Opening a library café

[Anonymous No.22321484]

What should I know before opening a library café? I want it to be a comfy place where people can go to study, read, use the internet or just eat delicious food and coffee. How can I make it attractive to customers?

[Anonymous No.22321551]

Please abandon this plan and never return to it if you agree with any of the following sentences:

>you read any form of genre fiction
>you barely know your classics
>you tend to believe that if you like a given work, it is justified on an artistic level
>you think everyone's opinion should be accepted and respected
>you speak a single language
>you read contemporary versions of Shakespeare or Milton
>you read for the plot
>you read for entertainment
>you rarely read nonfiction
>you don't have a solid grounding in philosophy
>you do not at least have some understanding of the Three Tragedians and Homer
>you have little to no understanding of literature outside of your cultural horizon
>you have little to no understanding of literature within your own cultural horizon (muh african authors)
>you mostly read contemporary literature
>you believe 'the author is dead'
>you make your literary analysis proceed from ideology
>you think intricate prose is 'pretentious' and that the author 'should just get to the point'
>your rarely read poetry
>you think Rhythm and Rhyme is just useless rules and laws restricting creativity
>you have a hard time explaining why you like a given work
>you have a hard time forming structured and relevant literary criticism
>you tend to refuse to judge works for yourself, rather relying on the opinions of literary authorities
>you rarely read for more than one or two hours straight

[Anonymous No.22321581]

>>22321551
Nah, I'm much more intelligent than you. Sorry.

[Anonymous No.22321586]

Sounds like an easy way to lose money fast. Are you rich and looking for a way to burn off your fortune?

[Anonymous No.22321599]

Call it
Ring Stains
It's a double meaning:
Coffee stains on the books
Poo stains on the toilet
Both are caused by coffee.

[Anonymous No.22321600]

>>22321551
fuck off

[Anonymous No.22321605]

>>22321586
I am rich, but I don't wanna lose money on it, that's why I need to think of a way to attract customers. Any ideas?

[Anonymous No.22321633]

>>22321484
Cafes are a mutable business model and could probably be successful.
Cafe + books are here to look at seems cozy.
Fully fledged library databases for people AND your own books would be an extra layer of effort on top of a cafe.
You need the knowledge of someone in the coffee shop business AND an experienced librarian. If you have one of these skillsets, you have a chance. If you have neither, reconsider.

[Anonymous No.22321642]

>>22321484
Does anyone know what is that thing on the floor at the bottom right of the screenshot? There are two of them.

[Anonymous No.22321644]

>>22321484
Hmm. Have you ever watched Gordon Ramsay's Hotel Hell and Kitchen Nightmares?

It's a good show to show the reality of hotels, restaurants, cafés. What makes it good and/or bad. Maybe you wanna watch a few of the episodes of the two shows from YouTube and wonder if you could handle pressure from your from budgeting to hiring workers.

It seems fun to think of the concepts of your cafe and how you would imagine it would turn out, but reality is the greasy part that includes cooking, cleaning, making sure your workers did the job, making your customers satisfied. Considering, you're in /lit/ I am aware that your book tastes won't mostly come from YA fiction, LGBT, or whatever /lit/ don't really find palatable. Now that I mention it, how about your target audience? Who's the customers? Philosophical men and women? What are their ages? College students (can they afford to visit your café?)? Millenials? What would make your library café stand out from other café? How would you create the membership? Monthly? Annual? How would you make sure those punks would return the books? How would you keep the books clean? Will you update your library often? Would you cater to tastes that is not yours?

Cheerio

[Anonymous No.22321652]

>>22321644
>watch TV
lol
I'm sure there's a book called "how to start your restaurant" or something like that. Books, unlike television, are designed to inform and not entertain.
>I can talk shit like that old man I'm a smart person

[Anonymous No.22321655]

>>22321551
>how to be a boring pseud

[Anonymous No.22321658]

>>22321551
Your shopping list of requirements is very basic desoo.

[Anonymous No.22321660]

Also lgbt is disgusting when it gets out of hand. The political ideology is ironically morally bankrup and intended to be divisive. BUT people are too stupid to know that and from what I've seen people absolutely eat up glbt propaganda.

