Let's bracket considerations of noise, privacy, and security of personal belongings. With those concerns aside, some creative strategic thinking could make a mall space great.
What is a mall comprised of? Stores, businesses. What does every business require? Paperwork! A coworking space in the mall creates an opportunity for mall tenant businesses to come together to work on paperwork together and get to know one another. While stores of large corporations might not be okay with letting employees change the way paperwork gets done, some of the smaller or independently owned businesses might give it a go. What else is a mall comprised of? Lots and lots of employees, many of which are part time. What kinds of people work part-time at malls? Of that I'm not sure, especially outside of the USA. However, I'm guessing that at least a portion of the part time employees are likely university students. How great would it be to be able to move from working a shift at the mall to studying without leaving the building? Such a coworking space might also be a good resource for people who have businesses or work for businesses that make products which can be sold in a mall. Especially if you can establish some sort of feedback loop between the coworking community and the mall management or managers/supervisors/corporate folks at stores in the mall. Q&A sessions, workshops that overview how to get a product sold in a certain type of store, etc. Also, if there's a bar at the mall you guys can have socials for the coworking community at them! Good luck in your endeavor! On Wednesday, October 22, 2014 6:15:05 AM UTC-4, Will Bennis, Locus Workspace wrote: > > Hi All, > > Recently a shopping mall realtor approached me about opening a coworking > space in their closed gaming zone/internet cafe. I'd love to hear opinions > about this, pros and cons. Before you completely ignore this post as coming > from someone who is clearly not from the same coworking planet, here is why > I'm even considering it: > > (1) *With respect to the fact that mall real estate goes for a premium: *At > least where I am, a lot of shopping malls are trying to build in > community/space quality features that make going to the mall (which lets > face it, most people in urban areas sometimes do) a more human experience: > space-taking areas like open art galleries, free indoor playgrounds, > exhibition space, gardens, etc. These spaces add value/traffic to the mall > as a whole, making the rentable space more valuable. This means that the > mall owner may be willing to partially fund a coworking space if it adds > value to the mall as a whole. > > (2) *With regard to the importance of community and quality of the work > environment: *Sure, malls are horrific. But they're also a reality. > Wouldn't creating coworking spaces in the horrific reality of a shopping > mall make malls a little less horrific? To the extent you could contribute > to the reinvention of malls as more human, community-focused spaces, > wouldn't it be a good thing to promote the development of a coworking space > in a mall? > > (3) *With respect to the objection that it wouldn't be sustainable; the > kind of people drawn to coworking would not want to do it in a mall: *The > malls where I am right now have many fast food restaurants (McDonalds, KFC, > etc.) with free bad wifi and people working away on their laptops or in > business meetings, or higher end cafes where laptop workers aren't as > welcome and places to work aren't comfortable or well suited for meaningful > work or quality meetings. I would guess many of the people who work in the > area or who are just there while their partners are shopping or their kids > are at the movies would love a more human space to work. Yes, they're not > the people traditionally drawn to coworking, but is there room for > something in between? > > My big question I guess is whether there would be a way to do this that > would create more than the equivalent of a hotel "business center" or an > internet cafe? Would there value or demand for a community-focused > workspace in a mall? > > Clearly this couldn't be an ideal community-focused and community-driven > coworking space. But is there room for something between the ideal and the > "business center" in a shopping mall (or airport or highway > gas-station/restaurant off-ramp for that matter)? Something that would help > build the sense of community and humanity in these largely community-less > spaces? Could it bear the *coworking *name? > > I'd love to hear your thoughts on this. > > Best, > Will > -- Visit this forum on the web at http://discuss.coworking.com --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Coworking" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to coworking+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
