'We don't want to be an office:' Café owners are pulling the plug on WiFi
When HotBlack Coffee opened in downtown Toronto a year ago, it took a risk few businesses would dare take in today's online-driven world: it turned off the WiFi.
"Every day people come in and ask for it," says Jimson Bienenstock, the café's co-owner.
Still, he hasn't wavered.
"In the short term, it hurt us," Mr. Bienenstock says. "It took us longer to become established, but once we reached critical mass, it has become a self-fulfilling virtuous circle."
While most cafés offer free WiFi, including large chains such as Starbucks, McDonald's and Tim Hortons, HotBlack is among a small but growing number of independent coffee shops choosing to ditch or limit Internet use. By not offering WiFi, they're hoping to create more of a community atmosphere where people talk to each other instead of silently typing on their computers.
If coffeeshops come to discourage people working, perhaps that activity can shift to libraries.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday May 02 2017, @04:40AM (2 children)
Nope. I don't go to those places any more. And if I did, I wouldn't be so disrespectful as those fuckheads who think the place is their office.
There. FTFM.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 3, Funny) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Tuesday May 02 2017, @05:07AM (1 child)
... I wouldn't be so disrespectful...
There. FTFM.
Actually, I thought the original was better.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by cubancigar11 on Tuesday May 02 2017, @11:28AM
Yeah he came off as angry then tapered off to niceness. 'would' was telling such a nice story.