CYBER-COFFEESHOPS - PROFITS PLUS PERKS
Despite the exception of Senator Exon's wits, nature still seems to abhor a vacuum. Thus another local CyberCafe is opening shortly after the demise of the Austin Discovery Incubator.
February 1st - Scheduled Grand Opening for a new "WWW Cafe" in downtown Austin. Described by the owners as a "full cyber cafe, offering Internet training, full coffeehouse, fresh pastries and sandwiches" WWW Cafe charges $5 an hour to use one of their four Macintoshes for Internet access, game playing, publication, etc.
Mitchell Kent, manager and part-owner, says the cafe staff is willing to help customers as much as they need to learn how to navigate the web with cafe computers. He notes they offer other equipment, like flatbed scanners, printers and copyiers for client services. (They use Ethernet and ISDN to link terminals to their ISP, Onramp.com.)
Asked about the seemingly tough market for Austin CyberCafes, Kent noted his location, adjoining the food court in One Commodore Plaza, a downtown office building. He expects his sandwich, beverage, and pastry sales to provide a solid basis to cover the monthly overhead. And he is encouraging computer groups to use the cafe for regular meetings as a way of building customer traffic.
One nice touch. The WWW Cafe maintains many of the latest computer books and manuals; readers are invited to buy some coffee and take their time reading computer books at the store. All in all, seems worth a visit to check out the facilities.
Footnote: Mitchell and Robert Kent (son and father) are two owners of the WWW Cafe. A third investor is attorney Jep Hill, well known in computing circles for his consumer interest work with House Bill 2128.
Information: Mitchell Kent WWW Cafe, inc. Email: kentm@wwwcafe.com One Commodore Plaza Phone: (512) 495-1880 800 Brazos, Suite 110 Fax: (512) 495-1891 Austin, Texas 78701
OTHER CYBER-COFFEESHOPS
Exploring the history and lore of Austin Net Cafes, I encountered several (perhaps apocryphal) tales of Internet coffeeshops, past and present. Your updates and corrections to this list are welcome:
The High Times Tea Bar and Brain Gym - Never visited this Congress Avenue business during its lifetime but I understand they offered a place to check your email (or surf the net) while enjoying healthy, modern refreshments.
The Book People - Store policy offers you 3 computers with Internet connections they rent for $6/hour. And you can carry drinks in from the coffee shop, allowing a sort of de facto Internet Coffeeshop.
Metro Espresso Bar - Once known as "Insomnia" this operation is still open for business at 2222 Guadalupe. But they have discontinued renting computing equipment to customers. Their computer hardware is still on hand but is scheduled to be removed soon. (info: 474-5730)
ALAMODEMS - Inquiries for San Antonio coffee houses with Internet connectivity yielded mention of at least one:
"The Coffee Gallery" located downtown at 1203 E. Commerce advertises as "San Antonio's First and Only Internet Coffeehouse," offering the web on big screen display and "Internet Night" on Thursdays. (For more info: 210-226-5123)
Journalist Gene Crick writes and edits for numerous publications and is president of MAIN (Metropolitan Austin Interactive Network), perhaps the largest community service infomration project on the Internet. Your comments and suggestions are invited to: gcrick@awpi.com
(c) 1996 - copyright Gene Crick, published in Austin Axis.