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Are coffee shops just the answer to having social spaces that aren't alcohol fueled like bars and clubs? For quite a while I have had a rough idea that there co

by ilaksh 2y ago

Are coffee shops just the answer to having social spaces that aren't alcohol fueled like bars and clubs? For quite a while I have had a rough idea that there could be something along the lines of a bar but with no alcohol and some kind of structured activities for breaking the ice.

Clubber 2y ago
Yes, coffee bars were popular back in the 1990s. One of my CS professors opened one up. In "Friends," they often go to a coffee bar. They had couches and comfy chairs to chill in. You just went there and had coffee and hung out. These were mom and pop shops and probably all got eaten up by corporate behemoths like Starbucks. Just goes to show, when a company goes public, you are no longer the customer, the shareholders are.
- lotsofpulp 2y ago
  >Just goes to show, when a company goes public, you are no longer the customer, the shareholders are. I read the same sentiment about when publicly listed companies go private.
  - Clubber 2y ago
    Yes I should have said, "has outside investors," or "institutional investors." It would have fit better. PE companies seem even worse. I often see them take a known brand, cut quality, jack up the prices and bleed the company dry. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/private-equity-rolled-red-lobster-rcna153397 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/private-equity-rol...
    - FilosofumRex 2y ago
      Don't forget the evil university endowments flying under the radar of non-profits. They destroy local shops & economy by replacing them with either for profit corporate tenants who can pay exuberant rents, or worse, empty, abandoned, desolate buildings with exuberant mark-to-model real estate values. Harvard and Kendall Squares in Cambridge, MA are the best examples of what ruthless endowments do. Kendall Square is entirely owned by MIT and is new shiny and totally unaffordable to non-VC/PE crowd and shuts down after dark. Harvard Square is replete with empty buildings worth billions on HMC's books. The late night 2-story Starbucks with lots of seating and occasional live music is gone and replaced with a tiny one with no seating which closes at 9pm.
  - bigstrat2003 2y ago
    I think that depends on the means of going private. Original owners get together to take their baby back? Probably going to go well. Private equity firm swoops in to extract $$$? Probably going to crash and burn.
satvikpendem 2y ago
NA bars exist, there are a few in NYC one been to.
wenc 2y ago
Are you thinking of board-game cafes?
simonw 2y ago
In the San Francisco Bay Area that niche has been partly filled with dessert cafes and boba places. The dessert cafes are fantastic. I always tell visitors to the city they they should try one while they're here.
- wbl 2y ago
  Pretty pricy through: any dessert cafes that you think provide good value?
  - simonw 2y ago
    San Francisco is a pretty bad city to look for a bargain when it comes to food places! I can't remember how much they charge but I really like this one in Hayes Valley: https://maps.app.goo.gl/P2RC8jN5VDjUctrM9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/P2RC8jN5VDjUctrM9
kirici 2y ago
That is pretty much their history >The first coffeehouses appeared in Damascus. These Ottoman coffeehouses also appeared in Mecca, in the Arabian Peninsula in the 15th century, then spread to the Ottoman Empire's capital of Istanbul in the 16th century and in Baghdad. Coffeehouses became popular meeting places where people gathered to drink coffee, have conversations, play board games such as chess and backgammon, listen to stories and music, and discuss news and politics. They became known as "schools of wisdom" for the type of clientele they attracted, and their free and frank discourse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeehouse#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeehouse#History
- bobxmax 2y ago
  Much of Islamic civilization and the intellectual tour de force of the Islamic golden age came out of these early coffee shops.
  - ramblenode 2y ago
    These sprung up well after the Islamic Golden Age [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age

by ilaksh 2y ago

Clubber 2y ago

Yes, coffee bars were popular back in the 1990s. One of my CS professors opened one up. In "Friends," they often go to a coffee bar. They had couches and comfy chairs to chill in. You just went there and had coffee and hung out. These were mom and pop shops and probably all got eaten up by corporate behemoths like Starbucks. Just goes to show, when a company goes public, you are no longer the customer, the shareholders are.

lotsofpulp 2y ago
>Just goes to show, when a company goes public, you are no longer the customer, the shareholders are. I read the same sentiment about when publicly listed companies go private.
- Clubber 2y ago
  Yes I should have said, "has outside investors," or "institutional investors." It would have fit better. PE companies seem even worse. I often see them take a known brand, cut quality, jack up the prices and bleed the company dry. https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/private-equity-rolled-red-lobster-rcna153397 https://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/private-equity-rol...
  - FilosofumRex 2y ago
    Don't forget the evil university endowments flying under the radar of non-profits. They destroy local shops & economy by replacing them with either for profit corporate tenants who can pay exuberant rents, or worse, empty, abandoned, desolate buildings with exuberant mark-to-model real estate values. Harvard and Kendall Squares in Cambridge, MA are the best examples of what ruthless endowments do. Kendall Square is entirely owned by MIT and is new shiny and totally unaffordable to non-VC/PE crowd and shuts down after dark. Harvard Square is replete with empty buildings worth billions on HMC's books. The late night 2-story Starbucks with lots of seating and occasional live music is gone and replaced with a tiny one with no seating which closes at 9pm.
- bigstrat2003 2y ago
  I think that depends on the means of going private. Original owners get together to take their baby back? Probably going to go well. Private equity firm swoops in to extract $$$? Probably going to crash and burn.

satvikpendem 2y ago

NA bars exist, there are a few in NYC one been to.

wenc 2y ago

Are you thinking of board-game cafes?

simonw 2y ago

In the San Francisco Bay Area that niche has been partly filled with dessert cafes and boba places. The dessert cafes are fantastic. I always tell visitors to the city they they should try one while they're here.

wbl 2y ago
Pretty pricy through: any dessert cafes that you think provide good value?
- simonw 2y ago
  San Francisco is a pretty bad city to look for a bargain when it comes to food places! I can't remember how much they charge but I really like this one in Hayes Valley: https://maps.app.goo.gl/P2RC8jN5VDjUctrM9 https://maps.app.goo.gl/P2RC8jN5VDjUctrM9

kirici 2y ago

That is pretty much their history >The first coffeehouses appeared in Damascus. These Ottoman coffeehouses also appeared in Mecca, in the Arabian Peninsula in the 15th century, then spread to the Ottoman Empire's capital of Istanbul in the 16th century and in Baghdad. Coffeehouses became popular meeting places where people gathered to drink coffee, have conversations, play board games such as chess and backgammon, listen to stories and music, and discuss news and politics. They became known as "schools of wisdom" for the type of clientele they attracted, and their free and frank discourse. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeehouse#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coffeehouse#History

bobxmax 2y ago
Much of Islamic civilization and the intellectual tour de force of the Islamic golden age came out of these early coffee shops.
- ramblenode 2y ago
  These sprung up well after the Islamic Golden Age [1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age