Hi All, We currently operate out of a mall.
Positives - Because the economy in Milwaukee has been depressed for awhile, the rates are dirt cheap. Like crazy cheap. I would bet more mall space moves in this direction. - Security: We have a FOB system and the door is locked 24/7. There have been occasions when the door was left open and we did have strangers drop in and grab gear, but we learned quickly. - 24/7 access: Because the mall needs tenants, a member just calls security after the mall is closed and gets let in assuming they are on the security whitelist. I add our members to the whitelist - Noise: It was a bummer until we disabled all the Muzak speakers near our space. Its pretty chill now. But "shhh!", we definitely hacked the space. - Diversity: our mall is at the center of the city, all bus lines pass it and all types of people use it. Because of this, we get a lot of non-standard people walking by and stopping in to ask questions. This, in my opinion, is a massive opportunity to diversify beyond the standard nomadic, tech-oriented, middle-class user base. This positive alone makes much of the negative go away. - Community: It can very much be a community-driven and -oriented space. We must be careful not to let our own ideals mask the creativity and resilience of humans. It works, but it will likely be a slightly different crowd that you see in the photos. Negatives - Natural light: We don't have any windows directly to the outside. The center atrium allow some light in through the front glass, but our space is deep so the back is all artificial light. - Parking: There is lots of it, but it is relatively expensive. A daily user can spend more on parking in a month than the membership costs. That is money I would rather we were collecting than giving to the mall. Biking and public transit solve this problem. - Access: While we can get into the building, parking and then walking into a large building to our spot isn't as convenient (or easy to find) as having a space that is curbside or standalone. This can have an effect on event attendance because malls do have an environment that can be very different than the environment within our space. Bottom line: The lack of natural light and expensive parking can be a lot to bear, but the diversity of users and the fact that a consumption-based location is being disrupted and improved (in my opinion) is pretty cool. On Wednesday, October 22, 2014 5:15:05 AM UTC-5, Will Bennis, Locus Workspace wrote: > > Hi All, > > Recently a shopping mall realtor approached me about opening a coworking > space in their closed gaming zone/internet cafe. I'd love to hear opinions > about this, pros and cons. Before you completely ignore this post as coming > from someone who is clearly not from the same coworking planet, here is why > I'm even considering it: > > (1) *With respect to the fact that mall real estate goes for a premium: *At > least where I am, a lot of shopping malls are trying to build in > community/space quality features that make going to the mall (which lets > face it, most people in urban areas sometimes do) a more human experience: > space-taking areas like open art galleries, free indoor playgrounds, > exhibition space, gardens, etc. These spaces add value/traffic to the mall > as a whole, making the rentable space more valuable. This means that the > mall owner may be willing to partially fund a coworking space if it adds > value to the mall as a whole. > > (2) *With regard to the importance of community and quality of the work > environment: *Sure, malls are horrific. But they're also a reality. > Wouldn't creating coworking spaces in the horrific reality of a shopping > mall make malls a little less horrific? To the extent you could contribute > to the reinvention of malls as more human, community-focused spaces, > wouldn't it be a good thing to promote the development of a coworking space > in a mall? > > (3) *With respect to the objection that it wouldn't be sustainable; the > kind of people drawn to coworking would not want to do it in a mall: *The > malls where I am right now have many fast food restaurants (McDonalds, KFC, > etc.) with free bad wifi and people working away on their laptops or in > business meetings, or higher end cafes where laptop workers aren't as > welcome and places to work aren't comfortable or well suited for meaningful > work or quality meetings. I would guess many of the people who work in the > area or who are just there while their partners are shopping or their kids > are at the movies would love a more human space to work. Yes, they're not > the people traditionally drawn to coworking, but is there room for > something in between? > > My big question I guess is whether there would be a way to do this that > would create more than the equivalent of a hotel "business center" or an > internet cafe? Would there value or demand for a community-focused > workspace in a mall? > > Clearly this couldn't be an ideal community-focused and community-driven > coworking space. But is there room for something between the ideal and the > "business center" in a shopping mall (or airport or highway > gas-station/restaurant off-ramp for that matter)? Something that would help > build the sense of community and humanity in these largely community-less > spaces? Could it bear the *coworking *name? > > I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. > > Best, > Will > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
