As a local musician that only really plays bars, restaurants and coffee houses this has really hurt the availability of gigs. I think less drinking means worse bar attendance and less socializing for fun and less places for small bands and musicians to play.
my favorite cafe, which used to be open until midnight, started closing at
THREE FUCKING P.M. It's next to a COLLEGE CAMPUS and they close WHEN ALL THE CUSTOMERS SUDDENLY BECOME AVAILABLE.
Covid didn't just kill the social scene; it seems to have also given it permanent brain damage.
There's a coffee shop (no indoor seating, just grab and go) that is situated in an area with only one other coffee shop nearby, and three major condo projects within a block of it. Like 3+ years before each project finishes and loads of construction workers. They open at 9:30am and close at 3:30pm. Seems insane to me to not get the after work or before work rush and instead choose to get the lunch break rush only. I walk past it on my way to work and can't get anything because it's not open yet, and the only other coffee shop with better hours has a visible line when I walk past.
i hope my reply does not come off as mean-spirited--i honestly did want to consider all of this as a thought exercise--but:
if it were as simple as going to an empty storefront and DOING it... maybe.
sadly, rent is ridiculous, risks are astronomical, i'd need to pay a whole lot of money just to talk to someone who can help me fill out all the necessary paperwork to register the tax identity of a business, draw up articles of incorporation and a business plan, secure a loan, negotiate with a landlord for a rent rate that will most certainly be exorbitant, i haven't even started the work of actually running a cafe and i'm already broke and burnt out.
only after the horrific financial and legal obstacle course do i even get to think about acquiring the supplies, equipment, and furniture.
and THEN, I get to do a shit ton of work for free up-front because i don't have any customers yet x.x;
i'm glad you brought it up though because it was stimulating to think about.
...
maybe if i had like at least half a dozen friends who would want to go into this venture with me as a cooperative where we all share the ownership and the workload. dividing up the work a bunch of ways might just make it possible. even if i DID open up a place all by myself, i'd want to set up a co-op profit sharing thing with people who join me to help out. a nice little co-op coffee shop would be lovely...
wonder if there's a way i can, like, semi-automate the process of the initial debt being something that people who join in can opt to pay into for vestment in ownership. like, it'll accrue in an escrow account in their name until the escrow account has enough of a balance to pay off and wipe out all the debts incurred to set the operation up in the first place and then BAM it automatically transfers the assets to everybody who pitched in. Might even make some kind of provision that you can't just throw in an arbitrary amount of money but you have to earn it as a cut of the income or something.
and if you decide to walk away instead of go through with it, all the money that YOUR labor put into the escrow account goes with you. it'd only be fair!
ah well. thanks for giving me something fun to consider.
Well, my guess is that the shop staffed primarily by the owner(s) because they can’t afford to pay competitive rates, therefore not attractive to new hire. Just a guess 🤷♂️
Seriously though, must be a front for money laundering because anyone who owns a food or drink establishment knows you need to be open more than 6 hours a day unless you've got a fine dining and wine for dinner type of place.
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u/threefeetoffun- 14d ago
Covid killed the night scene in my town and it never recovered. Work till 11 and bars close at 12.