[Anonymous No.22321669]

>>22321644
>how about your target audience?
Anyone that wants to study, read or just eat sweets and drink coffee or tea.
>Who's the customers? Philosophical men and women? What are their ages? College students (can they afford to visit your café?)? Millenials?
Anyone that fits the previous description.
>What would make your library café stand out from other café?
I don't know, maybe the comfiness? I wanna make it "retro" and I wanna sell high quality stuff there instead of sugar-infested shit.
>How would you create the membership? Monthly? Annual?
Maybe there could be a monthly subscription, but I was just thinking of something like paying a certain fee and having access to the books and internet.
>How would you make sure those punks would return the books?
They won't be able to take the books home, they can only read it there.
>How would you keep the books clean?
I don't think that would be much of an issue.
>Will you update your library often?
As long as there are stuff I wanna buy.
>Would you cater to tastes that is not yours?
No, but my tastes span over several different fields of knowledge so it would have pretty much everything that's "relevant".

[Anonymous No.22321674]

>>22321484
Probably should quit the whole "library thing" and just open up a coffee shop with some shelves instead. There is a reason most libraries are funded by the state: they are very hard to maintain, specially when you literally break their first rule by having food and drink near your archive.
Just get a couple of bookshelves with art books, poetry, etc and call it a day. Maybe have some querky theme in how you name your drinks, and some good art on the walls, and an interesting name with a literary reference.

[Anonymous No.22321675]

>>22321652
Hahaha, I don't like TV myself but one of my family watched the show many times and that I joined in. Needless to say I was impressed with how Gordon point out the problems that cause a franchise to fail. It's a call to reality. How would you keep your inventory? Where would you keep your stock of coffee, flour, butter, eggs? How can you keep it pest-free?

I read one book about Starbucks, but they didn't highlight the dirty, messy parts about running a Café. They talk about the resilience of the owners and marketing a lot tho.

[Anonymous No.22321685]

>>22321669
I see now, anon

[Anonymous No.22321688]

>>22321675
Starbucks is a different sort
I live in a small town and they just put one in. There's also a local coffeeshop that's really good. This town is full of niches that aren't filled yet. Or went under, like the game store. Someone robbed them aahaha, not me.

[Anonymous No.22321691]

>>22321484
No corpo predetermined pipped in music. Let customers fill out a request list.
Private/semi-private booth like areas.
Comfortable chairs.
Frosted designs on windows so that you’re not looking at the outdoor customer directory to your side.
Not internet.
Socialist utopia. Or, you know, a shotgun hanging behind the bar to ward off the homeless/thieves

[Anonymous No.22321695]

>>22321685
I also wanted to put a piano there so people could play whenever they want, but maybe that will bother the people who came to read and study so idk.

[Anonymous No.22321712]

>>22321484
There's a place in my neighbourhood that is like this. It has a section dedicated to boardgames and is packed pretty much every night, so I'm pretty sure they make a bunch of money. The crowd is very LGBT and nerdy so if you're not into that then maybe don't do it.

[Anonymous No.22321718]

>>22321484
Location is everything, sorry but open library just draws homeless who will spread the word to one another.

[Anonymous No.22321727]

>>22321642
usually they're called step stools, can be just small ladders but they can also be shaped like that

[Anonymous No.22321729]

>>22321712
Why do these LGBT freaks have to ruin everything in the west? Holy shit, it's like they're everywhere, they took hostage every single underground hobby, unbelievable.

[Anonymous No.22321855]

>>22321729
>Why
Psychological operations run by the powers that be.
Not even being edgy.

[Anonymous No.22321869]

>>22321551
you sound like a massive faggot

[Anonymous No.22321883]

>>22321691
>Let customers fill out a request list.
Terrible idea. Just do acid jazz, city pop, and prog mixes. lots of instrumental stuff

[Anonymous No.22321892]

>>22321729
they are made to feel insecure about their uniform nature, so they fan out into different hobbies to look different on the surface level, it's a method to hide them

[Anonymous No.22321909]

>>22321551
They hated him because he spoke the truth

[Anonymous No.22322076]

save your money oppo that business plan is guaranteed to have low turnover in profits and leave you a beggar

>number of people interested in the library in currentyear
>number of people going to choose a new cafe over an old one
>average sum of money said small clientele is going to spend

[Anonymous No.22322141]

>>22322076
Nah it has potential, but he would definitely have to compromise his vision and appeal to alt subcultures...feminist, lgbtq, punk/diy/commie college types. Either that go nerd: comic books, tabletop gaming, etc.

[Anonymous No.22322142]

Location matters a lot. You need to buy land in a place with lots of foot traffic (or near an important road if you're in a car-centric city).

Keep in mind that most of your customers will be illiterate women who care more about the bookish aesthetic than actual literature. I suggest focusing on making the place as instagram-friendly as possible. You could use molds to make mousse cakes that look like little animals.

[Anonymous No.22322253]

>>22321484
Monthly subscription free that comes with unlimited Expresso shots and free borrowing, a cigar lounge, and in-house bookbinding services

[Anonymous No.22322284]

Fuck a café that doesn't have good coffee and baristas.

