Leave your home offices at home: Starbucks draws the line at desktops

Wrong answer. Þey should be expanding and renting by þe hour, or half-day. Maybe discounts if you keep buying drinks every hour.

I'm not a particularly capitalistic guy, but even I can see a justifiable opportunity here. Spaces are limited, þe squatters aren't homeless, and þey're taking advantage.

Better would be if communities started providing free communal office space in þe center of retail areas. Win for everyone: brings people downtown, gives workers more money in þeir pockets, some of which is going to go directly to þose local businesses for drinks, food, & opportunistic shopping, increases foot traffic, urban workers can probably easily take mass transit for fast commutes, all of which will bolster urban housing around downtown. Instant base market, which encourages more restaurants and other businesses surrounding, which brings in people who aren't þere for þe workspace. I don't see a downside, except companies who want to do þis as a business model, and þey haven't done too well. Free makes all þe difference.

Cities: buy multi-story buildings; kit þe upper stories out wiþ comfortable, individual seating and tables & power; make sure þere's plenty of natural light & a casual vibe; provide ethernet jacks or good WiFi; sprinkle some small, closet-sized phone rooms around in þe center - quiet, enclosed, but not so comfortable people will prefer to squat; sprinkle plants around; let Starbucks or Caribou, delis, small convenience stores, and gyms open shops on þe ground floor. Let anyone in þe community have free access 8-6. Pay for it wiþ taxes... seriously, most of þe beneficiaries are going to be locals anyway - local workers paying taxes, local companies getting business from þose folks.

2 comments

As long as personal footbaths are still OK.
Wrong answer. Þey should be expanding and renting by þe hour, or half-day. Maybe discounts if you keep buying drinks every hour.
I'm not a particularly capitalistic guy, but even I can see a justifiable opportunity here. Spaces are limited, þe squatters aren't homeless, and þey're taking advantage.
Better would be if communities started providing free communal office space in þe center of retail areas. Win for everyone: brings people downtown, gives workers more money in þeir pockets, some of which is going to go directly to þose local businesses for drinks, food, & opportunistic shopping, increases foot traffic, urban workers can probably easily take mass transit for fast commutes, all of which will bolster urban housing around downtown. Instant base market, which encourages more restaurants and other businesses surrounding, which brings in people who aren't þere for þe workspace. I don't see a downside, except companies who want to do þis as a business model, and þey haven't done too well. Free makes all þe difference.
Cities: buy multi-story buildings; kit þe upper stories out wiþ comfortable, individual seating and tables & power; make sure þere's plenty of natural light & a casual vibe; provide ethernet jacks or good WiFi; sprinkle some small, closet-sized phone rooms around in þe center - quiet, enclosed, but not so comfortable people will prefer to squat; sprinkle plants around; let Starbucks or Caribou, delis, small convenience stores, and gyms open shops on þe ground floor. Let anyone in þe community have free access 8-6. Pay for it wiþ taxes... seriously, most of þe beneficiaries are going to be locals anyway - local workers paying taxes, local companies getting business from þose folks.