/slow shipping disclaimer attached, were closed or limited businesses getting stock or was it all going to the big players allowed to be open?

When we were paying people way more than their normal wages not to work, were there any employees left to stock the shelves with the product they didn't have? Anyone to run the register that there were no customers for? Anyone to manage the store that wasn't allowed to have anything close to normal business?

All the while, the news is advertising record sales at Walmart and Amazon. And they have toilet paper to add to your order.

 

[Mark-DuCo]

Several months ago I figured I would be adding the company I work for to this list. We are a furniture manufacturer who provides commercial furniture to restaurants, hotels, hospitals, etc. the last 2 quarters of 2020, our sales were down well over 50%. If restaurants can't put butts in seats, they aren't ordering any new ones. So far in 2021 business is really picking up. It's not back to pre-covid levels, but we are getting there.

Our two main competitors have closed, so if stuff ever gets back to normal, our business is going to explode.

 

[IndyBeerman]

https://sacramento.cbslocal.com/2019/10/07/frys-bankruptcy-fears-customers/That's every business' problem, especially when competition like Walmart and Amazon is allowed to thrive on the customers not allowed to shop anywhere else.

People coming through the door is the only thing keeping business afloat. When that stops, so does the business.

It's not the Covid that's the problem, it's the mandated lockdowns and the gov't fearmongering that cease business for so many of these places. Businesses whose only existence depend on customers in high volume to justify their thin margin of profit.

Regardless of the health of the business, gov't overreach can be attributed to their closure. If there had been no overreach, then maybe you could actually call the actual virus the culprit, but the overreach also fed the fear.

I'm not saying you are incorrect about whatever failings the business may have had prior to the scamdemic, but you cannot know what pushed them over the edge to closure with all the anti-business gov't factors involved.

Fry's had a extensive website with competitive prices, anything you could buy in the store, you could buy online.

Fry's was a sinking ship before October of 2019, well before all the COVID hit.

What pushed them over the edge was NON PAYMENT to their suppliers, that's why they tried going the consignment route, the problem was because they already had stores with bare shelf's, they had already set their demise in motion, and because they could not get suppliers to go consignment they still was a barren wasteland. If you don't have product to sell in
the store or online, people WILL go elsewhere. THAT is the reason they went out of business.

Here's a TV Station online broadcast of a story they did from October of 2019, 5 months PRE-COVID, if you can't see from that story that this was not COVID related, then I don't know what.

Empty Shelves At Fry's Stores Cause Bankruptcy Fears Among Faithful Customers

Shoppers at technology retailer Fry's Electronics are raising concerns about the store's future after many are finding empty shelves.

sacramento.cbslocal.com

You know what, last week we had a popular pizza shop close in Mooresville called Popz Pizza, Want to blame that on COVID?
You can't, they closed because of a greedy A$$ owner of the strip mall they was located in when they TRIPLED their lease.

So PLEASE stop blaming a lot business closings because of COVID, it may have had a hand in it, but it was NOT the reason for their demise.

If you go into a restaurant the first 30 days they are open and buy lunch each and every day, then on 31st day and each and every day after that they have no food to sell because of non payment to their food distributors are you still going to walk in the door for the next 334 days?

In the famous words of Al Borland....

 

[bwframe]

Blah, blah...

While I appreciate all of your excuses not to blame the forced lockdowns and fear tactics, the fact is that businesses came into the scamdemic and didn't survive the circumstances.

Whether you like it or not, everything is suspect when gov't takes your customer away.

Excuses or not, no customer means no business.

 

[HoughMade]

I think we can all agree that it didn't help and certainly hurt...even if the death was inevitable.

Wait...are we talking about nursing home residents or businesses?

 

[IndyBeerman]

While I appreciate all of your excuses not to blame the forced lockdowns and fear tactics, the fact is that businesses came into the scamdemic and didn't survive the circumstances.

Whether you like it or not, everything is suspect when gov't takes your customer away.

Excuses or not, no customer means no business.

BLAH BLAH BLAH, SSDD

And you fail to realize that if a business does not have the product to sell, it will not survive.

Not the government's fault, not the customers fault.


How simple is that?

 

[bwframe]

...if a business does not have the product to sell, it will not survive...

Yet strangely they did survive for a year, under gov't lockdown, competition being favored and continually promoted fear?

Like others, they came into the scamdemic and did not come out.

 

[HoughMade]

I suppose that if we wanted to analyze management vs. lockdown we would have to look at the restrictions in all of the places where Frys had retail stores. It's (and was) no where near uniform. Maybe you Marion County people know, but outside that county, Indiana had a "nonessential" retail shutdown from March 25 to May 4, 2020.

 

[Bennettjh]

Sirloin Stockade in Columbus. Pretty decent buffet. They had closed temporarily through the winter, then said it's permanent.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Indybeerman you seem a bit triggered here. you doing ok?OK?

I saw the private islands the family owns in Bahamas. each island was built out to represent a different part of the world. you can rent the whole island and all the staff

 

[dudley0]

Sirloin Stockade in Columbus. Pretty decent buffet. They had closed temporarily through the winter, then said it's permanent.

Same for the one in Marion. Been there I think 35 years. Not the greatest of places to eat, but a lot of people frequented it. Owner kept changing the display signage to talk about the frustration of the lockdown.

Now the building is up for sale, but I am unsure of any buffets that are currently running.

Man I miss me some Chinese buffet.