Last year, emboldened by the success of Techshop in the Bay Area, a new Techshop was opened in Portland, Oregon. Now it appears that it has closed and may be moving to a new area — one of the founding members posted the news over on the Home Shop Machinist forums, and looking at the forums for the Portland techshop it looks like it’s true.
Hopefully, they’ll be able to start up again although that first post doesn’t seem as optimistic as the Techshop page. It seems that you need a large enough population to support a venture like this, something the Bay Area has and Portland doesn’t. Also people in Oregon are already DIY types and have their own workshops, which is more cost prohibitive down in CA. In any case, it’s sad news and we applaud them for trying to bring the world of tools to people who wouldn’t otherwise have the opportunity to create.
What do you guys think of the news? Any Techshop members out there? What do you think the solution is for collective shop space, or is it just a case of a concept that won’t work just anywhere?