Valley Life
The Aztec-themed former big-box store is getting a new lease on life.
By Benjamin Leatherman
July 26, 2024
The Aztec-themed Fry's Electronics on Thunderbird Road in north Phoenix.Qygen/CC BY-SA 3.0/Wikimedia Commons
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One of the Valley’s most distinctive big-box stores is set to become the new home base for Phoenix fire and police personnel.
An old Fry’s Electronics location on Thunderbird Road and 30th Avenue, which resembled an Aztec temple, is in the process of being acquired by the City of Phoenix and will house a new headquarters for the Cactus Park Police Precinct and a future fire station.
The store closed in 2021 after the Fry’s Electronics retail chain, which operated dozens of stores nationwide, went out of business. The 12.5-acre property, which opened in 1999, has sat vacant ever since.
On June 26, the Phoenix City Council voted unanimously to authorize the purchase of the property.
According to the city of Phoenix website, approximately 8.5 acres of the property will be used for the Cactus Park Police Precinct while four acres would potentially become a future fire station.
Ashley Patton, a spokesperson for the city, told Phoenix New Times via email the process of acquiring the store is in its earliest stages and a timetable for the project hasn't been set.
She didn’t disclose if the existing structure will be reused or razed.
click to enlarge
Some of the Aztec-inspired figures inside Fry's Electronics in north Phoenix.
Robrt L. Pela
The history of Fry’s Electronics in metro Phoenix
Fry’s Electronics originated in Silicon Valley in 1985 and expanded to multiple locations in California and eight other states over the following decades.
The chain’s first Arizona store opened on Baseline Road just west of Interstate 10 in June 1997. The Thunderbird Road location followed two years later.
Like many of the chain’s other locations, each Fry’s Electronics in the Valley had a distinct theme and décor that was typically inspired by something unique to the area. (The Fry’s in San Diego looked like an aircraft carier, for instance, while the location near Houston was displayed a mockup of the International Space Station.)
The Tempe store featured a golf motif while the Thunderbird Road resembled an Aztec temple, including an outdoor facade resembling the entrance to a temple (complete with two giant dragons). The theme carried over to the location's interior, including a life-sized diorama of costumed mannequins sacrificing antiquated PCs and outdate electronics to their gods.
‘I'm here for an Aztec fire station’
The Fry’s Electronics on Thunderbird Road was a favorite of many Valley residents because of its kitschy décor and Aztec-inspired facade.
In the years since its closure, some locals have had their own ideas about what could be done with the property.
Some wanted it to become indoor go-kart track, laser tag arena or skateboard park. Others have hoped MicroCenter, the Ohio-based computer and electronics retail chain, would use it for a Phoenix location.
When word of the Phoenix’s acquisition of the former store was posted on social media last month, many expressed dissapointment at the news.
Over on r/Phoenix, the locally focused section of Reddit, users commented in a post about Phoenix's plans for the property that they’d like the Cactus Park Police Precinct and a fire station utilize the store’s Aztec aspects.
"I'm here for an Aztec fire station," a Reddit used named LightningMcSwing wrote. "Release the dragon."
Another Reddit user named sugar_free-donut replied, “Aztec death whistle intensifies.”
Others want the city to lean into the Aztec theme, like Reddit user Embarrassed-Sun5764.
“Make it so when there is a 3 alarm fire the volcanoes erupt and the stone fixtures erupt smoke,” they wrote.
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