Great point. For the less mature, I think the library helps strip away the pretense a bit too. Sipping lattes and being on Twitter seem to go together. Being at the library and doing real work seem to go together too.
Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
41–50 of 217 posts
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#42This post is neglecting to list the most obvious reason of all to work at the library - a wealth of reference information (in...gasp!...something you can hold and read in any light!)
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#43Starbucks still charges for WiFi? I thought they did away with that. In any case, I always got around it by pretending to be an iPhone. :)
In the UK it's free if you have a registered Starbucks card (which doesn't cost anything).
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#44Many academic libraries are open to the public and have better accommodations. I live in Boston so it's academic library heaven.
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#45Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
No. A bunch of people tried that over the last couple years in Chicago; all of them went bust. There are too many viable alternatives to "rental cubby" to charge enough. And coffee shops of all forms are almost sure-fire money losers.
And coffee shops of all forms are almost sure-fire money losers. I'd never heard that before. Is Starbucks an exception? Does their volume make the difference?
I'd bet it has to do with space, if you're in the rental business, you need more of it- and it's expensive. If you're Starbucks, you do your feasibility calculations without assuming you'll get worker-cubby rental money.
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#47Starbucks still charges for WiFi? I thought they did away with that. In any case, I always got around it by pretending to be an iPhone. :)
WiFi has been free at Starbucks in the USA since July 2010. Before that, a registered Starbucks card got you free WiFi.
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#48It sounds like people need to open more hacker work spaces.
Re: Ditch Starbucks and work at the library
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
I wonder if there's a market for a coffee shop that has small, private office spaces available, perhaps available for free or for an hourly rent. These might be the size of a typical restaurant booth (or a bit larger), but would be enclosed spaces that allow you to block out noise and distractions. It wouldn't even need to be a coffee shop; maybe something like a capsule hotel for workspaces.
No. A bunch of people tried that over the last couple years in Chicago; all of them went bust. There are too many viable alternatives to "rental cubby" to charge enough. And coffee shops of all forms are almost sure-fire money losers.
Coffee shops are pretty much the opposite of sure-fire money losers. This article is a few years old, but:
The failure rate for new coffeehouses is a mere 10 percent, according to the market research firm Mintel, which means the vast majority of cafes stay afloat no matter where Starbucks drops its stores. Compare that to the restaurant business, where failure is the norm.
- http://www.slate.com/id/2180301/pagenum/all/#page_start
There's a reason you can find coffee shops--both franchised and independent--everywhere you go. Selling $.16 of coffee for $4 is quite profitable!