Maybe Fry's is just that massive (never saw one IRL) but the MC near me has got damn near 5 varieties of everything. I mean this place is like a real life Newegg. If it's something you can order for your PC, they probably have it.
Fry's is large, but computer junk is just a small part of their sales floor space. Large appliances (washers, refrigerators, etc.), home theater, huge DVD, CD section, car stereo, small appliances (vacuums, coffee makers, etc.) make up much more of their sales floor space than computer crap does. Fry's is more like Best Buy with a decent-to-great computer component section thrown in.
BUT.....MicroCenter doesn't have the reputation of repacking returned memory and cpus and reselling them as new (Fyr's is terrible about this....have had to return more than a couple of each due to them being a used item) that Fry's does.
And since the "scandal" that happened a couple of years ago with the head buyer for computer purchasing, the cpu/mb combos have really decreased in volume and savings.....rarely do you see the weekly ECS/whatever cpu combo for the price of the cpu alone that used to be a staple of Fry's. Now, MC simply has better cpu prices...by far.
And, try to look at Fry's cpus for lot number, stepping, etc. Won't happen. MicroCenter, on the other hand, has always had the vast majority of their cpus sitting out, easily seen for any discriminator you care to use to weed them out....build date, lot, stepping, etc. And if the one you want to look at isn't on the shelf, they'll go get them until you find the one you want.....and smile the whole time.
Not to mention you're not treated like a scammer/criminal when you return something to Microcenter, unlike Fry's.
Then there's the whole heatsink/fan selection. Fry's is horrible....MC, much better. And MC has at least a decent selection of watercooling supplies....Fry's, nothing outside a couple of kits.
Also MC doesn't have Door Nazi's and isn't staffed by FOB's who barely speak English (Might have changed, haven't been to a Fry's in over 7 years)
Nothing's changed at all. Either FOB's or kids who either don't know jack about the product they're there to sell, or start belittling the customer because they're buying an Intel processor instead of the AMD the sales kid thinks is vastly superior.
I frequent two MC's and two Fry's, both in ATL. I bypass Fry's in favor of MC almost every time. Try to get one Fry's to call the other to hold the last remaining item so you can get over there to buy it......you won't. MC.....they're more than happy to do it.
Fry's is great if you are a noob to either store. MC is for the smarter shopper......and are fed up with Fry's shenanigans.