Coffee shop with no wifi on purpose, would you actually go

[RedCougar]

There's a small but genuinely real trend of coffee shops deliberately removing wifi and sometimes even banning laptops entirely, explicitly positioning themselves as a place for actual conversation and quiet unplugged reading rather than becoming yet another remote office space, and I'm curious whether people would actually go there or whether it just sounds appealing in theory without ever really working in practice

My honest first reaction is that I'd genuinely love the concept but would probably still show up with my phone anyway, no wifi doesn't actually stop mobile data from working at all, so the deeper unplugged effect probably requires something more deliberate than simply removing the shop's own network connection

What actually appeals to me most about the entire idea isn't really the disconnection itself in isolation, it's more the genuinely different customer base and overall atmosphere that a no laptop policy specifically tends to naturally create, fewer people sitting alone for six hours nursing a single small coffee while working, more people actually there specifically for the coffee and the company itself

The obvious business risk here is that laptop workers are often genuinely reliable repeat customers who buy food and drinks steadily throughout an entire extended stay, so a shop banning that specific customer segment outright needs a different and genuinely strong enough draw, better coffee quality, a stronger community feel, something else entirely, to actually make up for that lost revenue

Curious whether people think this kind of business model actually works sustainably long term as a genuine niche, or whether it's mostly just a nice romantic idea that inevitably gets quietly abandoned again the first time revenue numbers actually come in noticeably lower than a normal cafe would expect

[Sophie83]

The mobile data loophole is exactly the problem with this whole idea in practice, banning wifi specifically feels almost entirely symbolic when most people can just tether off their own phone anyway without even noticing much difference

[Lewis_43]

Would go for the different customer base and general atmosphere alone honestly, hate sitting in a cafe that's basically become a silent open plan office full of people typing quietly at laptops rather than a place for actual conversation

[Jason99]

The laptop worker customer segment being reliable steady revenue is a real concern for any cafe owner though, that's not a small thing to give up on purely for atmosphere and vibe reasons alone

[Kane44]

Feel like the actual solution some shops have found is a middle ground rather than an absolute ban, wifi available but deliberately no power outlets anywhere, naturally limits how long people can camp out working without directly banning laptops outright

[BetaElliot13]

Think this works best as a small owner run independent shop rather than any kind of scalable chain concept, it's inherently a niche positioning choice that depends heavily on a specific genuine community actually forming and returning regularly, not something that mass scales cleanly across many different locations

[Layla86]

Would need excellent coffee to actually make me choose this specific place over a normal cafe purely on merit, atmosphere and unplugged vibe alone probably isn't enough to fully make up for it if the coffee itself is only mediocre