tlug: Re: Taipei's Akihabara (and Silicon Valley)

[Rex Walters <rex@example.com>]

On Tue, Aug 11, 1998 at 03:01:04PM +0900, Michael Chiu wrote:
>                                                      all my Japanese
> friends in the Silicon Valley tell me that they prefer Fry's Electronics
> over T-Zone... (for those not of the Silicon Valley, Fry's Electronics
> is like Akiba in minature, and under one roof, but has a reputation of
> providing the worst customer service... T-Zone USA is just a step ahead
> of them in providing lousy service it seems)

I just got back from a business trip to the Valley.  Every time I go
over there I get a shock.  Last year it was seeing T-Zone next door to
Fry's in Sunnyvale where "Weird Stuff" used to be (now *there's* a store
tluggers would enjoy).  This time it was seeing the new Fry's --
they've moved.  Hard to believe, but the new places are even bigger.
They've kind of gone from a supermarket/grocery-store image to a
"SuperStore" image.  They now have a cafe inside the store as well as a
music store and bookstore.  Sheesh.

I'm told the Palo Alto store moved, too, and is now in multiple huge
buildings.

Still nothing like Akihabara, though -- no matter how big the stores
get.  I'd rather see some competition.  As big as Fry's is, there is
nowhere near the selection of motherboards, say, that you can find in
Akiba.

Regards,
-- 
Rex
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