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While waiting in line at most supermarket registers, shoppers stand
between two shelves of small, well-merchandised convenience items.
Candy, Gum, Magazines and Soda Pop. Fry's Electronics has taken this concept to an extreme. Honk if you have been there. If you haven't, you are missing out on one of the most shameless constructions of ruthless merchandising that exists in America. Fry's sells computers and motherboards, and HiDef televisions and wireless hubs. It is a nice place to visit. A fun place. There are many cash registers at Fry's in Sacramento, as many as 42 open on busy weekends. Rather than having a separate line for each cashier, they route all shoppers into a long queue, which is distributed among the cashiers. This long queue snakes through a grand marketing canyon, which I like to call the Point of Sale Trail. On a continuous wall of pegboard, there are items for sale: Chips, salsa, candy, gum, batteries, CDs, sunglasses, over the counter medicine, toys, DVDs, coffee beans, cables, headphones, handheld games, earplugs, laser pointers, keyrings, razors, mints, kits and fans.
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