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'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: 3, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Tuesday May 02 2017, @11:40AM (2 children)
In NYC coffee shops are the place you go to have business meetings, if you don't have your own office (if, say, you're a freelancer of some kind). It is quite difficult to find other meeting space that's large enough and quiet enough and specific enough ("Meet me in Central Park" doesn't quite work).
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by NotSanguine on Tuesday May 02 2017, @02:28PM
In NYC coffee shops are the place you go to have business meetings, if you don't have your own office (if, say, you're a freelancer of some kind). It is quite difficult to find other meeting space that's large enough and quiet enough and specific enough ("Meet me in Central Park" doesn't quite work).
And I've had quite a few meetings in such places. As well as bars, restaurants and other similar places.
Meeting in Central Park (depending on the context) can be quite productive. "Meet me at Bethesda Fountain," or "Let's have lunch at the Boathouse," or "let's meet at Cleopatra's Needle." The issue is more that it's generally not near most folks' place of business, not that it's inconvenient, IMHO.
Interestingly, I find that coffee shops in Midtown are often less crowded during the day (not counting the morning rush and mid-afternoon) than those in more residential areas.
No, no, you're not thinking; you're just being logical. --Niels Bohr
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday May 02 2017, @03:47PM
and specific enough ("Meet me in Central Park" doesn't quite work)
That's why you give them GPS coordinates for your meeting place. If they're too stupid to figure out how to get there, then they aren't worth meeting.