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geekhack Community => Keyboards => Topic started by: tricheboars on Fri, 26 April 2013, 20:06:50

Title: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: tricheboars on Fri, 26 April 2013, 20:06:50
So lets start listing all the brick and mortar stores we know of that sell Cherry MX and Topre keyboards.

What are the legendary ones in Korea and Japan like?  As far as I know there is only one store in all of Denver that sells mechanical keyboards, and it is MicroCenter. And i have only seen crap Razer mech boards there (so... not sure if counts...).
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: tjcaustin on Fri, 26 April 2013, 20:07:59
Fry's
Best Buy
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: jabar on Fri, 26 April 2013, 20:08:06
Micro Center carries Razer, Logitech and some Ducky mechanical keyboards.
Fry's has Razer and maybe I saw a Corsair one, don't remember.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: CPTBadAss on Fri, 26 April 2013, 20:09:03
MicroCenter carries MX Reds, Browns, Blacks, Blues, Clicky White Alps
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: spidum on Fri, 26 April 2013, 20:09:54
The Frys around me sells Razer and Corsair but never seen Ducky
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: Glod on Fri, 26 April 2013, 22:35:29
was at Atlanta's Fry's (what i think is the only Fry's on the east coast  :eek:) a couple weeks ago and they had a Mionix whateverthehell , a Quickfire Rapid blues, the larger quickfire dont remember the switches, corsair whateverthehell, razer ultimate and stealth, and a year or so back they had Steelseries

of course they appear to have even more than i saw http://www.frys.com/search?search_type=regular&sqxts=1&query_string=mechanical+keyboard&submit.x=-410&submit.y=-151&cat=0 according to availability, i guess they put some of the other keyboards in a different section, i don't remember seeing the logitech mechanical but it says its there.

man its a shame there isn't any other Fry's on the east coast, say what you want about their prices the place is a glod damn toy store for adults. I go to atlanta at least 4 times a year and when i drive i always go by fry's for the hell of it. microcenter in the DC area just doesnt compare.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: Hyde on Fri, 26 April 2013, 22:47:35
In Canada there's Canada Computers and NCIX.  NCIX being the Filco distributor in Canada and have Ducky on pre-order already.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: Rule16 on Fri, 26 April 2013, 23:49:00
Walmart has Razer (Don't know why you'd want THAT though) and sometimes Steel Series.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: TotalChaos on Sat, 27 April 2013, 23:31:44
man its a shame there isn't any other Fry's on the east coast, say what you want about their prices the place is a glod damn toy store for adults. I go to atlanta at least 4 times a year and when i drive i always go by fry's for the hell of it. microcenter in the DC area just doesnt compare.
I have been doing Fry's for around 10 years.  Its like the Disneyland of Electronics stores.  Its huge.  You can take the whole family and everyone gets to have fun.  You can lose your loved ones for a whole hour in their gigantic store.  Never had a boring trip to Fry's.

The only reason I care about Fry's is that when they put something on sale it is REALLY on SALE.  Sortof the total opposite of Best Buy.  And their selection of merchandise is massively better than Best Buy.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: MKULTRA on Sun, 28 April 2013, 01:05:17
man its a shame there isn't any other Fry's on the east coast, say what you want about their prices the place is a glod damn toy store for adults. I go to atlanta at least 4 times a year and when i drive i always go by fry's for the hell of it. microcenter in the DC area just doesnt compare.
I have been doing Fry's for around 10 years.  Its like the Disneyland of Electronics stores.  Its huge.  You can take the whole family and everyone gets to have fun.  You can lose your loved ones for a whole hour in their gigantic store.  Never had a boring trip to Fry's.

The only reason I care about Fry's is that when they put something on sale it is REALLY on SALE.  Sortof the total opposite of Best Buy.  And their selection of merchandise is massively better than Best Buy.
Fry's is really ****ing expensive.  Their Black Friday sale's are usually decent but cba to go to those.  Microcenter is way better, none of those around here though.  I just use Amazon.
Title: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: daerid on Sun, 28 April 2013, 01:18:04
I saw Ducky Zeros @ DTC MicroCenter.  They also have some god awful ugly mech boards up on the shelves in the gaming section.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: Bry on Mon, 29 April 2013, 10:53:11
was at Atlanta's Fry's (what i think is the only Fry's on the east coast  :eek:) a couple weeks ago and they had a Mionix whateverthehell , a Quickfire Rapid blues, the larger quickfire dont remember the switches, corsair whateverthehell, razer ultimate and stealth, and a year or so back they had Steelseries

of course they appear to have even more than i saw http://www.frys.com/search?search_type=regular&sqxts=1&query_string=mechanical+keyboard&submit.x=-410&submit.y=-151&cat=0 according to availability, i guess they put some of the other keyboards in a different section, i don't remember seeing the logitech mechanical but it says its there.

man its a shame there isn't any other Fry's on the east coast, say what you want about their prices the place is a glod damn toy store for adults. I go to atlanta at least 4 times a year and when i drive i always go by fry's for the hell of it. microcenter in the DC area just doesnt compare.

Just wanted to tell you that I found this post very entertaining XD

whateverthehell
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: mashby on Mon, 29 April 2013, 12:02:43
MechanicalKeyboard.com has a brick and mortar presence, but only one location. Don't know if that counts for your list, but I thought I'd put it out there nonetheless.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: tricheboars on Mon, 29 April 2013, 13:25:44
MechanicalKeyboard.com has a brick and mortar presence, but only one location. Don't know if that counts for your list, but I thought I'd put it out there nonetheless.


i would love to find out where this is!

