New York coffee shops turn on laptop freeloaders
August 6th, 2009 by Cliff Bostock in NewsMichael Erickson, marketing director for Fifth Group Restaurants, posted a link on Facebook to an article in the Wall Street Journal about a movement among New York coffee shops to discourage laptop use:
Amid the economic downturn, there are fewer places in New York to plug in computers. As idle workers fill coffee-shop tables — nursing a single cup, if that, and surfing the Web for hours — and as shop owners struggle to stay in business, a decade-old love affair between coffee shops and laptop-wielding customers is fading. In some places, customers just get cold looks, but in a growing number of small coffee shops, firm restrictions on laptop use have been imposed and electric outlets have been locked. The laptop backlash may predate the recession, but the recession clearly has accelerated it.
Erickson wonders if the same problem had anything to do with the closing of Caribou at the corner of Monroe and Piedmont. Actually, a sign on the door says the coffee shop has closed for remodeling. Meanwhile all the laptop users have moved to Ansley Starbucks, where I counted 15 machines a few days ago.
August 7th, 2009 at 8:25 am
Go New York!
Here in Montreal, I discovered that there is an unspoken rule regarding laptop use that everyone acknowledges in. If one purchases a cup of coffee, one surfs the Internet for no longer than half an hour. Should you decide you want a longer stay, you continue to purchase products for the duration of your visit. Awesomely, it’s fellow observant patrons who call you out on your abuse if you don’t follow the “rule.”
August 7th, 2009 at 8:58 am
Ooh, a perfect opportunity for me to bitch about something that annoys me. I love it!
So anyway — I’m crazy ’bout Octane. It’s a great place with the best coffee in Atlanta, a cool staff and always some very nice art on display. Plus, they have some decent food and a kick-booty selection of craft beer. And I’m a craft beer nut.
But the last two times I went in hoping to have a groovy small-plate-and-beer experience up at the (very small) bar, there was someone using a laptop hogging most of the bar space. Not content to take up just one bar space with the laptop, he had the space to the right taken up with a mouse pad and mouse, and the space to the left taken up with a stack of notebooks.
Now that’s what my Dad would call “tacky.” Luckily there’s 5 Seasons right across the street for times like those, but I’d really prefer Octane.
August 7th, 2009 at 10:40 am
LOL…Kali, I almost wrote in my post that I expected to hear from you!
August 7th, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Remember when “bars” (and that ilk) used to be places where people gathered to socialize and interact?
“Meanwhile all the laptop users have moved to Ansley Starbucks, where I counted 15 machines a few days ago”
15????
All the lonely people, where do they all come from…
August 7th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Thanks, Cliff! It’s funny to have my fanaticism acknowledged! :)
August 9th, 2009 at 5:54 pm
If Caribou at piedmont/monroe does close it’s NOT ’cause of laptop users. It’s the rude, non-professional, staff and mgmt slinging attitude. I called Caribou corporate on a number of occasions to report the decline in service at this location- not to complain, but because I just wanted it to get better, it was one of my regular coffee shops. But nothing ever changed, in fact got worst over the last 6 months – finally just stopped going (like a lot of regulars – paying laptop users).