Nerds from the Silicon Valley are more lonely since the closing of Fry’s electronics in February 2021 during a pandemic. The network of electronic stores was the embodiment of the valley’s technological roots.
But Micro CenterThe seller of electronics from Ohio, opened the 29th store in Santa Clara in California. And so the kingdom of Nerd returned. I see it as a great matter, following the opening of the Nintendo store – the second in the country in Modern York – in San Francisco at the beginning of this month. After years of bad economic news, it is nice to see the signs that Bay Area is coming back.
But this is not just no store. This is a symbol – a sign that shows that Tech is still physical in the Silicon Valley, in addition to places such as Buck’s Restaurant, Denny’s Where Nvidia, Intel Museum, Computer History Museum, California Academy of Sciences and The Tech Museum of Innovation. Other historical meetings for technicians, such as Walker’s Wagon Wheel, Atari’s headquarters, Lion & Compass – even Circuit City – long closed. But hey, we have a Micro Center store, and the Apple spacecraft is not so far away.
The Holy Opening Week is going well and I took a trip to Superstore from Dan Ackerman, an experienced technical journalist who is the editor -in -chief at the Micro Center News. When I entered the place, Ackerman finished the conversation with iFixit, a publication of technology repair, which has his own space for podcasts in the store. It was unexpected because I have never seen the store to cover social media in this way.
There was a knowledge belt nearby where you can get all technical questions – just like the brilliant bars in Apple stores. And in the open space there were repair tables.
There are many things for technology enthusiasts that can like at the Micro Center. First of all, it is not as extensive as Fry, which had crazy topics, such as age-old Egypt and a strange mix of electronic goods, as well as home appliances, cosmetics, magazines and lots of snacks. (Store Campbell on the subject of Egyptian, California Fry, through which I often traveled, had 156,000 square feet, and now he is a home for the pickleball pitch elaborate). Fry’s was a shop that stereotypped Kujon and Silicon Valley, which also had its own HBO television program, which had stereotypes.
However, the Micro Center store is smaller at 40,000 square feet and equipped with many more practical items of NERD. At the great opening, this store had a very practical product of over 4,000 graphics processing units (GPU) in the Nvidia warehouse (which has just launched a GPU from the 50 series series) and AMD, told me Ackerman. Some of these graphics cards cost up to 4000 USD.
“There were people who were waiting for the GPU,” said Ackerman.
The exhibition was a gold -plated graphics card, which was at auction for charity. He was signed by Jensen Huang, general director of NVIDIA.
“I’m joking that anyone will win the offer, he should also get a Jensen leather jacket,” said Ackerman.
And this Micro Center store has a good location (5201 Stevens Creek Boulevard in Santa Clara), which is only six minutes driving from the world headquarters of Apple and (perhaps even better) one -minute walk from the Korean hair salon.
Micro Center had a previous store in the Silicon Valley, near the Intel headquarters in Santa Clara. But this store is near in 2012, because the company could not negotiate better conditions with the owner. After returning to Bay Area Micro Center, it survived its time and returned at a time when many other retail chains fail. This proves that once a proud region – the birthplace of electronics – still deserves its own electronic store.
Sure, we have target, best buy and Walmart selling a lot of electronic equipment. But in Japan there is nothing like the Akihabara electronics district, which is full of multi -storey electronic stores and game arcades.
But this store is loaded with today’s state-of-the-art best equipment, such as AI, Ubiquity Home and dyes for multi -colored water cooling systems. Suppliers like Razer and Logitech had their own sections. Ackerman was pleased to show me the USB-C for USB-A adapter in stock, among many unclear items. And he showed me a wrestling machine that could rotate 3D printed fibers and give you an precise SKU, which you scanned with a barcode.
“It’s great fun. I call it Mr. Filaments,” said Ackerman about the equipment of the inventory.
There is a section for hobbyists who like disposable computers and DIY projects. There is a set of tools for creating video, audio and digital content for content creators. To sum up, there are over 20,000 products and over 100 technological experts who can lend a hand. It even has numbered locations of cashiers where you can prove yourself – the same type of rack that Fry had.
Customers can receive an authorized computer service for brands such as Apple, Dell and HP, using diagnostics and repair the same day, thanks to over 3000 parts through partnerships with leading OEM producers. I regret that she had no lend a hand for Comcast.
The Micro Center began in 1979 in Columbus, Ohio. It is a surprise that there are no more nerd stores, considering how the ubiquitous technology is currently all over the world.
But Ackerman said: “These guys really do it well, choose and choose, find the right cities, find the right locations. That’s why Charlotte is great. Miami is a large technical center, especially for health technology. And literally five minutes from the Apple headquarters and many other places. People with HP and Nvidia and other companies come today in spending time.”
“Although this store is large, the general director (Richard Mershad) is really in the treatment, making sure it is the right mix of things. It makes sure that it does not go too far. So you do not intend to enter here and not find, you know, you know, hair dryers or digestive equipment,” said Ackerman. “You will find computer and home entertainment and DIY equipment. There are components, just like on the radio where hobbyists care.”
As for the Micro Center news, Ackerman told me that he has about 10 regular colleagues and 20 more freelancers writing gadget reviews and other stories about technological equipment. It is a kind of shelter for this disappearing race of professional technological journalists. No wonder I was such a nostalgic visitor of the Micro Center.