Popular places filling up with people and…laptops?
A discussion over here shifted to a local coffee shop (in Austin, TX):
Bennu is the best coffee shop in Austin. Open 24 hours, 3 wifi access points, great access to power, and 7 distinct mochas. It’s where we go to get things done.
If you can find a table, that is. They are popular, so local dev entrepreneurs are frequently battling the University of Texas students for table space.
The comment thread is full of complaints about people with laptops taking up too much space in shops and camping out all day. Some even mentioned that their local shops were covering up all electrical panels to discourage taking all the seats away from new paying customers.
How does this shake down in Moscow?
Moscow Food Co-op: Intentionally no wireless internet available and very few outlets. Designed so nobody camps out there with their laptop. They eat and leave. It seems to work pretty well. I can always find a seat.
One World Cafe: Often a sea of laptops. Only 50% of the seats have people in them, but 100% of the tables are taken. I’ve been in here twice lately and been unable to find a single place to sit. Once I just left and the other time I finally asked a stranger if I could sit with them. They were fine of course, but it was ackward. Maybe it’s only this bad on a Sunday afternoon though. There is always plenty of room in the morning.
Bucer’s Coffeehouse Pub: I seem to see fewer laptops here and more adults (non-students) talking together. NSA students usually have a stack of books. You can nearly always find a seat, especially if you’re willing to sit in the back. Friday and Saturday nights are a completely different story: standing room only and very loud. More pub and less coffeehouse.
Sister’s Brew: Lots of laptops again. Often people hanging out together, each with their own laptop! They have gone out of there way to have power strips everywhere though. I also see a bit more board game action. It’s been tight a few times, but I (or my wife) have always been able to find a seat.
Common Grounds (in the UI Commons): Don’t ever go here between 0:15 and 0:45 of the hour. The line can be 20+ people long in-between classes. Often busy, but you can always find a seat in the rest of the Commons if the coffee shop proper is full. It seems like students come here to hang out and not so much to study.
Starbucks in the Palouse Mall: Always a line, always plenty of seats. Almost nobody stays at the shop in the mall. They get their drinks and continue their shopping.
Cafe Silos: A loyal core of customers who often stay long and order food. I rarely see any students or laptops here.
Daily Grind: WSU has a lot of students, but relatively few shops to hang out in. This place is often packed out for hours on end. Tons of laptops. Might as well bag the books and walk next door to Rico’s and have a whiskey.
Cafe Moro: This is decent shop, but never seems to be busy. I’m not sure why. The prices are kind of steep but the espresso is better than Daily Grind.
Anyway, these are my limited observations. Do I have this wrong? Should campers be banned? (Like at Denny’s!)
Filed under: Uncategorized on March 20th, 2010
My favorite spot (Sister’s Brew) would get a lot less of my business if it did not encourage laptops since I go there to write and get out of the house. However, I have been known to write the old-fashioned way in a notebook at the Moscow Food Co-op too.
If coffee shops all banned laptops, where would the wi-fi users go? Answer: new wi-fi laptop-friendly shops who probably would charge a cover fee and also serve coffee? Laptop bars? Libraries? Cardboard boxes on the street?
My husband used to hang out at the Daily Grind on occasion to work, but he kept getting viruses. He now goes to Cafe Moro.
I meet up with people at Sister’s Brew and have never had a problem finding a place to sit. Maybe it has to do with the time of day.