Silicon Valley nerds have been lonelier since Fry’s Electronics shut down in February 2021 within the midst of the pandemic. The electronics retailer chain was an embodiment of the valley’s tech roots.
However Micro Heart, an electronics retailer from Ohio, has opened its twenty ninth retailer in Santa Clara, California. And so the nerd kingdom has returned. I see this as a giant deal, following up on the opening of the Nintendo retailer — the second within the nation after New York — in San Francisco earlier this month. After years of unhealthy financial information, it’s good to see indicators that the Bay Space is coming again.
However this isn’t simply any retailer. It’s an emblem — an indication that reveals tech nonetheless has a bodily presence in Silicon Valley, along with locations just like the Buck’s Restaurant, the Denny’s the place Nvidia began, the Intel Museum, the Pc Historical past Museum, the California Academy of Sciences and the Tech Museum of Innovation. Different historic hangouts for techies like Walker’s Wagon Wheel, Atari’s headquarters, Lion & Compass — even Circuit Metropolis — have lengthy since closed. However hey, we’ve received the Micro Heart retailer, and the Apple spaceship shouldn’t be that distant.
The grand opening week has been going properly and I received a tour of the superstore from Dan Ackerman, a veteran tech journalist who’s editor-in-chief at Micro Heart Information. As I walked into the place, Ackerman was ending a chat with iFixit, a tech restore publication which has its personal house for podcasts inside the shop. That was sudden, as I’ve by no means seen a retailer embrace social media in such a approach.
Close by was the Information Bar, the place you may get all of your tech questions answered — very similar to the Genius Bars in Apple Shops. And there have been restore tables out within the open.
There are lots of issues for tech fans can like about Micro Heart. First, it’s not as sprawling as Fry’s, which had zany themes like historic Egypt and a bizarre mixture of electronics items in addition to family home equipment, cosmetics, magazines and tons of snack meals. (The Egyptian-themed Campbell, California Fry’s retailer that I drove by typically was 156,000 sq. ft, and now it’s residence to a pickleball courtroom advanced). Fry’s was a retailer that stereotyped nerds and Silicon Valley, which additionally had its personal HBO tv present that carried on the stereotypes.
The Micro Heart retailer, against this, is smaller at 40,000 sq. ft and stocked with many extra sensible nerd gadgets. For the grand opening, this retailer had the very sensible product of greater than 4,000 graphics processing items (GPUs) in inventory from Nvidia (which simply launched its 50 Sequence GPUs) and AMD, Ackerman advised me. A few of these graphics playing cards value as a lot as $4,000.
“There have been individuals ready to get to the GPUs,” Ackerman mentioned.
On show was a gold-plated graphics card that was being auctioned off for charity. It was signed by Jensen Huang, Nvidia CEO.
“I joke that whoever wins the bid ought to get a Jensen leather-based jacket as properly,” mentioned Ackerman.
And this Micro Heart retailer has location (5201 Stevens Creek Boulevard in Santa Clara) that’s only a six-minute drive from Apple’s worldwide headquarters and (maybe higher but) a one-minute stroll from the Korean Hair Salon.
Micro Heart had a earlier retailer in Silicon Valley, close to Intel’s headquarters in Santa Clara. However that retailer shut in 2012 as a result of the corporate couldn’t negotiate higher phrases with the owner. For its return to the Bay Space, Micro Heart bided its time and got here again at a time when many different retail chains have been failing. It proves that the as soon as proud area — the birthplace of electronics — nonetheless deserves its personal electronics retailer.
Positive, we have now Goal, Finest Purchase and Walmart promoting a number of electronics gear. However there’s nothing just like the Akihabara electronics district in Japan, which is filled with multi-story electronics shops and gaming arcades.
However this retailer is loaded with right now’s fashionable prime gear, like AI PCs, Ubiquity residence networking gear, and dyes for multi-colored water-cooling programs. Distributors like Razer and Logitech had their very own sections. Ackerman was happy to point out me the USB-C to USB-A adapter in inventory, amongst many obscure gadgets. And he confirmed me the stock machine that would rotate its inventory of 3D-printing filaments and provide the actual SKU that you simply scanned with a bar code.
“That’s tremendous enjoyable. I name it Mr. Filaments,” Ackerman mentioned of the stock robotic.
There’s a bit for hobbyists who like single-board computing and DIY tasks. There’s a set of video, audio and digital content material creation instruments for content material creators. All advised, there are greater than 20,000 merchandise and over 100 tech specialists who may help. It even has the numbered cashier areas the place you may take a look at — the identical form of checkout stands that Fry’s had.
Clients can obtain approved pc service for manufacturers like Apple, Dell, and HP, benefiting from same-day diagnostics and repairs, due to over 3,000 components readily available by means of partnerships with main OEMs. I solely want it had a assist desk for Comcast.
Micro Heart began in 1979 in Columbus, Ohio. It’s a shock there aren’t extra nerd shops, given how ubiquitous tech is world wide today.
However Ackerman mentioned, “These guys are actually doing it proper, selecting and selecting, discovering the appropriate cities, discovering the appropriate areas. That’s why Charlotte is nice. Miami is a giant tech hub, particularly for well being tech. And we’re actually 5 minutes away from Apple headquarters and loads of different locations. Folks from HP and Nvidia and different firms are coming in right now to hang around.”
“Despite the fact that this retailer is large, the CEO (Richard Mershad) is de facto into curation, ensuring it’s the right combination of stuff. He’s ensuring it doesn’t go too far afield. So that you’re not going to return in right here and discover, you recognize, hair dryers or lawncare tools,” Ackerman mentioned. “You’re going to search out pc and residential leisure stuff, and DIY gear. There are parts, identical to in a Radio Shack, that hobbyists care about.”
As for the Micro Heart Information, Ackerman advised me he has round 10 common contributors and 20 extra freelancers writing gadget critiques and different tales about tech gear. It’s a form of refuge for that vanishing breed {of professional} tech journalists. No marvel I used to be so nostalgic visiting Micro Heart.
