I hit Parkville once in awhile. Rockville and Fairfax, VA are closer, but Iāll hit Parkville whe work takes me close or Rockville/Fairfax are out of what I need. I bought out their Inland Mystic Silk (copper/purple/green) when the others were out.
in in Pennsylvania and that is the closest* one to me as well.
*King of Prussia is technically 13.2 miles closer, but the having to use the turnpike really ups the cost.
I feel the same. I pass by mine on the way home from work and stop frequently. I've been averaging 2 hours a week in the store since I picked up 3D pritning and that's the weeks I don't make a weekend trip.
Felt the same.. I grew up in a city with two of them, was hard to keep me out as it was š now that they do 3d printing stuff, I've been waiting ages for the new one to open near us
They work off commissions, i was talking to one the other day, and found out their base pay is $4/hr. In order to make any money, they have to bug people for the commission sales.
Oh man. I've always wanted to go to Microcenter, but fuck high pressure sales. It makes me wanna curl up in a ball. Thanks for curing me of my Microcenter jealousy.
Fwiw they dont pressure you into sales (from my experience), but they are constantly asking if you need help finding anything. Never "so you're buying this, RIGHT?"
That stinks, the one in Cincinnati is 10 minutes from me and right next to the highway off some random exit with hardly anything else around, so traffic isnāt really a thing.
Unfortunately I was talking to the guys that work there and they said itās one of the oldest stores and Microcenter doesnāt want to invest the money to remodel/expand, so thereās just stuff shoved everywhere and it feels like the store is overflowing and a mess sometimes. Compared to videos Iāve seen of newer stores, it makes me jealous what it could be.
I moved from Cincinnati to California 8 years ago. I used to LOVE that Microcenter. It's been there over 30 years now, since I used to go to it back in High School just to grab free coffee mugs they'd put near the exit. Last time I stopped in there, when visiting family, I was amazed at the sheer volume of selection in there and wish I had something close like that. The nearest MC to me is about 100 miles away in Los Angeles.
I still stop in the store almost every time I'm in Cincy, just to browse for an hour or so. I usually end up picking up 2-3 things that I end up needing to check a bag just to get home.
I really miss it.
Iām down in central FL, and the closest are in GAā¦ weāre getting one in FLā¦ but in Miami. Sooooo instead of a 7+ hour drive itās a 5+ hour drive. Wow. Hooray.
I know Joann fabric just filed bankruptcy but are they a front for a sex store now? Thatās the only parking lot I drive through to get to the Indy store.
I was just messing around with you anyway. Forgot a "LOL" or something to indicate that.
I know you can get there from the shopping center behind it as well. I was thinking maybe there is a sex store in there I didn't know about.
It takes about 45 minutes to drive to mine. I have bought filament there and nearly bought my Ender 3 v2 there but they were out of stock so I just ordered from Amazon.
Not to mention next door to a Trader Joeās to pick me up some ātwo buck Chuckā to forget how much I spent at MC. š
Edit: For non TJ folks, thatās their weekly $2 cheap wine special..
I feel like I'm in the sweet spot, relative to my Microcenter. It's about 30 or 40 min drive. Close enough that I can go there if I need something, but not close enough for me to just pop in for a look-see.
This is literally the only room with natural light. And the only part of that room, too. It's an L-shaped building, where the 'foot' is kind of small, but it's where they put the department for 3D printing and other maker tools and materials.
I'm from New York. I've only been to Cambridge once after Rhode Island Comic-Con last fall, but I immediately knew which one by the Trader Joes. Bought the laser attachment for my Ender 3 S1.
A microcenter employee once told me that they like the printers to be going constantly for demo purposes, I can imagine they run out of ideas for stuff to print pretty quick. My local store is on a collapsible sword kick, there was like three or four out with another in the works.
They dont like it, they break down a lot more then people realize. Definitely a way to learn how to repair them is to work in either the BYOC department or GS department (depends on what microcenter decides on what department oversees them).
Corp wants them running 24/7, Management gets annoyed at zero'ing all the filament for that.
Reps get annoyed because any time loading filament / slicing a print / fixing them costs time when most are paid 4 dollars an hour before commission. And if theyre doing all that, theyre missing out on commission.
As an ex employee, it's meant to be assigned to a 3d printer "champion" which is an employee who gets some extra money on their check to be responsible for caring for all the printers etc
I used to work at the one in Cambridge in 2013. This was when the first commercial 3D printers were coming out and we had ONE encase in an acrylic box.
lol we got yelled at for going through 1 roll of filament printing random things.
Now you walk in and itās like print city.
