Exactly. I think too, it would assist in telling the story of the 'makers' space. Which would cut the cost of the marketing needed to get people to become 'makers' originally. Telling the story through a store front would also bring in substantially more revenue. People like to spend on places that have a good story and a motive they can connect to. One top of that the people making could also be receiving income via working as a store salesperson or manger etc. Kim, what a great idea.

I have a similar question.
Wingee, some ideas could be focusing on things people 50+ have already established. Internships in cooking, writing, story telling etc. I think internships that allow people to cook their favorite "family secret" dishes and things like that could be beneficial to them, restaurants and the consumer. The qualifying criteria would be X amount of years cooking. and I'm not sure if restaurants present internship type opportunities but that could be extremely interesting. Same goes for storytelling, I know The Moth and other storytelling organizations have internships and I can imagine a 50+ internship with them.

Kim, cool idea. I wonder, to move it forward in the financial sense, if the shop could be the backend of a store front. That would allow for the makers to actually have a place to sell their product as well as assist with the overhead cost of the space they are using. Selling your work on your own is another beast and a learned skill which can cost a tremendous amount of money ie. setting up a tent at an arts event etc. I wonder if having one across the board cost by merging making and selling spaces would serve everyone better.