Business offers a place to build dreams

People in this area are really big on encouraging ideas. So it makes a lot of sense that a California company called TechShop would choose the Triangle for its second location.

The basic idea is to enable inventors and craftsmen to follow their dreams by giving them access to a workshop full of machines, equipment and workspace that they might not have room for or be able to afford.

Right now, TechShop is filling 25,000-square-feet in Durham with welding equipment, a plastics lab, a wood shop, a silk screening studio, a sheet metal shop and a laser lab. There are also conference rooms and private rental spaces.

The business will open early next year and will work like a gym. You pay a membership fee for access to the facility and then share the equipment with other members.

TechShop is taking applications. There will be a 500-member limit. A one-month membership costs $100. There are also private storage spaces for rent.

People who are members will be insured and required to complete training for some of the equipment. But it seems like a good way to make a prototype or do a big project without dropping big bucks on the equipment.

TechShop is at 4022 Stirrup Creek Drive, near the intersection of TW Alexander Road and Miami Boulevard. Find out more at www.durham.techshop.ws.

In Southeast Raleigh, the new 11,475-square-foot addition is complete on the Southgate Plaza shopping center at Cross Link and Rock Quarry roads.

New tenants include Crusader Rent to Own, Cricket Wireless, Sunny Nails and a check-cashing store. Milly's Hair Salon also relocated to the new section, and Bussey's Chicken & Waffles will open early next year. There's only one spot left, and leasing manager Lynne Worth says she is targeting a pizza restaurant.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about Yogi and Jill Zonruiter, who are opening Streets of London Antiques at 928 W. Chatham St. in Cary. The original Oct. 4 opening was delayed, but Yogi Zonruiter tells me the shop will definitely open Saturday. The store is closed Sundays and Mondays.

OTHER ITEMS: In Morrisville, a restaurant called Tossed, which specializes in made-to-order salads, will open in McCrimmon Corners at 4117 Davis Drive on Wednesday. ... In downtown Clayton, a gallery called Eye of the Eagle Art will open Oct. 25 at 131 E. First St. ... In Apex, Bo Talia MedSpa is open in Beaver Creek Crossings at 2046 Creekside Landing Drive, offering skin treatments.

OTHER OPENINGS IN RALEIGH:

* Starting Monday, Second Empire restaurant at 330 Hillsborough St. opens for lunch on weekdays.

* Calm and Sense opens in the Glenwood Village Shops at Glenwood Avenue and Oberlin Road on Monday, selling items designed for the senses of sight, sound, smell, taste and touch.

* Crown Trophy is open at 2431 Spring Forest Road, selling trophies and awards.

* Personal training company Flex-Fit Training is open at 2200-105 E. Millbrook Road.

* At Crabtree Valley Mall, Fleming's steakhouse will open Oct. 31.