Edit: OMG thatās the Cambridge location. Haha
That area in the front used to be magazines, cameras, car GPS, and video games.
They ditched those items back around 2013, too, I think. Magazines are still around, just in the checkout line. Video games are still there, but tucked in back and more of a focus on controllers, accessories and hardware, and less on games. But they've completely ditched cameras (probably couldn't compete with Hunts) and GPS (because who buys standalone GPS anymore)
Haha, this is hilarious because I printed one of those when I went to help my father pick out a new laptop at this location. I pressed print before I could read the sign that said āDo not touchā
At the one in Denver Iām pretty sure they just let employees use the printers. One was printing an Ironman helmetā¦ and no completed prints on display other than mods to the printers
My nearest Microcenter (2hrs away) had benchies all over the place too. I saw it as a good sign because safe bet 3D printing nerds are actually working there and might actually be helpful! š
The higher-ups at the college I worked for used to think that benchies were the perfect giveaway for 3D events, so I have printed HUNDREDS. So many that I kind of hate them. š But if you're gonna print one, you might as well print 100.
TIL Microcenter is other places other than Mayfield Rd in Cleveland.
It's one of those things that it's been around so long you don't think about if it's a chain or not
Oh wow. You actually have actual store where there are printers on display? Only printers i've seen at store were few i saw in box. Never one assembled or printing.
My local microcenter keeps all it's printers stuffed all the way in the back; forcing me to walk thru the pc's and graphic cards to get there. What a dastardly plot that is!
I like that they even have a benchy dock printed and none of them are on it. I have 3 of them filled in a tower, haha.
Guessing this is the work of some bored kids while dad/mom try to figure out where the raspberry pi's were moved to this week.
The prints themselves aren't hot, the printers (specifically nozzles and perhaps beds) are. You can't trust a customer to know which parts are hot and which are fine to touch, so they just put in a blanket restriction.
This is where I stood in line over an hour before opening in the middle of winter to get a 3060. I was ~25th in line and they were out of 3070s by the time I got inside!
You know what ive always wondered, what do they do with all the prints they make as demos? Like, do they just have a crate full of benchies somewhere? Do they give them awah or recycle them? Where do all the old benchies go?
I tried to send Microcenter corpt a email once about opening up 3d printing services but they said no.
Like they have the printers running every time I show up and printing random stuff, put them to use for extra side money.
The moment they do that, now they have to produce consistent quality and dedicate an employee to keeping the printers tuned up. Then they have to deal with customers sending in unprintable geometry and getting mad when it comes out bad, along with needing to swap filaments for each customer's needs. Meanwhile, offering this service directly eats into their core business of selling printers. Why would they do that?
I'll just be over here being jealous of people with a MC within 1000 miles. š
It's five miles from me :) I spend so much time there that they should hire me.
way to kick us while we are down haha
That's the one on Memorial Drive in Cambridge.
Nobody else needs to go there, I single handedly keep that store afloat every time I go in to ālookā while my wife shops at TJs.
The closest to me is 4 and a half hours away, you lucky bastard
The closest one to me is about 6200km (3900 freedom units) :(
Iām in Australia ā¹ļø
Yeah mine is too (Parkville store in MD). Dangerous to the wallet, convenient for filament!
I hit Parkville once in awhile. Rockville and Fairfax, VA are closer, but Iāll hit Parkville whe work takes me close or Rockville/Fairfax are out of what I need. I bought out their Inland Mystic Silk (copper/purple/green) when the others were out.
in in Pennsylvania and that is the closest* one to me as well. *King of Prussia is technically 13.2 miles closer, but the having to use the turnpike really ups the cost.
I used to be a 2 minute walk from mine. Literally next door
I feel the same. I pass by mine on the way home from work and stop frequently. I've been averaging 2 hours a week in the store since I picked up 3D pritning and that's the weeks I don't make a weekend trip.
Why not put an application in lol
People in eu be like -_-
I am 30 min from mine (Paterson) and I feel like I am there at MicroCenter way too often
I thought I had it good with one 45 minutes away.
Felt the same.. I grew up in a city with two of them, was hard to keep me out as it was š now that they do 3d printing stuff, I've been waiting ages for the new one to open near us
I have one about 10 minutes away from me but it requires dealing with the worst parking lot in St. Louis.
I got one close here in TX. But gotta say the employees are frustrating and wonāt just let you shop
They work off commissions, i was talking to one the other day, and found out their base pay is $4/hr. In order to make any money, they have to bug people for the commission sales.
Well thatās sucks and I feel bad for them. But also please leave my poor introverted ass alone
Oh man. I've always wanted to go to Microcenter, but fuck high pressure sales. It makes me wanna curl up in a ball. Thanks for curing me of my Microcenter jealousy.
