Hi, TIm, Are you Bucketworks? (Um, that came out sounding a little more existential than I intended. Wisconsin has that effect on me. :-))
I wonder if you have a blog post lying around we can put on the Coworking Blog? Or if you copudl write one? I think your take on this would be really interesting, to a lot of people. Cheers, Jeannine On Saturday, October 25, 2014 5:42:02 PM UTC+2, Tim Syth wrote: > > 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.
