Made it out to the new Fry's in Renton yesterday evening (although it took me 50 minutes -- multiple accidents at Coal Creek, and the construction on 405 through Bellevue wasn't helping). It's billed as an electronic superstore, and indeed, it's HUGE. It's about the size of a larger Costco and is about 1/2 Best Buy, 1/2 Radio Shack.
Two things that Fry's is known for: non-existant, clueless floor staff; and terrible customer service. The latter I haven't dealt with yet (we'll see how the CF card and Brita filter I bought hold out), but the former, well, it was very odd. I mean, you couldn't go 15 feet without running into a salesperson. In 30 minutes I was asked if needed any help SIX times. That's once every five minutes, better than Best Buy and way way better than Lowe's. (The fact I couldn't get anyone to help me in Lowe's lost them a dishwasher sale. I actually SAT ON THE DISHWASHER and no one gave a damn. They're with Rudy's and UPS in the Axis of Bad Customer Service... but I digress.)
The store wasn't very extravagent, something that other Fry's are known for. There were some pictures from the Renton historical society, fake marble and granite floors, and a coffee shop. That was about it.
The improved customer service and understated (bland) decor are apparently part of the plan, at least according to someone on the inside:
Also management, brothers incl. are aware that Fry's is known for its bad customer service, but they have been pushing us real hard to promote customer service to the extreme....the (Fry) brothers told us... about how Best Buy, Compusa, and all those other electronic stores are receiving notices that we were here but they think were just like all the other Fry's and thats with bad customer service.But like most of you on the board already said this store is different. It is much more classy looking than other Fry's and we are here to change the image, because this is the city of Nordstrom which has great customer service....
Makes me wonder if they were reading a certain Seattle Times article (unfortunately requiring you to register to see it now) back in June.
While Fry's is lauded for its selection and prices, its style of customer service may be unfamiliar to Seattle-area customers.The company's Web site lists 13 rules for returning or exchanging products — a far cry from Nordstrom's famously liberal return policy.
For those of you with no experience with Nordstrom, they'll take pretty much anything in exchange, receipt or no, even if it wasn't bought at Nordies. Fry's requires you to have the receipt, stand in the correct line, produce the videotape proving you were in the store on that date, and wait a minimum of two hours for them to talk to a manager.
On the whole, an OK store, but more of a destination store for me. I mean, I'm a mile from a Best Buy, and the stuff I have a real interest in (i.e. stuff to build a new computer with) I can get online.
