TechShop was a chain of membership-based, open-access,
do-it-yourself
"Do it yourself" ("DIY") is the method of building, modifying, or repairing things by oneself without the direct aid of professionals or certified experts. Academic research has described DIY as behaviors where "individuals use raw and semi ...
(DIY) workshops and fabrication studios. they had ten locations in the United States: three in California, one in Arizona, one in Arlington, Virginia (near DC), one in Michigan, one in Texas, one in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania,
one in St. Louis, Missouri, and one in Brooklyn, New York, as well as four international locations.
TechShop offered safety and basic use training on all of its tools and equipment in addition to advanced and special interest classes and workshops. For most equipment, a safety and use class had to be completed before it could be used. It was affiliated with the
maker culture and participated in annual
Maker Faire events.
On November 15, 2017, with no warning, the company closed all domestic locations and announced it would declare bankruptcy under
Chapter 7 of the U.S. bankruptcy code (immediate liquidation). An effort to purchase the company's assets and reopen the workshops fell through; however, the San Francisco location was reopened by a new owner on February 19, 2018. The original TechShop filed for bankruptcy a few days later, on February 26, 2018.
History
TechShop was founded by Jim Newton and Ridge McGhee. Jim Newton originally wanted to establish a place with tools to work on pet projects.
Newton, who had been a science adviser to the TV show ''
MythBusters
''MythBusters'' is a science entertainment television program, developed by Peter Rees and produced by Australia's Beyond Television Productions. The series premiered on the Discovery Channel on January 23, 2003. It was broadcast internatio ...
'' and a
College of San Mateo
College of San Mateo (CSM) is a public community college in San Mateo, California. It is part of the San Mateo County Community College District. College of San Mateo is located at the northern corridor of Silicon Valley and situated on a 153 ...
robotics teacher, was also motivated by his students' frustration with lack of access to equipment.
Ridge McGhee, a resident of Atherton, California, was upset by the loss of American manufacturing capability to other countries.
After a highly successful donation drive, the first TechShop officially opened to the public on October 1, 2006 in Menlo Park, California.
TechShop had over 9,000 active members and trained over 100,000 people through their skill building classes and STEAM youth programs.
Sudden closure
On November 15, 2017, with no formal warning, TechShop announced its immediate closure and planned Chapter 7 bankruptcy
Chapter 7 of Title 11 of the United States Code (Bankruptcy Code) governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States, in contrast to Chapters 11 and 13, which govern the process of ''reorganization'' of a debto ...
. TechShop's locations outside of the United States are not affected and will remain open. TechShop filed bankruptcy on February 26, 2018.
Attempted acquisition
A group headed by Dan Rasure of Kansas announced in December 2017 that it was attempting to acquire the company's assets including secured debt and planned to reopen some of the TechShop locations under the name TechShop 2.0. That effort fell through; Rasure announced in February 2018 that he would reopen the downtown San Francisco location later that month and possibly also open a new San Jose location. His company, TechShop 2.0, is independent of the original TechShop.
Trademark dispute
On February 16, 2018, the original TechShop filed a lawsuit alleging tradename
A trade name, trading name, or business name, is a pseudonym used by companies that do not operate under their registered company name. The term for this type of alternative name is a "fictitious" business name. Registering the fictitious name w ...
and trademark
A trademark (also written trade mark or trade-mark) is a type of intellectual property consisting of a recognizable sign, design, or expression that identifies products or services from a particular source and distinguishes them from others ...
violations by the new company. The new company immediately changed its name to "TheShop.Build." A trial began on June 4, 2019 in Oakland, California. On June 12, 2019, the trial jury returned a verdict, finding that "TheShop" willfully infringed on Techshop's service mark, but also finding zero profit from the use, and no actual damages. Attorneys for the bankrupt Techshop indicated they will appeal the zero jury verdict. On March 9, 2020, Federal Judge Haywood S. Gilliam, Jr. denied several plaintiff motions, including a request for a new trial. No more court filings occurred since March 17, 2020.
Locations
US (closed) - Allen Park, MI; Arlington, VA; Beaverton, OR; Chandler, AZ; Pittsburgh, PA; Redwood City, CA; Round Rock, TX; San Jose, CA; San Francisco, CA; St Louis, MO, and Brooklyn, NYC.
International - Tokyo, Japan; Abu Dhabi, UAE; Paris & Lille, France
Partnerships
A location in Metro Detroit opened on May 4, 2012 in a 38,000-square-foot facility in the suburb of Allen Park
Allen Park is a city in Wayne County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 28,638.
Ford Motor Company is an integral part of the community. Many of the company's offices and facilities lie within the city limit ...
. This facility was launched in a partnership between Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
and software company Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc. is an American multinational software corporation that makes software products and services for the architecture, engineering, construction, manufacturing, media, education, and entertainment industries. Autodesk is headquartered ...
, and was the largest TechShop facility.
TechShop Austin-Round Rock, serving the metro Austin (Texas) area, opened on October 13, 2012. It was located adjacent to a Lowe's
Lowe's Companies, Inc. (), often shortened to Lowe's, is an American retail company specializing in home improvement. Headquartered in Mooresville, North Carolina, the company operates a chain of retail stores in the United States and Canada. A ...
home improvement store and partnered with the chain to host workshops, supply tools, and provide materials.
