Fry's Electronics earlier this month abruptly closed its store in Duluth and the entire chain may soon meet a similar fate. The Duluth store, located on the rear side of Gwinnett Place Mall and visible from I-85, reportedly closed shortly after Thanksgiving, surprisingly well before the peak holiday shopping season. The nearly 150,000 square foot store first opened in 2004.
Based in San Jose, California, Fry's Electronics shares a logo similar to that of Fry's Food & Drug due to the fact that three of the men who started the electronics chain - John, "Randy"& David Fry - did so with funds provided to them by their father, Charles Fry, founder of the supermarket chain. The Fry's supermarket chain started in 1954 with the electronics retailer debuting in 1985. The two chains were never corporately connected and today the supermarket chain is a wholly owned division of The Kroger Company.
Sources with knowledge of the Duluth closure tell ToNeTo Atlanta that the store had seemingly stopped receiving new merchandise some time ago and that no "closing sale" took place with the company opting instead to send on-hand merchandise to the other Atlanta area store in Milton. The Milton store, located on Webb Road just off Windward Parkway, opened in 2006 and is just over 150,000 square feet, slightly larger than the Duluth outpost.
Fry's Electronics, like its onetime rival Incredible Universe [a division of then RadioShack owner Tandy], built ridiculously large stores in hopes of being "one stop shops" for all kinds of electronics. The stores, though, were not nearly the success the companies had hoped. Fry's purchased six profitable Incredible Universe stores in 1997 and converted them to the Fry's banner. The purchase did not include the lone Incredible Universe in Atlanta. The store, located along I-85 in Duluth not far from Fry's, has gone though several replacement retailers, most recently Dave & Buster's and a Havertys Outlet, both of which are now closed.
Online reports indicate that several Fry's stores nationwide seem to be liquidating and perhaps even offering sales, without mention of a "going out of business sale." (Other reports indicate the entire chain will close by February 2020) When contacted for comment on the suddenness of the Duluth closure and the status of the Milton store, an associate at the Milton store indicated they are not closing but confirmed the Duluth store closure was sudden and without warning.
Fry's closure in Duluth is just the latest in a growing list of big box closures in the area.
Target closed its large format SuperTarget on Venture Drive in 2014 with the aforementioned Dave & Buster's closing their Venture Drive store earlier this year. Other closures in the Gwinnett Place corridor include Borders Books & Music, Barnes & Noble, Toys R Us, Circuit City, hhgregg, Golfsmith, Babies R Us, among others. At Gwinnett Place Mall itself, JCPenney, Belk and Sears have all closed leaving only Macy's (originally Rich's), MegaMart (in the former Macy's {originally Davison's}) and Beauty Master (in the former JCPenney) to anchor the mall.
For those seeking to purchase electronics in Duluth, Best Buy and Micro Center remain open along Pleasant Hill Road.
There does not appear to be a current sales listing for the Fry's property in Duluth but Colliers International’s Atlanta-based Southeast Retail Investment Sales Team is currently marketing Gwinnett Place Mall and its 39 acres for an undisclosed amount.
Are you surprised to learn of Fry's closure in Duluth? When was the last time you purchased something at Fry's? What would you like to see open in place of Fry's and/or Gwinnett Place Mall?
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