Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

A new thing – retail restaurants. Actually an old thing. I welcome its return.

Something (not) new under the sun – restaurant retailers. Retailers are putting food service, a.k.a., cafe, in their stores.

Customers are shopping online. Save yourself the trouble of going to a store and all that. Stay home, sit on the couch, tap on your tablet, and the product arrives at your door. What can compete with that?

Food and drink.

Aha, make the old-fashioned, in-the-store shopping more pleasurable by catering to the whims of the customer. Serve them food and drink.

This is a return to an old – a very old – idea. In the early 1980s, I was in Pakistan shopping for a handmade rug. The store owner served tea and snacks while we chatted. In the early 1990s, I was in the Little Professor Bookshop in Reston, Virginia. They had tables and big, stuffed, comfortable chairs – AND FREE COFFEE. They catered to the in-the-store customer.

Some bookstores have gone in this direction by putting  Starbucks or other coffee shop inside or adjoining the bookstore. They charge a lot of money for the coffee. That isn’t nearly as good as free coffee, but it is something.

We go forward to the past. Make it a please to come in the store.

Now if the NFL will pay attention and make it a pleasure to come in the stadium (free refreshments served at your seat), they will solve their problem of dwindling attendance.