[Coco] [OT} Shack: was Re: Coco keyboard trouble (Steve Batson)

[Andrew]

The Fry's near me here in Phoenix (I live a few miles away from the 
north Phoenix one off the I-17 and Thunderbird) is pretty much the same; 
half of the store is consumer electronics;

The other half "geektronics" - lots of computer components, a wall of 
motherboards, an aisle of PC cases, etc (basically all the parts you 
need to build your own PC). A separate area is devoted to Apple 
products. There's an area for pre-built machines and printers. A back 
wall for video cards and monitors.

Then there are aisles of networking equipment, tools of all sorts for 
electronics technicians (you name it, they probably have it); there's 
even stuff there for the more "pro-level" stuff - boxes of cat5e, 
connectors, crimpers, etc - plus rackmount stuff and whatnot.

One area is a large section dedicated to computer software and gaming 
systems (I rarely browse there; not much Linux stuff).

Then they have a fairly large selection of parts (NTE) - way larger than 
what I remember as a kid at Radio Shack (in the 1980s); several aisles 
worth (one for semiconductors, one for passives, another for switches 
and relays, etc - heck, if you look around, you can even find 
replacement belts and parts for cassette players and VCRs). They even 
recently introduced a line of Arduino stuff (prior to that, they carried 
- and still do - Parallax stuff - Basic Stamp, Propeller, etc).

There's a bit of solar stuff (small kits to large panels and inverters), 
a bit of home chemistry stuff (including bits of labware), lasers and 
LED lights, paintball and airsoft, action figures, radio control 
vehicles, security cameras (low end cheapie stuff to high end PTZ 
cameras)...

Oh - and a cafe in the middle! And books and magazines! DVDs, CDs, 
Blu-Ray discs, etc.

One thing they also do - the walk to the registers is interesting; they 
make you wander down the last minute impulse buy items - cheap (and a 
bit not-so-cheap) small electronics and last minute things, plus tons of 
geek snack items.

I guess Fry's Electronics really is a geek's paradise - now if they'd 
just quit doing the bag check on exit, it would be perfect.

-- Andrew L. Ayers, Glendale, Arizona