Dec.24, 2013

Husband and wife team Liza Wallach and Nick Kloski opened the first 3D printing store HoneyBee3D in the Montclair district of Oakland, Calif. in October.

The shop is the first of its kind in Northern California, said Liza Wallach. She has had this storefront, a successful jewelry store since 2003. Her husband Nick Kloski, who has worked 18 years in Silicon Valley for Sun Microsystems and for Oracle, had a passion for 3D printers. A few years ago, when some patents expired that made 3D printing cheaper, Wallach and her husband made plans to turn the family jewelry store into the first Holleybee3D 3D print shop.

"It brought us together because his natural talent and interests in technology and my interests in business and design are really the perfect match for 3-D printing," said Wallach.

The store is located in an upscale outdoor shopping village. "When we first started construction in the retail space for HoneyBee3D I have to admit that many people walking by the street had no idea what 3D printing was." says Wallach.

Curious people would ask "what kind of store was this?" We spent a lot of time going over the basics with people and then we would see the same thing over and over again. Jaw dropping silence. It seemed that people (that just happen to wander by our store) could not believe this was possible. Like it blew their mind of what a "printer" was. I think they were so used to thinking in flat ink dimensions that this just couldn't be. But it is...and now they can't get enough...We started a waiting list of people that want to take our classes when we open in September. I've been in retail for 15 years and I have never seen such a response to a product. It's kind of a marketing person's dream to have a product so novel that it sells itself once the "ah ha" moment has arrived to the potential customer.

HoneyBee3D sells 3D printers, accessories and finished designs. They work with customers to help turn their ideas into a 3D print objects, and they also offer classes designed to teach the ins and outs of 3D printing. ABC7 News took a look at this "Northern California's First Dedicated Retail 3D Printing Store" and found the holiday season in full swing.

"They teach classes here on 3-D modeling, even for kids." One passing dad said he wants to let his kids design their toys for Christmas. "What they want to make, so I can support their ideas. Sometimes, you know, adults are less creative. They're much more creative," said Heesoo Lee, a father.

"There are only a handful of dedicated 3D printing retail stores in the US so I know we are on the beginning wave of retail for this industry but from the responses I'm hearing, it won't be long before you might ask your spouse "honey, after you get the milk, can you also get some filament on the way home?"" says Wallach.

 

 

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Shakkum Tsoi wrote at 12/28/2013 6:25:01 AM:

Hi Nick. My name is Shakkum and we previously spoke on Thursday about the 3D printer and materials (ABS and PLA). I'm wondering if you're available to meet sometime soon at your convenience. Please email me at shakkumtsoi@hotmail.com or call me at (510) 918-3986. Thank you.



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