I was reading about the death of bookstores and the lamentation of the masses, who will no longer have a place to meet, talk, and browse novels before going home and buying them on Amazon.
Someone mentioned libraries should take their place; the mission of a library, after all, is to provide a central repository for books and, by extension, a place for people to read them, talk about them, and enjoy them.
I find libraries a little sterile, however, at least as a place to work or socialize or form a community around reading. I know that sounds strange, but I don’t think I’m alone.
So, what if public libraries started outsourcing concessions to local coffee shops and converted some of the (often, though not always) unused meeting places as de facto cafés where books could be browsed at no detriment to the owner (the library), more patrons might show up and hang out because of the convivial draw of the coffee, and some amount of the profit goes to the library to support the ever-diminishing public funding they receive?
I’ve never worked in a library nor a coffee shop, which means my “great idea” probably has logistical holes you could drive a truck through. But if so…what are they? Are they unsolvable? Is this a viable concept? Tell me why or why not in the comments.