16 replies to this topic

[Dimitrios]

I searched but couldn't find such a thread.

I'm often looking for somewhere to park with my laptop for a couple of hours to drink a coffee, maybe have a croissant, and make some progress on various projects on my laptop. For some reason, the gentle melody of coffee shop chatter and background music is the best environment for getting work done - better than my cubicle (by far), better than home, better than a quieter spot like a library.

The ideal location would have -
- at least a handful of power outlets
- wifi with reasonable speed (I know nowadays folks manage with smartphones, tethering, etc. but it's a whole lot easier if the joint has a decent wireless connection)
- a relaxed, spacious layout (don't want to be hogging tables if space is limiting)
- staff who are ok with laptop/tablet users
- good coffee and munchies? Hopefully
- decent music? subjective...

So far, my haunts of choice are as follows:
- Serious Coffee, Cook st Village (kinda unoriginal, but satisfies all requirements but the music... lots of space and small tables)
- Cornerstone Cafe, Fernwood (space is limited, but very tolerant of the laptop crowd)
- Moka House, CSV (often too crowded, but ok; does it have wifi? I don't recall)
- Spiral Cafe, Vic West (nice place, hit-or-miss with table space; wifi is from a random neighbour)
- Discovery coffee, James Bay (no outlets, but ok if you have a decent battery; good tunes playing on vinyl)
- Starbucks, various locations (eh, it works)

Is that it? There must be more & better places. Help me complete this list of your favorite paper writing/VV posting locations.

[Benezet]

So far, my haunts of choice are as follows:
- Serious Coffee, Cook st Village (kinda unoriginal, but satisfies all requirements but the music... lots of space and small tables)
- Cornerstone Cafe, Fernwood (space is limited, but very tolerant of the laptop crowd)
- Moka House, CSV (often too crowded, but ok; does it have wifi? I don't recall)
- Spiral Cafe, Vic West (nice place, hit-or-miss with table space; wifi is from a random neighbour)
- Discovery coffee, James Bay (no outlets, but ok if you have a decent battery; good tunes playing on vinyl)
- Starbucks, various locations (eh, it works)

Is that it? There must be more & better places. Help me complete this list of your favorite paper writing/VV posting locations.

Union Pacific, on Herald St (Big space, big tables)

[Bingo]

There are some good coffee places around but if everyone went in there to connect to wifi as their first priority, and nurse a coffee for two hours, there wouldn't be any seats left for those who want to meet friends over a coffee and food, and leave in under an hour.

If you owned the coffee house which type of customer would you be encouraging?

[Baro]

There's been quite a few times when me and a group of friends walked in and back out of a coffee place because we wanted to get drinks and a lunch or something but EVERY table had a single person with a laptop sitting there nursing a coffee. Can't imagine that's good for business.

[Mike K.]

It's a toss up. I like popping into a place that offers wifi because I can work on my phone while having a coffee or waiting for someone to show up, but I sympathize with those who can't find a seat because a half dozen kids with iMacs are hanging around checking their Facebook status or out of town visitors are attempting to Skype their family

[sebberry]

This is something the malls could do well. Face it, coffee shops are too small to have half a dozen people sitting around for two hours on their laptops.

Perhaps a Seawest Lounge concept at the new Hillside food court?
$15 ($12 per person for 2 or more) for a couple of hours of electricity and WiFi, free coffee refills, includes a pastry or other small food item. I'm sure Galaxie would be happy to provide a Jazz music stream.

[VicHockeyFan]

This is something the malls could do well.

If find the wifi in the Bay Centre is quite underwhelming, I think it's always clogged with overuse.

I often pop into the Sticky Wicket, always lots of room (except maybe on a Friday late afternoon), many areas with outlets, good wifi, accepting staff.

[Dimitrios]

There's been quite a few times when me and a group of friends walked in and back out of a coffee place because we wanted to get drinks and a lunch or something but EVERY table had a single person with a laptop sitting there nursing a coffee. Can't imagine that's good for business.

I'm a bit surprised by the negativity. This is 2005 thinking, and the cafe owners should have adapted by now. I just reread an April 2011 article in Fresh Cup magazine (coffee shop industry publication, it's on the wall at Fresh Cafe at Gorge and Dunedin, not available online, unfortunately) about how cafe owners can design spaces with laptop users in mind - bar-type seating with easy to access power outlets is one way. Sure there are issues with this, as various posters have presented, but it's up to the businesses to adapt to the demand. Don't have free wifi advertised if you don't want people coming in with computers.