I saw Ducky Zeros @ DTC MicroCenter.  They also have some god awful ugly mech boards up on the shelves in the gaming section.

those awful ones in the gaming area are razer boards. and yes they are god awful ugly. i purposefully purchase as much as i can from microcenter. event hough it costs me more money i want microcenter to stay in business. i need a local brick and mortar store for when your pci wireless n card burns out at 7PM on a Tuesday and i cannot wait for 2 day prime.


ugh for the most part this thread is turning out like i thought it would. Fry's and Microcenter being the only options.  I was really hoping that there might be a single keyboard only shop in Palo Alto or some **** like that.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: mashby on Mon, 29 April 2013, 13:29:30
MechanicalKeyboard.com has a brick and mortar presence, but only one location. Don't know if that counts for your list, but I thought I'd put it out there nonetheless.


i would love to find out where this is!

Mechanical Keyboards Inc
7107 Juniper Road, Fairview, TN 37062 (http://url=http://goo.gl/maps/sIgso)
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: trrc on Mon, 29 April 2013, 15:31:22
Frys / Best Buy / CC / NCIX / Tiger Direct & CompUSA / Microcenter / Future Shop / J&R
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: lazerpointer on Mon, 29 April 2013, 16:05:38
Not online stores, trrc - we're after physical locations.

I would love to find a place in southern California like this, but it will never happen. Maybe I will open a keyboard shop one day...
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: trrc on Mon, 29 April 2013, 19:06:33
Not online stores, trrc - we're after physical locations.

I would love to find a place in southern California like this, but it will never happen. Maybe I will open a keyboard shop one day...

Every store I listed has a retail location if not multiple.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: Carter on Mon, 29 April 2013, 19:12:15
CM is located in Socal. We will be attending a LAN @ UCLA on MAY 18th. We will have quite a few switch types with us to showcase.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: Sir Cumference on Tue, 30 April 2013, 17:33:02
Just a heads up. I visited the MicroCenter in Tustin, CA today and they dont have demo keyboards to test anymore. They're all inside their packaging, on the shelf.

One of the guys I spoke to told me people would steal them. Sucks because I really wanted to test out a Cherry Brown before I settle on a keyboard (leaning towards Clears).

They did have a Cherry Blue keyboard to test (Vengeance or Trigger, I forgot) because of the cut-out above the arrow keys.

Anyway, I remember 5-6 years ago they used to have keyboards sitting out in the open, but of course, at that time mechanical keyboards weren't popular.
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: Tarzan on Tue, 30 April 2013, 17:59:04
Just a heads up. I visited the MicroCenter in Tustin, CA today and they dont have demo keyboards to test anymore. They're all inside their packaging, on the shelf.

One of the guys I spoke to told me people would steal them. Sucks because I really wanted to test out a Cherry Brown before I settle on a keyboard (leaning towards Clears).

They did have a Cherry Blue keyboard to test (Vengeance or Trigger, I forgot) because of the cut-out above the arrow keys.

Anyway, I remember 5-6 years ago they used to have keyboards sitting out in the open, but of course, at that time mechanical keyboards weren't popular.

You're too honest.  If the keyboard I want to try out at my local MicroCenter is the one in a package, I open it.  What?  I'm not going to buy a keyboard without trying it out!

 ;D 
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: lazerpointer on Tue, 30 April 2013, 18:23:48
Just a heads up. I visited the MicroCenter in Tustin, CA today and they dont have demo keyboards to test anymore. They're all inside their packaging, on the shelf.

One of the guys I spoke to told me people would steal them. Sucks because I really wanted to test out a Cherry Brown before I settle on a keyboard (leaning towards Clears).

They did have a Cherry Blue keyboard to test (Vengeance or Trigger, I forgot) because of the cut-out above the arrow keys.

Anyway, I remember 5-6 years ago they used to have keyboards sitting out in the open, but of course, at that time mechanical keyboards weren't popular.

I also frequent that location and am disturbed by their lack of demo hardware...

Makes one appreciate the Anaheim Fry's - hey have a huge display of demo boards. Every time I go there I walk by tapping random keys.. People are probably wondering wtf I'm thinking lol
Title: Re: Brick and Mortar Keyboard Stores
Post by: Sir Cumference on Wed, 01 May 2013, 01:31:28
Just a heads up. I visited the MicroCenter in Tustin, CA today and they dont have demo keyboards to test anymore. They're all inside their packaging, on the shelf.

One of the guys I spoke to told me people would steal them. Sucks because I really wanted to test out a Cherry Brown before I settle on a keyboard (leaning towards Clears).

They did have a Cherry Blue keyboard to test (Vengeance or Trigger, I forgot) because of the cut-out above the arrow keys.

Anyway, I remember 5-6 years ago they used to have keyboards sitting out in the open, but of course, at that time mechanical keyboards weren't popular.

You're too honest.  If the keyboard I want to try out at my local MicroCenter is the one in a package, I open it.  What?  I'm not going to buy a keyboard without trying it out!

 ;D

Lol, that's what the guy pretty much said to me. I can buy it and open it up right there in the store to test it out and if I don't like it, I can just return it. Seems like a hassle though, so I declined. Plus, I didn't recall seeing any Brown switches.

I also frequent that location and am disturbed by their lack of demo hardware...

Makes one appreciate the Anaheim Fry's - hey have a huge display of demo boards. Every time I go there I walk by tapping random keys.. People are probably wondering wtf I'm thinking lol

Guess I'll be visiting either Fry's in OC when I get the chance.  :)

I spent like a minute straight just hitting those arrow keys when I was testing the Cherry Blues lol. I have to say - the Blues are pretty nice. That was my first time trying a mechanical switch and after watching countless Youtube videos on the different switches, the Blues sound and felt exactly like I thought it would. Unfortunately, it's not ideal for me right this moment. Definitely would consider it in the future.