Cafe Grumpy in NY Bans Laptops
Cafe Grumpy in Chelsea, NY is fed up with extension cords being ran all over their store. Although their Brooklyn location welcomes those with laptops and noise cancelling headphones. The owners, Caroline Bell and Chris Timbrell have been the target of much bad publicity for their ban in the Chelsea location.
Cafe Grumpy has opened up a third location with a different design intended to forever fix their “laptop” problems. The new location in Park Slope has no chairs…at all, unless you count the bench outside of the coffee bar for those who choose to linger. It does have a counter in the rear of the shop and a chest-high table in the front.
“I don’t think I’d ever do a bigger space with tables and chairs again,” Ms. Bell said. “I appreciate the idea of when you go someplace and it feels like a home away from home, but I don’t think it should be a home office away from home.”
This type of grab-n-go coffee bar is becoming more common around the country and especially in New York. “There’s clearly a philosophy behind the coffee bar,” said Christian Geckeler, who describes his ongoing odyssey to taste the country’s best coffee on Manseekingcoffee.com. “It puts the emphasis on the coffee and the barista.”
To read more check out the New York Times article at http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/25/dining/25coffee.html
Comments
2 Responses to “Cafe Grumpy in NY Bans Laptops”
Leave a Reply
Ads
Ha! I understand the owners (unpopular) response. I’ve spilled coffee because of wires and cords all over the place. Coffee houses almost have to be engineered and architected to take laptops into account. There are some little coffee joints here in Chicago that just don’t do well with lots of cords all over the place.
You know I have mixed feelings about this. On one hand many cafes have become offices without walls and when someone within earshot gets on their cell as well as their laptop I find that pretty annoying. But I also am not a fan of grab-n-go. An exceptional coffee experience must be enjoyed leisurely and not rushed.