07/09/2025
For those of you wondering why we’re closing, there are several reasons, but the biggest is that our landlord, Iranian National and owner of Indiana Floor, Inc “Steve” Hossain Esmaeili of Fairfax Station, VA, refused to honor the renewal terms on our lease, and forced us out of the back space and increased our rent. We discovered that he did this because he wanted the space to store inventory, and bragged to one of his (now former) employees that he would force us out to store the inventory that he purchased.
Interestingly, Indiana Floor seems to have financial issues, then Mr Esmaeili goes to Iran for a bit and returns, and spends lots of money - in this case over $20M. One wonders how that works, exactly.
In light of this massive change. We attempted to restructure and adapt, shutting down the membership shop (it was always a massive cost center - typically losing $10-15k/month) and looking to expand instructional programs, offer commercial access to the production shop, and expand our lumber and sheet good offerings, but after having spent almost $60k on the move, our customers all thought we were already out of business - so our sales volume plummeted 90%. So, that’s a wrap.
The Workshop was a really cool place, and offered an amazing workspace to local makers, at a price far below actual cost. That was our mission, but without adequate sales we have no choice but to close.
Most of the equipment the remains in the shop doesn’t belong to the shop, but belongs to a private party, and most of the lumber is being transported to another lumber retailer for consignment sales. That said, if there is anything that you wish to purchase, you have mere days to make that happen.
Thanks to all of you who helped The Workshop offer the space it did and the classs it has for almost a decade, but this chapter is closing.