Ask HN: Who remembers Fry's Electronics – the "church" of IT people?
For some reason I remembered today my first trip to San Jose, in the early 2000s, for a SANS Institute class, and discovering the Fry's Electronics store. The amazing content of what one could use to build own computers, or tools for use with such, was like nothing else I have ever seen, anywhere else in the world where I've been, up until that point. Some of the best related memories, though, come from the time when - as Chicagoan - I learned we will be getting our own Fry's. The excitement in the geeks community was so great, at the time, that we were sharing pictures of the progress of the actual lot being worked on, then the building (walls by walls), in Downers Grove. We used to call the place "the church of IT people", simply because we would go there over the weekend, and stay over for the "mass" (equivalent time) and then some. O tempora! 1 comments on Hacker News.
For some reason I remembered today my first trip to San Jose, in the early 2000s, for a SANS Institute class, and discovering the Fry's Electronics store. The amazing content of what one could use to build own computers, or tools for use with such, was like nothing else I have ever seen, anywhere else in the world where I've been, up until that point. Some of the best related memories, though, come from the time when - as Chicagoan - I learned we will be getting our own Fry's. The excitement in the geeks community was so great, at the time, that we were sharing pictures of the progress of the actual lot being worked on, then the building (walls by walls), in Downers Grove. We used to call the place "the church of IT people", simply because we would go there over the weekend, and stay over for the "mass" (equivalent time) and then some. O tempora!
For some reason I remembered today my first trip to San Jose, in the early 2000s, for a SANS Institute class, and discovering the Fry's Electronics store. The amazing content of what one could use to build own computers, or tools for use with such, was like nothing else I have ever seen, anywhere else in the world where I've been, up until that point. Some of the best related memories, though, come from the time when - as Chicagoan - I learned we will be getting our own Fry's. The excitement in the geeks community was so great, at the time, that we were sharing pictures of the progress of the actual lot being worked on, then the building (walls by walls), in Downers Grove. We used to call the place "the church of IT people", simply because we would go there over the weekend, and stay over for the "mass" (equivalent time) and then some. O tempora! 1 comments on Hacker News.
For some reason I remembered today my first trip to San Jose, in the early 2000s, for a SANS Institute class, and discovering the Fry's Electronics store. The amazing content of what one could use to build own computers, or tools for use with such, was like nothing else I have ever seen, anywhere else in the world where I've been, up until that point. Some of the best related memories, though, come from the time when - as Chicagoan - I learned we will be getting our own Fry's. The excitement in the geeks community was so great, at the time, that we were sharing pictures of the progress of the actual lot being worked on, then the building (walls by walls), in Downers Grove. We used to call the place "the church of IT people", simply because we would go there over the weekend, and stay over for the "mass" (equivalent time) and then some. O tempora!
Hacker News story: Ask HN: Who remembers Fry's Electronics – the "church" of IT people?
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June 26, 2026
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