Walked into a coffee shop in Austin and saw their 'no laptops after 3pm' sign

I was grabbing a late coffee yesterday and the owner explained they make more money from people who just chat and leave, not folks camping for hours on one drink. It got me thinking about how we design our own spaces to push certain customer behavior. Has anyone else tried a simple rule like this to boost turnover?

2 comments

2 Comments

ericfox9d ago

Yeah, we did something like that at my old place. We had these big comfy chairs right by the power outlets and people would just set up camp all day. So we swapped the chairs out for smaller stools and moved the outlets behind the counter. Sounds small, but it totally changed the vibe. People still hung out, but they didn't treat it like their office anymore. It's all about the little signals you send without having to put up a sign.

brookep629d ago

Exactly what @ericfox said... the furniture choice is a huge signal. We had to do the same thing with a long bench table that was too comfy. Switched to taller, narrower stools with no back support and suddenly laptop campers packed up after one coffee. It's a quiet way to set the rules without being rude about it.