most hackerspaces are similar, although not necessarily open like this, nor with the full range of equipment, and sometimes the advice could be hit and miss But besides that, pretty much exactly the same ( well you know…)
I would concider partnering on one. We have some retail space in Lapeer, MI if anyone wants to toss spegette on the wall and is like <=60 miles away. The hard part is est membership and customers. Kinda a guess game. The downstroke on equip may be too risky. Then again, I suppose in this economy, there is probably some great deals out there.
I was a member of the Menlo Park TechShop when I lived in Silicon Valley.
AWESOME concept, AWESOME implementation and a great group of people. The classes were great as well to learn to use some of the machines I hadn’t ever used, or hadn’t used in a while.
Had a lot of fun, really wish I could have spent more time there!