'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: 0, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 02 2017, @01:01PM (1 child)
My local one sells coffee now. Gotta get funding somehow. In the old days when libraries were about books they didn't allow food and drink which was pretty stupid because I would eat and drink at home while reading books.
Because careless people would spill their drinks on the books or get food smudged on the pages. Remember, they're the library's books that they lend out to everyone, not your own personal collection to ruin as you see fit.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Tuesday May 02 2017, @03:51PM
Right, and what prevents them from checking the books out (the normal function of a library), taking them home, then spilling food and drinks on them there?