It's been more than four years since Fry's closed. I can't believe it took this long to get something better than Best Buy and bigger than Central Computers, in the middle of Silicon Valley of all places!
I'm lucky to be about 10 mins away from the one in Westchester NY.
They have a dedicated asile to custom water cooling items which shows how serious they are about enthusiasts.
I used to order my new set ups on Newegg but now I just got to Microcenter
The store had pre-opening for the past 2 days. I drove by on Wednesday and the parking lot was completely full with folks parking across the street and walking over. I thought I would be able to stroll in and get the free USB drive but ended up not able to visit yet. Talk about pent up demand!
It's good to finally have something "between" Best Buy and Central Computer (et al) back in the SV after Fry's died its slow and painful death as the previous Micro Center in Santa Clara closed.
Unfortunately this new one is in the same shopping center as Harbor Freight and it's close to where I live - this could get expensive... Mean to shop at one, end up shopping at both...
The lines on the "insider" opening day 5/28 were pretty long - I waited about an hour in line just to get into the store and the checkout line was over an hour long.
However, based on my purchases that day, I fear they will be unpleasant to shop at - even when busy, they were annoyingly upselling extended warranties. The sales associate on the floor tried to sell me on a plan for a laptop I bought and then, while there were hundreds of people waiting to checkout, the cashier spent time doing so AGAIN. Both were just following their mandated scripts and were at least nice about it all. They apparently also have some sort of rule that the customer buying something like a laptop also needs to "meet" with the sales associate's manager/supervisor - which was a completely useless awkward perfunctory handshake (and the customer survey asked if this meeting had happened so it appears to be an annoying institutional rule).
Fry's Electronics discussion threads
"Demolishing the Fry's Electronics in Burbank", 100 comments (2025), https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43677862
"Fry's Electronics is closing all stores", 300 comments (2021), https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26246435
"Is Fry’s Electronics in trouble?", 350 comments (2020), https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21945492
"The Fry's Era", 150 comments (2019), https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20853834
Electronics Surplus Stores
"Sundown for Surplus" (2018), https://www.eham.net/article/41444
"End of an Era: Weird Stuff Warehouse closed" (2018), https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/04/08/sjm-l-weirdstuff-0408...
I used to love visiting the Microcenter near our family home back in the early 90s. In those halcyon days, they had a exceptionally LIBERAL return policy - 30 days even on opened software. (the L.L. Bean of electronics).
As a child whose modest income was derived solely from weekly lawn mowing, needless to say I coincidentally became quite accomplished at beating PC games within a month's time.
In defense of my somewhat dubious behavior, I did go back as an older teenager with far more disposable income and purchase a ton of big-box PC games from them. Most of which I still have including one of my all-time favorite RPGs, Betrayal at Krondor.
I got my first computer, an Apple ][+, at the original Micro Center store in Upper Arlington (Columbus), Ohio.
The store was tiny and then grew over time to be huge. I live in NJ now and they have a store about 40 minutes away from me. I'm surprised they are still around given e-commerce and all the other stores that have collapsed. Happy they are--it's always fun to walk through the store like in the good old days and see what you can find.
It's amazing for the area that claims it's the tech center didn't have a microcenter until now. I like having a microcenter in Chicago.
Per this reddit post, at the Santa Clara location there were some 5090 GPU retail boxes filled with crossbody backpacks instead of the GPU. Microcenter did eventually track this to a particular supplier.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Microcenter/comments/1kymzcd/update...
I got into electronics around 2016, right around when I was visiting my hometown from living abroad. There's been a Micro Center there for years and I ended up spending hours there looking at all the ESP8266 boards they had there, along with the various supplies of Arduinos and Adafruit boards. Pretty "recent" in terms of electronics tech, but somehow this is already close to 10 years ago :c
Microcenter is what Radio Shack should have become.
I am afraid of asking but what does Sayal classify as? I figured it would take negative time for someone to post Radio Shack in commentary because it’s basically a knee jerk reaction, but I do appreciate a store like Sayal although they’re proper electronics parts seller. These stores are more like finished product distributors. Maybe I’m too picky.
I wonder if it will include an old bin with unopened copies of dark forces Jedi knight and other old stuff that just never sold all the copies for sale in a discount bin. The Microcenter in Atlanta was a treasure of old software that you had to have at some point in the past.
I sort of hate Micro Center and I sort of love it.
My theory of how you tell you're rich or not is that you walk into a store and you can buy whatever you want without caring what the price tag is.
