Fry’s Electronics details layoffs following closures

SAN JOSE >> Fry’s Electronics has detailed the layoffs it has planned for some of its operations after the iconic consumer electronics retailer decided to cease its operations, saying it will chop more than 100 jobs in San Jose.

The long-time tech-oriented retailer revealed last week that it had closed all its stores and would go out of business permanently. San Jose-based Fry’s Electronics

said coronavirus-linked economic woes and online shopping forced the retailer to pull the plug on its operations.

Fry’s has laid off 148 workers in San Jose, according to official notices the company filed with the state Employment Development Department.

“The company will be terminating active and previously furloughed employees at the Fry’s facility located at 600 E. Brokaw Road in San Jose as a result of the permanent closure and shutdown of the facility and the company’s business as a whole,” Randy Fry, the company’s president, wrote in the notice. “This termination of employees is expected to be permanent.”

At the time of its closure, Fry’s was operating Bay Area stores in San Jose, Fremont, Concord, and Sunnyvale. The company closed its Campbell store last November. It shut its Palo Alto store in 2019.

“The employees are not represented by any union,” Fry’s said of the San Jose layoffs. “No bumping rights exist.”

Fry’s notices of any possible layoffs in its other California locations weren’t posted on the EDD site as of Thursday morning.

As it struggles intensified, Fry’s switched over the last year to a consignment model. That meant Fry’s was only able to attract suppliers that were willing to be paid for their wholesale goods after Fry’s had sold the items at retail.

The shutdown of Fry’s ended a 36-year run during which the retailer became the go-to place for tech professionals, electronics enthusiasts, and computer hobbyists to shop for hardware, software, and snacks.

A Bay Area institution that opened its first store in Sunnyvale in 1985, Fry’s quickly became a shopping and cultural destination that featured stores with eclectic and individual themes.

At one point, revenues at Fry’s were robust enough that the company made Forbes’ list of the largest privately held companies in the United States, ranked by revenue. Forbes estimated that Fry’s generated $2.3 billion in revenue during 2018. By 2020, Fry’s had dropped off the list.

Some of the Fry’s workers were laid off on Feb. 24, according to the notice. Others were slated to be terminated on or around March 31, when the shutdown of the business is completed, Fry’s management stated in the filing.

“Fry’s is prepared to work with state and local government agencies to assist its employees during this time of uncertainty,” Randy Fry wrote in the notice.