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.

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.

Jan, please post us a picture. Ironically just got back from Brussels after the FOSDEM meetup ( Which was AWESOME BTW!!)

Glasgow would be a good area to start in .... Obviously Edinburgh is rather more affluent!!

But Glasgow is more than 100 miles away and they speak a different language:

Drunken Glaswegian: Are you English ?

Me: No, I was born in Edinburgh.

Drunken Glaswegian: You poor *!?!!

I met him in a bar while I was waiting for an IET seminar to start.

MK

from the internet:

Elak. Best place in town.

100 miles south of Edinburgh or Glasgow would put you back in to Civilization no problems .....Not sure if you would sell any more RPis there though.

To me that store looked more like a Library. I think the issues we are all having with it is that it seems to lack the down an dirty getting on with it look that we had in the stores of our childhood!

The idea of bringing in a whole new generation of kids on through  school to Uni with a good level of computer skills as more to do with what you do with the gear rather than the gear it's self. you really need to be able to get into the guts of all this and do things yourself to really learn which may mean breaking a few RPis (;-) ) . Is this too clinical we ask ?!

Looks Like Maplin in it's mid phase between been a very geeky store with mostly components and it's final incarnation as a purveyor of  electrical tat.

Lets hope it stays for a good while yet!

Problemchild  wrote:

 

Looks Like Maplin in it's mid phase between been a very geeky store with mostly components and it's final incarnation as a purveyor of  electrical tat.

 

Lets hope it stays for a good while yet!

biggest part of the store is geeky. I couldn’t find a photo online though...

Hey Shabaz I can understand what you are saying  but I think the issue is more socio economic. Also kids for the most part don't want to play with the RPI it's a dead lump of plastic until you animate it and these other "toys"  work out of the packet.

I think it's unfortunate but it wrong to think like we did where we had blind enthusiasm and an urge to program and play with these things. OK this was more of a thing in the 80's but then it had to be as everything was less polished, now this isn't the case they are just a product like buns so very few want a make your own bun kit but most like eating buns however.

You're probably right, nevertheless sticking a store design such as this in Cambridge surely only appeals to the middle-class, parents who are aware of what the Pi already is. They may as well have designed it like a Jimmy Choo in London or similar - same thing. Others may be fine with it, but I don't like seeing such exclusiveness like that from any charity.. Anyway it's just an opinion.

They could have set it up next to a public library, or inside. That's where kids from all backgrounds can be found..

You're probably right, nevertheless sticking a store design such as this in Cambridge surely only appeals to the middle-class, parents who are aware of what the Pi already is. They may as well have designed it like a Jimmy Choo in London or similar - same thing. Others may be fine with it, but I don't like seeing such exclusiveness like that from any charity.. Anyway it's just an opinion.

They could have set it up next to a public library, or inside. That's where kids from all backgrounds can be found..

shabaz  wrote:

 

They could have set it up next to a public library, or inside. That's where kids from all backgrounds can be found..

Or, have the ability to check out a RasPi Kit or even a PiTop from a local library for the price or a library card.