A chat with a stranger in a Seattle cafe made me see my own shop differently

I was working at a corner table in this little place on Capitol Hill last Thursday. A guy, maybe in his 60s, sat at the next table and we got talking about the music they were playing. He said he used to run a coffee shop in the 90s, and he pointed out how everyone now sits alone with a screen. He told me, 'We built big communal tables on purpose, to force a little bumping of elbows. Now the design is all about private nooks.' It wasn't a complaint, just an observation. But it hit me because I realized my favorite spot to work from is exactly that, a tucked-away booth where no one bothers me. I've been going there for years thinking it was perfect, but now I wonder if I'm missing the point of the place entirely. Has anyone else had a simple observation from another customer totally shift how you view your regular haunt?

3 comments

3 Comments

faith_king19d ago

Remember that article about third places dying? It feels like we're designing them out on purpose now, for quiet solo work instead of chance talks. That old guy was right about the elbow bumps, and I miss them too.

the_linda20d ago

But maybe the private nooks are the whole point now...

mila_campbell2520d ago

Yeah, that's a solid point from @the_linda. Like, is the whole goal now to find those hidden spots before they get popular? I saw a tiny coffee shop get written up in a blog, and two weeks later the line was out the door. It lost its vibe completely. Are we all just chasing secrets until they're not secret anymore?