[HN Gopher] The Third Place
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The Third Place
Author : juliend2
Score : 31 points
Date : 2023-10-11 14:51 UTC (1 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (en.wikipedia.org)
(TXT) w3m dump (en.wikipedia.org)
| itslennysfault wrote:
| This was a core part of Starbuck's strategy. They wanted to be
| the defacto 3rd place, and were making great progress. Before
| Starbucks most coffee in the US was diners or togo drip in a
| styro cup.
|
| https://www.fastcompany.com/887990/starbucks-third-place-and...
|
| Unfortunately, Kevin Johnson pushed hard to maximize profits and
| cut costs to the direct detriment of the original "3rd place"
| vision. His focus was on pushing toward smaller to go / drive
| thru locations. The logic is pretty obvious. Smaller places that
| sell more units are more profitable. Large comfy coffee shops
| where people sit sipping 1 coffee for hours aren't.
|
| Laxman Narasimhan took over this year and it is unclear how that
| will impact things, but I doubt "being the 3rd place" is even a
| goal of Starbucks anymore.
| zvmaz wrote:
| What is a "third place" for introverts who are not very keen on
| socializing?
| denvaar wrote:
| I'm like my cat, in that I like to be near people, but not
| necessarily engaging. Sitting in a coffee shop doing my own
| thing is really nice sometimes.
| yunwal wrote:
| A makerspace
| hiatus wrote:
| Online forums, libraries, bookstores.
| mindcrime wrote:
| _Online forums_
|
| In terms of "virtual third places" I'd probably say that HN
| is that for me. :-) I'm guessing I wouldn't be alone in that
| regard...
| mindcrime wrote:
| I don't think there's any _particular_ requirement to socialize
| when at a "third place". So if you just go sit in a cafe,
| coffee-shop, bar, etc., and work with your headphones on the
| entire time, you're still enjoying a "third place". Some people
| (count me in this bucket) get "something" from simply being
| _around_ other people, but don 't necessarily want extensive
| engagement _with_ those people - at least not on an ongoing
| basis. Sometimes you just want to listen to the Youtube video
| you 're listening to, or finish the code module you're working
| on, or whatever. :-)
|
| Me, I like sitting in the cafe at the local Barnes & Noble. I
| get to enjoy coffee, books, wifi, and a pleasant ambiance. And
| for the most part I can regulate how much I socialize with the
| people around me. I say "for the most part" because I'm such a
| regular there that I've gotten to know a lot of the employees
| and other regular visitors and have formed friendships with a
| number of those people, to the point that sometimes when I go
| in there I have a lot of people coming over to chit-chat. Which
| is OK in that they're people I enjoy talking to, but sometimes
| if I'm really trying to get some specific task done, it can be
| a little bit frustrating and I struggle with how to disengage
| from them without seeming overly rude. Still, on balance, I get
| a lot out of hanging out there.
| karaterobot wrote:
| I don't think it's really changed. There have always been
| introverts. So: "churches, cafes, clubs, public libraries,
| gyms, bookstores, stoops and parks", to name just a few. The
| difference is that there's a new third place called the
| internet that has replaced those for a lot of people, with many
| negative consequences and a few positive ones.
| hiatus wrote:
| The diminishing availability of third places is a true tragedy.
| It is increasingly difficult to find places where you can just
| exist, without a prerequisite financial transaction.
| unpopularopp wrote:
| >The diminishing availability of third places
|
| Are they? The Wikipedia article says "examples of third places
| include churches, cafes, clubs, public libraries, gyms,
| bookstores"
|
| Not sure I see any of these diminishing.
|
| I'd rather say that people changed not the availability of
| public spaces. Everyone is more individualistic now, less
| social roles. See online dating. If I can sit at home and do
| "dating" with 0 effort then why should I go to the a cafe,
| club, gym etc? Otoh most people would say they explicitly don't
| want to get asked out randomly in a gym for example. So it's a
| self feeding loop.
| justinator wrote:
| Many coffee shops in my town have closed due to high rents.
| The ones that have stayed have had their hours shortened. The
| one I got to is only open for 8 hours/day. My drink is now $6
| too.
|
| Libraries have to constantly prove their relevancy. My town
| again had a huge city council fight to fund a new library
| district - it wasn't pretty.
|
| There was an announcement last week that the largest gym in
| town is closing. My gym costs $100/month and that's one of
| the cheaper ones.
|
| Many of the bookstores in town are still open, but the used
| bookstores are mostly long gone. A lot of them are turning to
| be more like gift shops with books. The only used bookstore
| left is also a coffee shop (another favorite).
|
| One of the bigger outside seating, family-friendly (cringe
| for me) bars with food trucks and all that has been run
| through the mud lately because of their ties with an anti-
| woman, anti-gay church that rented (well had been given for
| free) space for worship there. It all gets messy.
|
| And let's not forget Covid shut most all this down for a time
| and people changed their daily living patterns.
|
| Helps for any third space left that this is a university town
| where PHD graduates stay as well as a training ground for
| athletes of all types (though leaning more on endurance
| athletes).
| datameta wrote:
| I think if anything availability increases, but may require
| more perceived effort (despite lower bar to discovery).
| [deleted]
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(page generated 2023-10-11 16:01 UTC)