TechShop opened a location in Chandler, Arizona, in partnership with Arizona State University
Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...
on January 17, 2014. The first university-TechShop partnering was located at the ASU Chandler Innovation Center, an engineering and technology-based education and research hub located in downtown Chandler at the city's former public works yard at 249 E. Chicago Street.
Internationally, TechShop had partnership locations in Tokyo (with Fujitsu
is a Japanese multinational information and communications technology equipment and services corporation, established in 1935 and headquartered in Tokyo. Fujitsu is the world's sixth-largest IT services provider by annual revenue, and the la ...
), the United Arab Emirates (with the Department of Education And Knowledge - ADEK ), and Ivry (next to Paris), France (with ADEO Leroy Merlin
Leroy Merlin () is a French-headquartered home improvement and gardening retailer serving several countries in Europe, Asia, South America, and Africa. Leroy Merlin is owned by the Mulliez family, which also owns Auchan.
History
In 1923, Ad ...
).
Additional partnerships included Samsung
The Samsung Group (or simply Samsung) ( ko, 삼성 ) is a South Korean multinational manufacturing conglomerate headquartered in Samsung Town, Seoul, South Korea. It comprises numerous affiliated businesses, most of them united under the ...
, Instructables
Instructables is a website specializing in user-created and uploaded do-it-yourself projects, currently owned by Autodesk. It was created by Eric Wilhelm and Saul Griffith and launched in August 2005. Instructables is dedicated to step-by-step ...
, Cortex, FutureWorks NYC, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, National Instruments
National Instruments Corporation, doing business as NI, is an American multinational company with international operation. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, it is a producer of automated test equipment and virtual instrumentation software. C ...
, and DARPA
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is a research and development agency of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of emerging technologies for use by the military.
Originally known as the Adv ...
.
Typical tools and equipment offered
*Table saw
A table saw (also known as a sawbench or bench saw in England) is a woodworking tool, consisting of a circular saw blade, mounted on an arbor, that is driven by an electric motor (either directly, by belt, or by gears). The blade protrudes t ...
* Power miter saw
*Abrasive saw
__NOTOC__
An abrasive saw, also known as a cut-off saw or chop saw, is a circular saw (a kind of power tool) which is typically used to cut hard materials, such as metals, tile, and concrete. The cutting action is performed by an abrasive disc, ...
*Manual mills, Tormach 3 + 1 axis CNC
Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a p ...
mill, and metal lathes
*ShopBot 3 axis CNC
Numerical control (also computer numerical control, and commonly called CNC) is the automated control of machining tools (such as drills, lathes, mills, grinders, routers and 3D printers) by means of a computer. A CNC machine processes a p ...
router
*Welding equipment including MIG, TIG, gas, and arc welders
*Sheet metal fabrication equipment
*Oscilloscopes
An oscilloscope (informally a scope) is a type of electronic test instrument that graphically displays varying electrical voltages as a two-dimensional plot of one or more signals as a function of time. The main purposes are to display repetiti ...
and other electronics equipment
*Equipment for working with plastics
*Laser cutter
A laser is a device that emits light through a process of optical amplification based on the stimulated emission of electromagnetic radiation. The word "laser" is an acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation". The fir ...
and engraver
*Entry-level 3D printers.
*Textiles area with home and industrial sewing machines
*STEAM
Steam is a substance containing water in the gas phase, and sometimes also an aerosol of liquid water droplets, or air. This may occur due to evaporation or due to boiling, where heat is applied until water reaches the enthalpy of vaporization ...
lab for youth
Alternatives
The sudden and unexpected closure of TechShop created a crisis for many small businesses and hobbyists who depended upon TechShop for the unique services it offered.[ In the scramble that followed, several alternatives were sought out or founded.
One of them was the reopening of the San Francisco location under the name "TheShop.build" by a new owner, Dan Rasure. A second location was opened in San Jose.] However, both locations closed in less than one year and the organization's web site was taken down. An email from Dan Rasure stated that over $2 million was spent on legal fees fighting TechShop stakeholders.
Noisebridge
Noisebridge is an anarchistic maker and hackerspace located in San Francisco, inspired by European hackerspaces Metalab and c-base in Berlin. It describes itself as "a space for sharing, creation, collaboration, research, development, mentor ...
, a nonprofit hackerspace
A hackerspace (also referred to as a hacklab, hackspace, or makerspace) is a community-operated, often "not for profit" (501(c)(3) in the United States), workspace where people with common interests, such as computers, machining, technology, sc ...
in San Francisco, held a Life After Techshop meetup to welcome former TechShop members.
In Chandler, users created their own space, with the help of the city.
In response to the closing, a group of makers in the San Francisco Bay Area created a new nonprofit called "Maker Nexus" in Sunnyvale.
References
External links
TechShop now defunct web site
TheShop official website
Five ways the Maker Movement can help catalyze a manufacturing renaissance
This 22,000-Square-Foot Makerspace Is An Inventor's Paradise
TechShop: Paradise for Tinkerers
Step inside an inventor's playground
TechShop gives the Maker Movement a big boost
TechShop Discussion Forum on Reddit
Maker Nexus
{{Hackerspace
DIY culture
Retail companies established in 2006
Hackerspaces
2006 establishments in California
Retail companies disestablished in 2017
2017 disestablishments in California
Insolvent companies