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Third places and neighborhood entrepreneurship (2024)

(www.nber.org)
118 points WasimBhai | 1 comments | 25 Jun 25 12:10 UTC | HN request time: 0.305s | source
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picardo ◴[25 Jun 25 13:22 UTC] No.44377037[source]▶
I'd be interested to see an update to this study in the coming years. Starbucks has been pivoting towards take out and mobile orders and removing tables and chairs entirely from some of its stores lately.
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ghaff ◴[25 Jun 25 13:56 UTC] No.44377402[source]▶
I don't dispute that there may be a trend but a lot of Starbucks have long had pretty scanty seating--and certainly tables where you can reasonably meet and talk. And it can be fairly difficult to find a table at more traditional cafes/coffeeshops. So there's reasonable debate over whether a lot of coffeeshops are really third places.
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walterbell ◴[25 Jun 25 15:04 UTC] No.44378177[source]▶
> debate over whether a lot of coffeeshops are really third places

What are some examples of real third places in major US cities?

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1. tejohnso ◴[25 Jun 25 19:16 UTC] No.44380919[source]▶
Probably not popular, but I like board game cafés. You pay an hourly fee to play one of dozens of board games while also enjoying food and drink typical of a coffee shop. I think the public library should be a great third place. They should have board games and computers in addition to books, but they're often unsatisfactory in terms of variety, cleanliness, or proximity.