Raspberry Pi Store opens in the UK

I think it looks awful. I wonder who it's supposed to appeal to - parents already educated on what the Pi is, or kids. The interesting bits are under glass! And if I were (say) 12, I wouldn't find those shelves of content interesting.

They ought to test that store style in a more 'normal' town/city, where there is less wealth, and there are no similar-looking Apple or Microsoft stores..

shabaz  wrote:

 

The interesting bits are under glass!

The counter in the middle has Raspberry Pi boards connected with an associated monitor and Keyboard and Mouse to interact with; kinda of like an Apple store.  There are also Pi's with what looks like 7" LED screens along the wall with Monitors and Keyboard and mice.   In the US at least, they would have to be sure to lock those boards down otherwise they will walk off.

From my experience, not all parents are educated on what a Pi is; few for that matter.  Many kids learn in the classroom and outside of those tech minded parents or maker types, the parents have no clue what the kids are learning.  Those were fun interactions at the local Maker Faire last year. 

As far as not looking like an Apple or Microsoft Store (who goes into them outside of accessing free wifi anyway), good, I'm glad they went that direction.  However, I was not impressed in the new Lego store that went up at a local mall though.

I've only casually observed externally Apple/Microsoft stores, to me it looked similar, appealing to the wealthier clientele, but my wording wasn't great. I shouldn't have assumed this is what those stores are like inside.

I love the US malls from what little I've seen. Especially the kids play areas, food courts for families etc.

In the UK, many large towns are unlikely to have the high-end stores, some are even lucky to have a book store. A store looking like above appeals to wealthy/middle-class families, who may already have a tech-savvy family member.

But I don't like the store idea anyway, because most families would have trouble spending the cost of a Pi on a child, and in that context, it's distasteful when the impression (unintentionally) that is left is that if you want to educate your child in technology, this is the stuff you have to buy : ( I wonder if their intent is to be more of a walk-in helpdesk, and occasionally sell Pi's perhaps.. the 'Pi Store' name is unfortunate.

Maker Faire's are mind-blowingly great, and something of interest for all ages it seems. They're a lot of fun.

shabaz  wrote:

 

, because most families would have trouble spending the cost of a Pi on a child,

I'm going to have to call you out on this one (in the nicest way possible) - I couldn't find any figures for distribution of Christmas present spending on children but I did find this:

Retailers predict £1.1bn will be spent on toys this Christmas, with an average of £105 spent on younger children.

and that was for 2016 : www.telegraph.co.uk/christmas/2016/12/05/much-should-spend-christmas-presents-year/

This suggests to me that the PI is not outside the reach of most families (it would take more research to prove it, but I wonder where you got your data from.)

I couldn't find any large towns without book shops either - but I couldn't easily find relevant stats, so I used www.booksellers.org.uk/bookshopsearch.aspx and looked in places featuring on lists of poorest areas in UK.

In Jaywick you would need to travel 1.4 miles to WH Smith or 10 miles to Waterstones, but Jaywick is the "most deprived area" in the country and not that large.

I don't much love the R Pi org but it is pretty cheap (in a good way).

MK

" A store looking like above appeals to wealthy/middle-class families, who may already have a tech-savvy family member.

But I don't like the store idea anyway, because most families would have trouble spending the cost of a Pi on a child, and in that context, it's distasteful when the impression (unintentionally) that is left is that if you want to educate your child in technology, this is the stuff you have to buy "

Wasn't one of the original aims of the Raspberry Pi to produce a low cost affordable microcomputer for education though ? (However the additional peripherals quickly bump the price up somewhat.)

I recall back in the 1980's if you wanted to educate your child in technology in the UK, you were expected to have to pay out around £250 - £300 for the basic BBC micro, as that is what the schools would ultimately be using. More if you wanted the monitor to go with it ( to avoid losing access to the TV in the living room for hours on end ), the data recorder / disk drive and ultimately a dot matrix printer.

I was surprised recently at how much lower income parents still allow their children to spend throughout the year on apps stores for games.

beacon_dave  wrote: ...

