Silicon Valley nerds have been lonely since Frye’s electronics closed during the pandemic in February 2021. The electronics store chain was an embodied version of Valley’s high-tech roots.
but Microcenteran Ohio e-retailer has opened its 29th store in Santa Clara, California. And then the nerd kingdom has returned. I think this is a big deal, following the opening of the Nintendo store in San Francisco earlier this month (the second in New York after New York). It’s great to see signs that the Bay Area is coming back after years of bad economic news.
But this isn’t just a store. It’s a symbol. In addition to places like Buck’s Restaurant, Denny, the Intel Museum, Computer History Museum, California Academy of Sciences and the Museum of Innovation and Technology, it is a sign that technology still has a physical presence in Silicon Valley. Other historic hangouts for engineers such as Walkers Wagon Wheels, Atari HQ, Lion & Compass and even Circuit City have been closed all along. But hey, we have a microcenter store, and the apple spaceship isn’t too far.
Grand Opening Week is on track and was toured by veteran technical journalist Dan Ackerman, editor-in-chief of Micro Center News. When I entered the place, Ackerman had finished chatting with aquixit, a technical repair publication with its own space for podcasts in the store. It was unexpected as I’ve never seen stores embrace social media in that way.
Nearby is a knowledge bar where all technical questions can be answered. And there was a repair table open.
For tech enthusiasts, there are many things I love about microcenters. First, there was a weird theme like ancient Egypt, with a strange mix of appliances, cosmetics, magazines and snack foods. (The Egyptian-themed Campbell, a California fly I drove, is often 156,000 square feet, and is now home to the Pickleball Court Complex). Fry’s was a stereotyped store of the stereotypical Silicon Valley, and also had its own HBO TV show that continued stereotypes.
In contrast, the Microcenter Store is smaller at 40,000 square feet, with more practical nerd items in stock. For the grand opening, the store had a very practical product in stock with over 4,000 graphics processing units (GPUs) from Nvidia (just launched the 50 series GPU) and AMD. Some of these graphics cards cost up to $4,000.
“There were people waiting to get to the GPU,” Ackerman said.
On display were gold-plated graphics cards that had been auctioned for charity. Signed by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
“I’m joking about anyone who wins a bid that should get a Jensen leather jacket,” Ackerman said.
And this microcenter store offers a good spot (5201 Stephen Creek Boulevard, Santa Clara) just a six-minute drive from Apple’s global headquarters and a one-minute walk from a Korean hair salon.
The Microcenter had a former store in Silicon Valley near Inter headquarters in Santa Clara. However, the store closed in 2012 after the company was unable to negotiate better terms with the landlord. To return to the Bay Area, the microcenter split that time and came back when many other retail chains failed. The birthplace of electronics, a once-popular area, proves it deserves its own electronics store.
Certainly, Target, Best Buy and Walmart sell a lot of electronics. However, Japan does not have anything like the electronics division of Akihabara. This includes many multi-storey electronics stores and gaming arcades.
However, the store is equipped with today’s modern top gear, including AI PCS, Ubikichi Home Networking Gear, and dyes for multicolored water cooling systems. Vendors like Razer and Logitech had their own sections. Ackerman is pleased to show us the inventory of USB-C to USB-A adapters, among many obscure items. He then showed me a stock machine that could spin the stock of 3D printed filaments and provide accurate SKUs scanned with barcodes.
“It’s so much fun. I call it Mr. Filament,” Ackerman said of the stock robot.
There is a section for enthusiasts who like single board computing and DIY projects. It has a set of video, audio and digital content creation tools for content creators. Everything has over 20,000 products and over 100 technical experts can help. There are also numerical cash register coefficients that can be checked out. This is the same kind of checkout stand that Fry had.
Customers can receive certified computer services for brands such as Apple, Dell, HP, and more, and benefit from same-day inspections and repairs thanks to over 3,000 parts through partnerships with leading OEMs. I wish there was a Comcast help desk.
The Microcenter began in 1979 in Columbus, Ohio. Considering how ubiquitous technology has existed all over the world these days, there is no more otaku store.
But Ackerman said, “These people are really doing it right, they’re choosing and choosing, finding the right city, finding the right place. That’s why Charlotte is great. Miami is literally five separate miles apart, especially for health technology.
“Even though this shop is big, the CEO (Richard Marshad) is really into curation and makes sure it’s the right thing to do. He makes sure it doesn’t go far. So you don’t come here and find a hair dryer or grass equipment,” says Ackerman. “Find computers and home entertainment stuff, DIY gear. There are components that enthusiasts care about, like radio shacks.”
Regarding Microcenter news, Ackerman said that around 10 regular contributors and 20 freelancers were writing gadget reviews and other stories about tech gear. It is a kind of shelter for the lost breed of professional high-tech journalists. No wonder I was a very nostalgic visiting microcenter.