[Anonymous No.22322297]

>>22322141
you do have a small point, this kind of arrangement works fairly well in urban areas. I just know of many a small town where the new cafe thing flops... even ones with the tabletop subculture going

[Anonymous No.22322445]

>>22321484
Comfy semi-private corners with rugs, old comfy chairs with footrests or footstools, lamps and little tables.
Have free notepaper and pencils lying around.
Have a list where people can write request of books etc. for you to buy and put in the library or on the e-readers.
Have E-readers people can borrow while in the cafe free of charge against you holding their picture ID.
Have places for people to sit and write or draw.
Have children's books.
Have comics.
Have magazines.
Have newspapers.
Have board games.
Basically have a little bit of it all, so everyone feels welcome.
Have one section where people can eat a regular meal and wall it off from the other part where people want it quiet.
You could make it kind of like a labyrinth where the further you go into it the further you get away from the place where people eat and the more silent it gets.
Or have a specific quiet room or a quiet section.
Personally I like the aesthetic of an old cozy used book store.

[Anonymous No.22322449]

[Anonymous No.22323172]

>>22321605
If you have money, you should consider franchising instead of an independent cafe. You could have your library or shop as well, but a franchise would reduce the complexities of operating as well as provide brand recognition to your business.
I would also reccomend having more than just books on offer, and possibly trying to partner with local authors, artists, or creators, if possible.

[Anonymous No.22323457]

>>22321729
>Underground people into underground hobbies

[Anonymous No.22323560]

>>22322141
>tabletop gaming
Even those shops rarely succeed. You have to cater to the "TT community" which means not people who play TT games but people who have no friends so they go to stores to play TT games. You end up with some combination of
>stinky unwashed MTG players
>fag/troon theater kids living out their stage fantasies
>autisticus maximus nerds who never buy anything but stand around for hours on end babbling to anyone who comes in
This will crush your spirit in short order. Even catering to them will still most likely fail in the short to mid term. You will have to stay active in advertising, running tournaments, promotions etc. What you think of as an extension of a hobby you love will quickly become a burden and drain on your financial, mental and physical resources, killing any love you had for the hobby.
Alternatively sell your soul to Games Workshop and go full on 40k. You will deal with most of the above problems but have slightly more long-term security.
Note that with some slight modifications the above all applies to running bookstores as well, especially the soul-killing part.

[Anonymous No.22323676]

>>22321633
this sounds right

[Anonymous No.22323847]

>>22321484
A friend works in a place like this and they only sell used books (so you get a bit of everything, from more "highbrow" and "literary" stuff to pulpy books, and everything they sell is donated or bought en masse at very low prices).
We live in a city that does not care much for culture within a country that doesn't read very much, and she told me she was surprised at how many books people bought, so something like this is definitely possible.
If you're serious about this be prepared to deeply promote yourself in social media platforms and you probably should get acquainted with other small cafés in your city. I feel that this is the kinda thing that can go fairly ok or really badly so just educate yourself before doing anything.
I've also noticed that this kinda places always have cut girls working in them.
Where do you live?

[Anonymous No.22323886]

>>22321484
sounds like a very expensive version of a cafe to upkeep that retains customers for longer than you would realistically want them in and out of your building to maximize profits

i.e. a hobby and not a good business

[Anonymous No.22323900]

>>22321484
Stick to strictly anime & manga and you'll have a cash cow. Have the library in a separate room -- a content humidor so to speak -- and charge a monthly fee for membership (perks: drink discount). Eventually aim to have a liquor license or at least serve beer/wine if you can without it. A small snack selection of import stuff you'd have to go to a specialty ethnic food store to get as a rack. NHK running on one television, K POP or whatever for ambiance ...

Keep the menu simple, limited and quality. Food handling pastries and shit isn't worth the hassle. Have a Jap style vending machine to fill that food gap and novelty.

Try and host language meetup groups (Japanese, Korean, Chinese ect.) and do fundraisers with local schools.

[Anonymous No.22324220]

>>22321484
>What should I know before opening a library café?
Pubs, cafes and general gastronomy businesses tend to survive their first year in 30%.

[Anonymous No.22324417]

>>22321551
Guaranteed this poster reads less than anyone else in this thread.

[Anonymous No.22325458]

>>22321484
will it be a cafe that happens to have books, or a library that happens to have coffee?

[Anonymous No.22325481]

>>22321883
Alright, but you run the risk of not attracting the locals

[Anonymous No.22325486]

>>22322445
Wish I was back there