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Brick and mortar at heart, coming soon to Vancouver BC.

January 07, 2019

"No spec sheet is going to be able to give you the full story
of 3D printer ownership." - Kenneth Wan, Co-Founder of Shop3D.ca

On January 11th, Shop3D.ca will become truly national. Providing coverage in both the east and west coast in our vast spanning country. As we begin to put the finishing touches on opening our flagship store in Vancouver, I cannot help but be so proud of our team and so thankful to our loyal customers ahead of this most important milestone.

Most of our audience may think of us as an eCommerce company first but that is just one of the more convenient ways to experience working with us. 3 years ago we opened our doors to our current Brampton showroom before the first iteration of our website came online. That was done by intention.

Inside our Brampton Showroom

When Jacky and I used to tour around maker faires and 3D printing shows all over North America, it became abundantly clear to us that there was only so much online media can communicate with customers. We knew that, for those who were interested, there just wasn't any resource (even youtube) that could be more insightful than a physical 3D printing showroom. Especially one decked out with all different kinds of 3D printers, impressive prints by artists, material samples and, most importantly, someone to talk to about 3D printing in deep detail.

Shop3D.ca Founders Ken Wan and Jacky Wan

Shop3D.ca Founders Ken and Jacky Wan

We aimed to have a showroom to answer questions like: "How strong is PLA, really? Are 3D Printers loud? What's the surface quality like between 60 micron FFF prints vs. 50 micron SLA prints? What's the smallest detail you can get? What's the Biggest print you can build? What's the difference between $2000 and $7000 printers?" and so on. While all these experiential questions can technically be answered anecdotally it's not the same as visiting our showroom in person. We aim to answer what spec sheets can never convey.

Ultimaker 3D Printers at Shop3D.ca Brampton

We have defined the key functions of our showrooms to perform:

Provide a full demo suit of our highest demand 3D Printers, usually 2-4 units of the same brand for a complete comparison.

Consistently have new 3D printed projects we are working on to get better at what we do and challenge ourselves daily.

Display impressive "Hero" prints that distinguish the functional advantages and disadvantages of each printer type.

Have a massive portfolio of printed materials available to touch, feel, bend and critically compare with each other and against your needs.

Include staff that can answer all your questions transparently and truthfully and anything they can't answer should be just another phone call away.

A way for us to demo how the software and hardware integrate, so we can show the workflow rather than explain it.

Each showroom should be equipped to be able to prove any concepts or claims with a physical sample or process so we don't only tell you about the printer, we prove it's capabilities to you.

A huge inventory of in-stock items that we carry on our website and act as a shipping point for the surrounding regions.

And finally, the most important aspect, someone to talk to who carries the Shop3D.ca culture.

To us, if we don't have all these functions down, it's not a complete showroom. A Shop3D.ca showroom should live up to its full potential: to fully educate a customer on all our services that extend beyond any web-shop experience.

Rendering of the new Vancouver Shop3D.ca Showroom

I am also extremely proud to announce that Kyle, who joined Shop3D.ca from the very beginning as an Intern and rose to the assistant store manager, will now be the team lead for the Vancouver showroom. He will not only bring with him his undying enthusiasm for 3D printing but also a part of our founding culture and philosophy.

With the new flagship showroom opening soon, BC and Alberta customers will no longer have to deal with shipping times from Ontario and a 3 hour time zone offset. Enjoy a supercharged flagship version of the Shop3D.ca showroom, designed to give you the experience that we've always dreamed of providing from Day 1.

Next Blog: From a blank canvas to the Flagship Store. The Vancouver design philosophy.

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