 

I was surprised recently at how much lower income parents still allow their children to spend throughout the year on apps stores for games.

Because parents would rather eat a slice of bread less than see their kids getting isolated on playgrounds?

Hi Michael,

You're right, my guess could be extremely wrong, it is just based on local perceptions.

Ten years ago, I'd sometimes people-watch at the local Woolworths (long story why - there was a technical reason!) what saddened me was just watching parents.. we concluded that nearly every time it would be the case that parents (especially mums with their kids), would pick a £5 toy over a £10 toy. I could only speculate that if they were single mums who were extra sensitive that they needed to make their money reach.

A Pi isn't the same as a toy, it's educational, so I do believe parents will spend more and do everything in their capabilities, but it's still not nice seeing that store design.. I can't put my finger on it, it seems unpleasant having your education priced on an upmarket shelf perhaps, in an exclusive-looking Apple-like store.

We have a local WH Smith store in a town of 160,000, and no other new or used bookshops as far as I'm aware : ( apart from a charity shop or two which have a small collection of whatever gets donated.

It's probably not a good comparison that I made, although for me Amazon is good enough, and networks of colleagues who occasionally recommend books.

I don't like the look of the store either.

It evokes the same feeling as glossy websites with no actual data sheets available.

It won't encourage people to really get into how things work but it's all designed at making it an artificial experience where stuff is consumed as is rather than messed about with.

It encourages you to eat cake but doesn't really want you to bake any yourself.

I would prefer a shop with boxes on the floor, racks of parts without quite enough room in between, second hand stuff as well as new and staff who look more like e14 people and less like Mr Bearded Millennial in the promo video.

MK

That's exactly how the electronics shop in Brussels is, Michael. Loads of components

, bench tools, enclosures. Paradise.

Perhaps I should open one here - do you think many people would make the trip ?

South West Scotland is one of the least populated areas of the UK

MK

They are always crowded, sell DJ, smart house, security, networking devices too.

When I order from element14, I do it via them. In Belgium you need a VAT number to be able to order, and the markup in the shop is lower than the shipping costs.

And I don't have to stay home the delivery day. I can pick up at my own time.

we concluded that nearly every time it would be the case that parents (especially mums with their kids), would pick a £5 toy over a £10 toy. I could only speculate that if they were single mums who were extra sensitive that they needed to make their money reach.

It could also be to do with toys typically having a very short lifespan in terms of child interest. Does a £10 toy get played with twice as much or for twice as long as a £5 toy or does it end up at the bottom of the toy cupboard just as quickly ? I can always recall parents saying that their children often got more fun out of playing with the large cardboard box than with the expensive toy which came inside it.

A Pi isn't the same as a toy, it's educational, so I do believe parents will spend more and do everything in their capabilities, but it's still not nice seeing that store design..

It probably relates closer to that of a craft or hobby more than to that of a toy. It's also only educational if it comes with the right resources to support educational activity, which is often sadly overlooked. Back in the 80's this was one of the problems with the home microcomputer market  as there often wasn't the educational material to support the learning activities. As a result, most probably ended up as games consoles rather than educational devices.

we concluded that nearly every time it would be the case that parents (especially mums with their kids), would pick a £5 toy over a £10 toy. I could only speculate that if they were single mums who were extra sensitive that they needed to make their money reach.

It could also be to do with toys typically having a very short lifespan in terms of child interest. Does a £10 toy get played with twice as much or for twice as long as a £5 toy or does it end up at the bottom of the toy cupboard just as quickly ? I can always recall parents saying that their children often got more fun out of playing with the large cardboard box than with the expensive toy which came inside it.

A Pi isn't the same as a toy, it's educational, so I do believe parents will spend more and do everything in their capabilities, but it's still not nice seeing that store design..

It probably relates closer to that of a craft or hobby more than to that of a toy. It's also only educational if it comes with the right resources to support educational activity, which is often sadly overlooked. Back in the 80's this was one of the problems with the home microcomputer market  as there often wasn't the educational material to support the learning activities. As a result, most probably ended up as games consoles rather than educational devices.