Hello Everyone
I am not a business minded person but, recently I thought of one that I firmly believe would be successful. Recently I have gotten into the Maker and 3D printing hobby. I find myself working on different models quite often and printing almost 24-7.
During one of my larger multi-part prints, I found myself running out of filament. That is usually not a problem but, this particular filament is often sold out everywhere. I was able to find it in a large 2KG spool on Prusa3D to order. That is not a HUGE problem but due to this company being in Prague, it usually takes a little while to arrive here in the United States. Shipping is also incredibly expensive from Prusa’s website to the United States.
I could have easily picked a different companies filament to use but it would not be color matched. While this may not matter to everyone, it would bother me.
This led me to think of how great it would be if there were stores that sold 3D printers, their parts, and filament. There are a few stores out there but they are not common. If you are lucky enough to live close to a Micro Center, you should be OK if you need something but, those of us that do not have one nearby, have to order almost everything online. That is not a huge problem but it can take a while to get to you in some cases and, that is not ideal when you have a large print paused waiting for a new roll of filament.
I am a part of several different groups and communities that are also in the 3D printing hobby so I think a store or even a chain of stores that sold these products would be an excellent business idea. If you run out of a certain color of filament, you can run down to one of these stores and pick up a spool and get back to printing. Of course, you could plan ahead and order the filament before hand so you have plenty even before you get started. If you have other things to print while you put the big project on hold for a while that is fine but if the big one is the only project you have, your printer is just sitting there not being used.
If you notice that your prints begin to look a little rough over and over again across everything you print, you may need a new nozzle. Again, you can order plenty of these and have them on hand, but if you don’t have one on standby, a 3D printing store would be hugely beneficial in this situation. You could easily head down to the store and get what you needed and be home and printing again in just a few hours time if it took that long.
There are countless numbers of people asking in Facebook groups about which printer they should buy getting into the hobby. Having someone that could probe them and get some information out of them regarding what kind of things they would like to do with their printer could better help them and make a good recommendation for which printer they should purchase.
If this store had a display case that housed 3D prints from the local community for display or even if they were for sale, this could give a new comer to the hobby ideas of what they might like to do. They may also see a model and want to buy that and support another maker at the same time. This could be beneficial to everyone involved.
If the store location was big enough you could also have a maker lab on site and allow people to come together in the community and help others bring their ideas to life. It would be awesome to have classes where you could learn the basics of 3D modeling. If you needed help with something with your idea, having someone that has the ability to help you that the store owner could give you their information and being able to reach out to them for assistance would be incredible. Obviously, they couldn’t be on premise all the time but being able to communicate with them and get help could be beneficial.
This is something that the Prusa factory has in Prague. A maker lab that allows people to come in and make things. That is a fantastic idea and because of that, I will do everything I can to support a company that supports their community like that, even if it is in a completely different country.
I just wish there was more of a local presence in this hobby outside of the few larger cities that have a Micro Center. There are some stores out there I’m sure but I have looked to see if there are any in central Florida and all I have found were places that did 3D printer repair.
Again, I am not really a business man but if someone were to take this idea and run with it, I would love to see it. I think it could benefit a lot of people and help others express their creativity.