Fry's and their oddly themed stores

Fry's is for IT people what Home Depot is for most homeowners. It's a wondrous place of possibilities where you can easily spend a few hours just wandering around touching things and contemplating which USB hard drive enclosure is exactly right. And end up buying something you never knew you needed. Like a toilet and table saw.

It's also a place your significant other may have a standing rule about that sounds something like: "Under no circumstances are you to subject me to your wandering around Fry's even if you've been forced to follow me around Linens N Things outlet store for an entire morning". And we can all agree that's entire reasonable as Fry's is mecca or purgatory and nowhere in between.

The awesomeness of Fry's is that no one will come bother you. Never. It wont happen. No one will walk up to you and ask if you need help. In a Best Buy, people would flip out and blog about it on Consumerist but that's not what people want at Fry's. They want to be left alone to graze, wander, poke, prod and then select. There are some associates around and they're even helpful but you do have to find them and when you do you'll get what you need and they dissapear rather than attach themselves to you lie a lost harp seal.

At Fry's you're free to find just the right Pelican case, mini-fridge, motherboard, shrink-wrap tubing, self help book, complete some surveillance system, bucket of Fiddle Faddle, Shania CD, satellite dish mounting kit, electric nose hair trimmer and Small Aircraft monthly. The only indignity is in exiting the store where you're nearly patted down by the not-exactly-security people wielding highlighters armed with a strong "hey!" when you walk right past them.