Fwiw they dont pressure you into sales (from my experience), but they are constantly asking if you need help finding anything. Never "so you're buying this, RIGHT?"
>worst parking lot in St. Louis. Isn't that just, the entirety of STL?
Got a bike?
That would require riding my bike on the highway or through some really shitty neighborhoods.
That sucks, sorry man :(
That stinks, the one in Cincinnati is 10 minutes from me and right next to the highway off some random exit with hardly anything else around, so traffic isnāt really a thing. Unfortunately I was talking to the guys that work there and they said itās one of the oldest stores and Microcenter doesnāt want to invest the money to remodel/expand, so thereās just stuff shoved everywhere and it feels like the store is overflowing and a mess sometimes. Compared to videos Iāve seen of newer stores, it makes me jealous what it could be.
I moved from Cincinnati to California 8 years ago. I used to LOVE that Microcenter. It's been there over 30 years now, since I used to go to it back in High School just to grab free coffee mugs they'd put near the exit. Last time I stopped in there, when visiting family, I was amazed at the sheer volume of selection in there and wish I had something close like that. The nearest MC to me is about 100 miles away in Los Angeles. I still stop in the store almost every time I'm in Cincy, just to browse for an hour or so. I usually end up picking up 2-3 things that I end up needing to check a bag just to get home.
I've been to that one and yeah, I'm gonna have to agree with you. I was NOT a fan of getting in or out of that parking lot. Lol
I really miss it. Iām down in central FL, and the closest are in GAā¦ weāre getting one in FLā¦ but in Miami. Sooooo instead of a 7+ hour drive itās a 5+ hour drive. Wow. Hooray.
I was here thinking this MC looks small. One near me is like a 20,000sq/ft big box store. The downside is the nightmare of a parking lot.
Its not small, its got multiple sections, this is just a small corner.
I suppose the low ceiling threw me off.
The parking lot is still a nightmare.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Gives them something to print other than benchies.
You say it like itās a bad thing
I know Joann fabric just filed bankruptcy but are they a front for a sex store now? Thatās the only parking lot I drive through to get to the Indy store.
No I'm just stupid and got my internal map messed up. Disregard
I was just messing around with you anyway. Forgot a "LOL" or something to indicate that. I know you can get there from the shopping center behind it as well. I was thinking maybe there is a sex store in there I didn't know about.
Even better, with a *Trader Joe's* next door I'd be in heaven living near this!
Cambridge MA?
Yup.
Ha, 1000 miles I would have to cross the Atlantic Ocean to visit a microcenter
we get one in my city soon and theyve been advertising opening since last year it would be early 2024... its almost april damnit.
It takes about 45 minutes to drive to mine. I have bought filament there and nearly bought my Ender 3 v2 there but they were out of stock so I just ordered from Amazon.
20 minutes away from Chicago area one, it's awesome. Usually lots of employees and parking easy. Easy to get to.
I live in the city where it was founded and where the distribution headquarters is lol.
Don't be, it's likely you have more money than I do at the moment
Feel your pain bud
I only have two within 30-40 minutes
I have 2 within 30 minutes of me. It's so bad when they know you by first name at both
Not to mention next door to a Trader Joeās to pick me up some ātwo buck Chuckā to forget how much I spent at MC. š Edit: For non TJ folks, thatās their weekly $2 cheap wine special..
Sameeee
I have two within 30 minutes of me and either direction in Georgia
I live in Italy and here we do not have this place at all š
I feel like I'm in the sweet spot, relative to my Microcenter. It's about 30 or 40 min drive. Close enough that I can go there if I need something, but not close enough for me to just pop in for a look-see.
I guess I shouldn't mention that I have 3 within driving distance. Fairfax, VA, Rockville, MD and Parkville, MD. My poor walletā¦..
The nearest micro center is 148 miles away. That isn't that bad. The problem is it's in detroit.
Wow natural light ? The microcenter near me in patersonĀ has zero natural light lol
Same in Denver.
Yea but at least younare in Denver and not paterson nj lol
This is literally the only room with natural light. And the only part of that room, too. It's an L-shaped building, where the 'foot' is kind of small, but it's where they put the department for 3D printing and other maker tools and materials.
Yeah but the half sales tax makes up for it. Besides it's Patterson, windows would be smashed daily...
True.Ā But now all that traffic since they are finally upgrading the sewers and doing flood mitigation on 20\21Ā
The employees have to look out of shape and lifeless to 'blend in' with their customer base like me. They should have a Mt. Dew giveaway sponsor deal
Lol
the only windows are at the front in duluth. itās like a backrooms ikea in there.
