Perhaps marking a change in Silicon Valley that many residents don’t think about, Fry’s Electronics, after 36 years in business, is shutting down the 31 stores it has remaining. Fry’s Electronics was welcomed by many techies when it opened advertising: IC’s, soldering irons, Jolt Cola, and pantyhose(?).
Its closing emphasizes the change in Silicon Valley tech from individuals and clubs building electronic tech gadgets hoping to change the world, to software, apps, and designing complex highly mass produced hardware such as phones. How many computer scientists or even electrical engineers have you met that have never held a soldering iron? Probably many. When Fry’s Electronics opened, that was not nearly as commonplace as it is today.
Silicon Valley still has a huge pool of tech and business talent which improves the odds of a new tech company becoming successful. The local availability of tech hardware supplies has become much less meaningful.
Silicon Valley has gone through many major changes after transforming from the many Santa Clara Valley orchards producing fruit to the birthplace of the semiconductor industry. Even the semiconductor industry was not the first tech industry here. Hewlett Packard, Varian, and others preceded it.
Perhaps the limitation of remote work is exposed by the political divide in the United States. Invisible walls are built limiting critical consideration of ideas and perhaps even limiting imagination. The massive flow of information between minds can be easily filtered both knowingly and unknowingly. Silicon Valley will constantly change. It’s success driven by creative innovative minds gathering together to create a future…
Silicon Valley real estate trends have been constantly impacted by technology and economic changes but demand has been driven up by more and more innovative people wanting to be together to create part of the future.