Jason Kottke points to a post by Steven Gordon of the Speculist , who writes that In the Future Everything Will Be A Coffee Shop. It is an interesting point, and may mark a possible reversal of the trends we have seen toward the big box in the suburbs, and a possible revitalization of our main streets. Gordon lists some of the institutions that are going through a trend toward “coffeeshopification.”
Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0
Universities Will Become Coffee Shops
The traditional university lecture is a completely anachronistic institution; there is no reason my Ryerson University students couldn’t watch my lectures on their computers at home or in a coffee shop. Most do; rarely more than 50% of the class shows up, because they know I post the lectures on the school website. As you can see in the photo above, even the students that show up have their noses in their computers. It is all a silly leftover from the days before books were printed and were too expensive for students, so the lecturer would stand up at the front and read from them. The reason for showing up these days is for, as Gordon notes, to “seek tutoring, network, and socialize.”- pretty much a big coffee shop.
The late, lamented Bookery, coffee to the left. /Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0
Bookstores Will Become Coffee Shops
Many already are. But as e-books gain in popularity and print-on-demand machines become more common, they may well become a lot smaller. Gordon writes:
Unto This Last/Screen capture
Retail Stores Will Become Coffee Shops
Gordon did most of his Christmas shopping online, getting better selection without fighting crowds. He also notes the trend that I go on about, the 3D printshop that is coming to your main street soon.
This is already happening; London’s Unto This Last, shown above, prints out your furniture to order from their little high street shop. Look at the interior here; throw in a Gaggia and you have the model.
National Maritime Museum/Public Domain
Offices Become Coffee Shops… Again
That is, after all, where they started, in Edward Lloyd’s Coffee Shop in the 17th century.
Or, as I have often put it, you can go further and say that your office is in your pants. In fact, the major purpose of an office now is to interact, to get around a table and talk, to schmooze. Just what you do in a coffee shop.
Rustic Owl, Toronto/ Lloyd Alter/CC BY 2.0
In fact for many people, the coffee shop already is the office; in Toronto’s newRustic Owllast week there was an open macbook on almost every table. The office becomes more like a coffee shop and the coffee shop more like an office every day. Stephen Gordon is really on to something with this analogy. More at the Speculist