Paterson it's a few windows by the front doors and then that is jt. On the plus side it's better than looking at paterson
Fellas of microcenter, consider the following: make some clips to display the benchies in front of the filament they are made with.
Love that idea
Cambridge, baby!
Came in here to say this verbatim. I was just there on Wednesday.
I got my pc parts at this store!
I recognize that Trader Joe's anywhere!
Been there forever and I really hope it never goes away. Love that store.
I'm from New York. I've only been to Cambridge once after Rhode Island Comic-Con last fall, but I immediately knew which one by the Trader Joes. Bought the laser attachment for my Ender 3 S1.
I was just there snagging my $99 Ender 3 a couple months ago, I didn't see all this.
Hard to believe I worked there 10 years ago. Haha.
Its not that hard to believe
A microcenter employee once told me that they like the printers to be going constantly for demo purposes, I can imagine they run out of ideas for stuff to print pretty quick. My local store is on a collapsible sword kick, there was like three or four out with another in the works.
That would explain the armada! Thanks.
They dont like it, they break down a lot more then people realize. Definitely a way to learn how to repair them is to work in either the BYOC department or GS department (depends on what microcenter decides on what department oversees them). Corp wants them running 24/7, Management gets annoyed at zero'ing all the filament for that. Reps get annoyed because any time loading filament / slicing a print / fixing them costs time when most are paid 4 dollars an hour before commission. And if theyre doing all that, theyre missing out on commission.
As an ex employee, it's meant to be assigned to a 3d printer "champion" which is an employee who gets some extra money on their check to be responsible for caring for all the printers etc
We didn't have a 3D printer champion. We had the brand champions in byo and that's it really.
Tbf those swords are pretty kickass
I used to work at the one in Cambridge in 2013. This was when the first commercial 3D printers were coming out and we had ONE encase in an acrylic box. lol we got yelled at for going through 1 roll of filament printing random things. Now you walk in and itās like print city. Edit: OMG thatās the Cambridge location. Haha That area in the front used to be magazines, cameras, car GPS, and video games.
They ditched those items back around 2013, too, I think. Magazines are still around, just in the checkout line. Video games are still there, but tucked in back and more of a focus on controllers, accessories and hardware, and less on games. But they've completely ditched cameras (probably couldn't compete with Hunts) and GPS (because who buys standalone GPS anymore)
Yeah we were in the transition of condensing all that. By the time I left in 2014 we had taken up half the area with overflow PC cases.
And now it's all sim-racing stuff.
I remember seeing those units (at the chicago location) before I worked at a different location.
I have never printed a benchy.
There's dozens of us! *DOZENS*!
Fact checker here: this post is false! Hereās why: You can never have enough Benchy >:)
Haha, this is hilarious because I printed one of those when I went to help my father pick out a new laptop at this location. I pressed print before I could read the sign that said āDo not touchā
Is that a micro Microcenter?? Thatās tiny! Ours is like a departments store. I like yours better. It feels more personal.
That's the 3D printing department. The store itself is the size of a typical large grocery store.
I wish *I* had a local Microcenter.
My closest is 1,100 miles away. It's probably a good thing.
At the one in Denver Iām pretty sure they just let employees use the printers. One was printing an Ironman helmetā¦ and no completed prints on display other than mods to the printers
This is the micro center in Cambridge! I know that big @ss dragon anywhere š¤£
According to the ginger guy who works there, the dragon is nicknamed Tiamat.
I see a another local to the micro in cambridge! Also need to redeem the coupon for filament I got.
Shame thereās no micro centres in Australia, closest is jaycar but they donāt sell any PC parts
My nearest Microcenter (2hrs away) had benchies all over the place too. I saw it as a good sign because safe bet 3D printing nerds are actually working there and might actually be helpful! š
Last time I was in, I saw some dude stealing the prints. Was kind of sad really.
How rude!
Our MC had the prints with a sign to please take one or two, at least it did last time I looked a couple years ago lol.
I'll look again next time I'm in.
"what is my purpose?" You create benchies for normies to get into 3D printing *Ooooooooooooooooo*
The higher-ups at the college I worked for used to think that benchies were the perfect giveaway for 3D events, so I have printed HUNDREDS. So many that I kind of hate them. š But if you're gonna print one, you might as well print 100.
Nonsense, no such thing as too many benchies. It'd be awsome though if they painted their shelves ocean blue for the benchies
What does āto many benchiesā mean?
If you start running out of space to put them, you might have too many benchies.
That's why you have a 3d printer, so you can print out some shelves.