I'm rich at the grocery store, I'm not rich at Micro Center.
I miss Fry's
Was nice seeing that the 5090 exists, but boy, those prices.
I love MicroCenter. Why do they seem to be flourishing as Best Buy seems to be closing stores, reducing staff, and locking items in the back?
While I've built machines using parts from Microcenter, it's been several years, as I eventually went all-in on Macbooks (though you can often get one cheaper there than at the Apple Store). However, as I've gotten into 3d printing and other maker tech in the last year, I'm now there at least once a month, and have spent more than I ever did.
I grew up going to the Microcenter in Vienna, VA. Bought a monitor there just a couple of years ago. Hasn’t changed at all in 25 years!
I used to live a mile or so from the location in Michigan. Previously I lived a few miles from the one in Tustin, CA. Growing up I was a few miles from Fry’s in Burbank and went there all the time. Now I live out in the boonies and it’s certainly made me realize how fortunate I was all these years
Man, I am glad I live near a Microcenter. It's great that they have a big maker section now, too.
I've been shopping at Microcenter in Chicago since I was a kid. I bought my last 3 computers there.
I couldn't believe upon moving to the bay in the aughts that there was nowhere to buy a decent computer. I'm glad they finally have a place to buy a computer out there.
Parking lot is completely full. I parked nearby and walked over. They’re giving away free mugs today with Micro Center Silicon Valley on it.
Huge Ubiquiti display and demo area. I didn’t buy anything today because the checkout line was too long. My daughter liked the Magna Tile selection in the toys area.
Really great to have this much selection nearby.
I love the one here in Orange County California. They always have these combo deals with Motherboard/CPU/RAM that are good deals. My current Ryzen 9 7950x was build from a deal at Microcenter.
When did Microcenter re-gain its popularity? I remember when it was around before it closed down, beside AMC Mercado, and the prices were crazy expensive even back then. Did they somehow lower their prices?
Wish there was one near Los Angeles, especially now that Fry's is gone. There's a MC in in Orange County, but it's a bit too far with Best Buy close and online deliveries.
Micro Center! I used to go to the one in Massachusetts. Really good stuff and a wide selection. I miss Fry's in its heyday, but Micro Center comes close to that ideal.
My mind is blown that this is new.
My small city in Canada has an awesome Memory Express in it. And it's packed with ~16 year old gamers and their dads spending big $ on stuff.
All I can say is: It's about time.
I'm amazed there aren't more of these stores nationwide.
I live in San Diego, and (luckily) the closest one is an hour drive away in Tustin.
California, 1/8 of the US population, and the world's 4th largest economy, has "after years of waiting" 2 stores 8-/
I can only reminisce about the olden days when there were dozens of "bin stores", with electronic components, test equipment, new and used gear of every variety, and staff that knew about the stock.
Apparently, modern electronic developers feel that ordering from Alibaba is some kind of viable substitute 8-/
This whole disappearance, coupled with the disappearance of the many many small local electronics development firms, is a clear sign of the demise of the American republic.
The elimination of small independent tech companies, and the supply chain that went with them, from our communities and our economy has been a disaster for the american people, and quite frankly, I couldn't care less how many vulture capital fanbois disagree with me...
I see they opened a store again in Santa Clara. I remember the old one next to AMC theater that was a Walmart last I saw.
Reminds me of when I started working at a new Best Buy back when they were the cool new kid on the block
Now if we could only get one near Seattle!
(I've never really understood why a tech hub as large and historical as Seattle doesn't have one. It's weird that it's such a relative desert.)
Hell yea! Shame we moved from the bay area. Right next to the theatre! Good times.
Surprising - but a good change! I recently picked up an M3 Ultra from there.
One of us.
At first I was impressed with the number of people lined up to go in the store. Then I realized every single person was just an employee.
The Micro Center in Cambridge, MA, has improved a lot over the years.
When they have the thing that I want, I'd prefer to go there, rather than order online.
Also, I've never seen opened returns re-shinkwrapped and sold again as new at Micro Center, unlike in stories about Fry's. There are some wire shelves where opened returns are sold at a small discount, clearly labeled.
Incidentally, would be nice to also have a good surplus and e-cycling store browsing adventure in town. But I guess the economics are difficult, when real estate is so expensive, and most of the few customers for unusual stuff are online. (That local hobbyists could save a lot of money on shipping cost of decommissioned corporate and lab gear, or make impulse purchases they wouldn't online, probably isn't enough, I'd guess.)