Is this the start of maker shops, like I'd hoped Maplin would convert into, or a vanity project that'll never catch on outside its home town?
https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/guess-what/
Cambridge already has a pretty thriving makerspace - http://makespace.org/ although it might be interesting to see a less machine-heavy extension into some retail space somewhere.
It's a nice idea and I like the Pi very much, have a few at home - but I just can't see it scaling up anywhere else. The kind of people who want a Pi already have one - is there (still) a massive untapped market for them?
The Pi was originally intended to be an educational tool for kids; it turned out to be incredibly popular with hobbyists. Unless our current dystopian nightmare is now literally the plot of Children of Men, people keep making new children.
The pitch for Raspberry Pi is that if you use it, you'll gain the skills you'll need if you want to be the next Elon Musk or design the next Fortnite. For that message to be credible, it needs to be presented like a grown-up piece of technology. Marketing the Raspberry Pi as a toy would be a bad call, because it isn't fun fun - you need to put the effort in to get anything from it. It's the sort of high-effort, high-reward fun that makes you feel powerful and capable and clever. The resemblance to the Apple Store is not coincidental; Apple products are the aspirational item for the vast majority of children.
I'd draw an analogy to the role of chemistry sets or The North Poleno in years past - they weren't the most obviously fun toys, but they offered deep enjoyment and the first step towards a fulfilling career.
There is a massive market for add-on boards and stuff. Whether the shop spreads out to sell non-pi stuff will be interesting.
(Banggood are selling ESP32 webcam boards for $10, ffs...)