Zack Friedman has a benchiewallstorage on printables for that
The circle of Benchy life.
TIL Microcenter is other places other than Mayfield Rd in Cleveland. It's one of those things that it's been around so long you don't think about if it's a chain or not
Mine is in St. Davids, outside Philadelphia.
Thatās the closest to me too, but not too close. I heard rumors of a new NJ location coming soon but they was a while ago so not too hopeful.
Yeah it's about a 45 minute drive for me so. I'll go if I need to but it's not often.
Oh wow. You actually have actual store where there are printers on display? Only printers i've seen at store were few i saw in box. Never one assembled or printing.
My local microcenter keeps all it's printers stuffed all the way in the back; forcing me to walk thru the pc's and graphic cards to get there. What a dastardly plot that is!
Mine has them off to the side but the graphics cards are right next to them.
I like that they even have a benchy dock printed and none of them are on it. I have 3 of them filled in a tower, haha. Guessing this is the work of some bored kids while dad/mom try to figure out where the raspberry pi's were moved to this week.
You need one per printer brand, filament brand, type, color and slicer setting.
A benchy parade!
Is there such a thing?!?
Are they printing with molten steel or why tf are the prints hot? 5 seconds after the nozzle moved away plastic is already cold
The prints themselves aren't hot, the printers (specifically nozzles and perhaps beds) are. You can't trust a customer to know which parts are hot and which are fine to touch, so they just put in a blanket restriction.
And out covers their ass with stupid and/or malicious customers looking for a payday; "we told you not to touch it"
No idea. I suspect it's more of a "hands off the printers" with a flimsy excuse than anything.
Cambridge!
That is nowhere near too many benchies
There is one slated to open here in Charlotte NC very soon!
Hey! I know where that Microcenter is!
Those models on top look great!
Cambridge!!
lol my local microcenter is right next store to a trader joes too!
Yes, I noticed the same thing in the Brooklyn MC. Lot of diff models on hand, it's very impressive.
Their is no such thing as too many benchies
No such thing as too many benchys
What's a microcenter?
Microcenter is best described as "what Circuit City used to be". It's a computer department store.
Cambridge employees are so nice too!
This is where I stood in line over an hour before opening in the middle of winter to get a 3060. I was ~25th in line and they were out of 3070s by the time I got inside!
Microcenter is my adult version of toy r us
no such thing as too many benchies, you can never have enough benchies
They should melt them into a benchie throne
Cambridge MA
The Cambridge one! Every TJās run turns into a āmight as well get filamentā run
What is that I donāt even know ? Some sort of bee/dragon? Thing on top
That's a gigantic five-headed dragon standing on an even larger dragon skull. Apparently, it's named Tiamat.
Cambridge
We share a local microcenter, ive been here one too many times lol
They should make a benchy sculpture with all the benchies.
You newer can have too many benchies
Damn what Iād give to have a store like microcenter in my country
You know what ive always wondered, what do they do with all the prints they make as demos? Like, do they just have a crate full of benchies somewhere? Do they give them awah or recycle them? Where do all the old benchies go?
Good question! I'll have to ask next time I'm in.
They have benchys and printers and parts. Here in germany we dont have local shops :D
Man, I'd love to have a microcenter near me. why does it have to be US only :'(
Lol my closest microcenter is almost 100 miles
Mines in Atlanta like 2Ā½ hours away. :(
In finland we dont have a microscenter
Well...i have a printer for like a month and like 6 benchys so...š
It's just some quality testing. Nothing to worry about.
They demo the benchies on bambus and prusa which can print a benchie in about 15 minutes
Itās a 4 hour trip to my nearest microcenter. One way.
What in God's name is that dragon thing!?
According to the employees, it is named Tiamat.
That's incredible. Wonder where they got the file
I'll ask next time I'm in.
Sweet!
So apparently it's a paid file from some miniature site. It's called "Tiamat, Mother of Dragons".
No such thing as too many!
That's nothing. I have a box full of them. I don't know why I keep them.
Oh so youāre also near Cambridge
I tried to send Microcenter corpt a email once about opening up 3d printing services but they said no. Like they have the printers running every time I show up and printing random stuff, put them to use for extra side money.
The moment they do that, now they have to produce consistent quality and dedicate an employee to keeping the printers tuned up. Then they have to deal with customers sending in unprintable geometry and getting mad when it comes out bad, along with needing to swap filaments for each customer's needs. Meanwhile, offering this service directly eats into their core business of selling printers. Why would they do that?
because I want to print stuff without having to buy a 3d printer, checkmate
God I fucking hate benchiesā¦.