It's not really all that different from when I was a UBC student in the '90s, and Calhoun's on Broadway (Vancouver) had signs on the tables saying 'We're all for higher education, but this is a business; if you are here studying please make a food or beverage purchase every 1.5 hours and consider sharing your table' (or something to that effect).

Look, 2 people sitting and chatting and nursing a coffee for 2 hours, playing chess or Scrabble (this is big in some places), or reading a book for a long time are equally unhelpful to the cafe's bottom line. There are many coffee shops that realize the demand for wifi in coffee shops, and provide it for that reason. You don't think Starbucks did a thorough cost-benefit analysis before going completely free-wifi in all their shops in North America? Forward thinking places have made outlets more reachable (pretty annoying to have strangers to crawl under your neighbour's table to plug in). I think it's just part of the evolving urban environment.

Anyway, there must be more suggestions still out there.

[sebberry]

Safeway at Fort and Foul Bay decided to skip hiring a couple extra cashiers for the busy hours and instead put in a lounge with a fireplace. There's a Tim Hortons in there now too. I'm sure nobody would mind if you sat there for a couple of hours.

I'm not sure about the WiFi, however. You might be able to pick that up from Starbucks across the parking lot.

[Kikadee]

U.S. Coffee Shops Reserve Tables for the 'Lap-Top Free'

Slate’s Matthew Yglesias elucidates the issue here: “Coffee shops all across America struggle with the Wi-Fi question. Giving people a place to sit and work that’s out of their house … is a great way to drum up business during non-peak times. But it slows turnover at peak business moments and can cause you to lose customers.” . . . . A Slate reader described a similar coffee shop in Davis, Calif., (a university town) that had set aside six tables for folks without laptops and who also weren’t sprawling out with their textbooks.

http://www.theglobea...rticle11158978/

[MarkoJ]

I've witness quite a few plenty of fish first dates at Moka House in Cook Street.....damn that must be awkward.

[Sparky]

OK, at the risk of coming across as a crackpot...I'm older than most of you, and I am totally in love with mobile technology. There is a thread for that.

I think your mobile office can be everywhere.

Allow me to explain.

I had lunch today at a Japanese restaurant on lower Yates, I had been there before so my iPhone immediately picked up the wifi automatically. The guy beside me at the sushi bar propped his phone up on his menu and was online while eating with both hands.

I am currently in a "bar with full bars".

Shaw open is going to change the way we think about Internet connectivity. I am being surprised everyday with seeing that I am connected without even trying. Soon you will just be able to log on from the park.

If you visit Kirkland Washington you can not escape the free wifi signal.

[MarkoJ]

What is the opinion on Habit Coffee?

[Dimitrios]

OK, at the risk of coming across as a crackpot...I'm older than most of you, and I am totally in love with mobile technology. There is a thread for that.

I think your mobile office can be everywhere.

Allow me to explain.

I had lunch today at a Japanese restaurant on lower Yates, I had been there before so my iPhone immediately picked up the wifi automatically. The guy beside me at the sushi bar propped his phone up on his menu and was online while eating with both hands.

I am currently in a "bar with full bars".

Shaw open is going to change the way we think about Internet connectivity. I am being surprised everyday with seeing that I am connected without even trying. Soon you will just be able to log on from the park.

If you visit Kirkland Washington you can not escape the free wifi signal.

Right, Sparky - a number of places have large areas of free wifi (airports, for instance, come to mind). But I wasn't just talking about being online- that's what smartphones and tablets are for. I was talking about places to legitimately get some work done for an hour or two, being respectful of the cafe vibe - it doesn't work everywhere, or at all times. And the wifi is only part of the equation (depending what you're working on, you may not need online access at all; it is certainly can be a distraction for most of us).

I was thinking of where one might go to write the great Canadian novel/screenplay/manifesto.

[Sparky]

^ Nice.....exactly.....

FYI...I wouldn't craft that script from the Red Lion.... (my point of post)

The peelers and the hockey game are too much of a distraction.

[LJ]

I've witness quite a few plenty of fish first dates at Moka House in Cook Street......

How do you know that?

[LJ]

Slate’s Matthew Yglesias elucidates the issue here: “Coffee shops all across America struggle with the Wi-Fi question. Giving people a place to sit and work that’s out of their house … is a great way to drum up business during non-peak times. But it slows turnover at peak business moments and can cause you to lose customers.” . . . . A Slate reader described a similar coffee shop in Davis, Calif., (a university town) that had set aside six tables for folks without laptops and who also weren’t sprawling out with their textbooks.

Maybe they could throttle the speed of the Wi-Fi just before peak hours to encourage the freeloaders to move along.