[grmarcil]

I was a member at TechShop RDU for a couple years. It started as an independent makerspace, got acquired by TechShop in 2011, then closed in 2013. It was a really cool place and I miss it. A lot of interesting characters there.

As others have said in this thread, I think TS had a tough value proposition to build a business model around. Classes were a pain and a fairly big start-up cost for new members, but inevitable to satisfy insurance requirements. The monthly membership fee was fairly cheap considering the awesome equipment they had, but expensive if you could only manage to go a few days a month. Plus whatever storage fees for larger projects and/or the hassle of carting your stuff around.

On top of that, management at both locations I used (RDU and Arlington) seemed a bit chaotic. Sad to see them go out of business either way.