AT&T Opens High-Tech Coffee Lounge With Electronics Store in Seattle

cageymaru

cageymaru

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AT&T has has partnered with Ada's Discovery Cafe in Seattle to open its first high-tech coffee shop with a swanky lounge and high-tech electronics sales area. Customers can shop for the latest electronics like the iPhone XS Max while enjoying a cup of world class coffee. If a customer has forgotten to bring their headphones to listen to the TVs in the lounge area, they can order a set from the electronics area, and an employee in the back will retrieve them. AT&T calls the lounge area a "second living room." They have even hired Cole McBride who won the 2018 U.S. Barista Championship in April. Thanks scojer !

Jeff Bradley, West Coast region president for AT&T, called The Lounge a labor of love and a first-of-its-kind not just from a retail experience standpoint, but as a benchmark for the entire wireless industry. "It's a collection of services that's designed to change the way we can engage with consumers," Bradley said, touting the way The Lounge will act as a workspace and gathering-and-events space, and how it was important to get the Capitol Hill "vibe" correct.
 
i think hardocp puts some of these kind of news up as snark-bait. ill resist and share a related coffee story instead:

i worked for a company in 2009 that had to make some layoffs like many many others. i had to sit in a large meeting with the CEO(my role was totally unrelated to this kind of stuff, forget how i ended up in there). we were all waiting in the meeting room when several assistants came in with everyones mega-custom Starbucks(TM) coffee order. There were seriously 4 mega cup carriers for everyones coffee, i remember thinking that each large tray must have been $100 worth of Starbucks. it was a bad day for fiscal visibility, the CEO came in and flipped his shit at how much the company must spend everyday on Starbucks coffee, even worse at a meeting to discuss layoffs. He immediately set a decree that the company would only pay for $1 McDonalds coffees at meetings, or you were welcome to the mud drip in the break rooms for free.

it was that day i learned that senior management could make good decisions, and sometimes they even did things that made sense.
 
I just don't quite follow the whole coffee brigade. Specifically, the part where people go into coffee shops with a laptop and try to act productive. Anytime you actually get a glance at their machine they are either browsing google or Facebook.

Coffee is just fucking coffee. It's a caffeine, which is a stimulant drug that many people utilize to wake-up. I have a simple cup of joe evey morning right as I wake up... and thats it.... and it costs me less than a quarter.

Maybe If I'm feeling nice about myself I'll treat myself to something more luxurious at Starbucks or some shit - but that is by all accounts not often.
 
Cyraxx said:
I just don't quite follow the whole coffee brigade. Specifically, the part where people go into coffee shops with a laptop and try to act productive. Anytime you actually get a glance at their machine they are either browsing google or Facebook.

Coffee is just fucking coffee. It's a caffeine, which is a stimulant drug that many people utilize to wake-up. I have a simple cup of joe evey morning right as I wake up... and thats it.... and it costs me less than a quarter.

Maybe If I'm feeling nice about myself I'll treat myself to something more luxurious at Starbucks or some shit - but that is by all accounts not often.
Click to expand...
It's just like anything, some people look at coffee as a tool, some people enjoy a nice cup. Just like some people like coors light and some people want to enjoy a micro brew.

I'm not a hang out in the coffee shop guy because when I do I am not able to be productive. But I love a bomb cup from the local coffee house. Or an espresso or cold brew made in my own home with fresh beans from a local grower. I love coffee lol.
 
orange_monster said:
i think hardocp puts some of these kind of news up as snark-bait. ill resist and share a related coffee story instead:

i worked for a company in 2009 that had to make some layoffs like many many others. i had to sit in a large meeting with the CEO(my role was totally unrelated to this kind of stuff, forget how i ended up in there). we were all waiting in the meeting room when several assistants came in with everyones mega-custom Starbucks(TM) coffee order. There were seriously 4 mega cup carriers for everyones coffee, i remember thinking that each large tray must have been $100 worth of Starbucks. it was a bad day for fiscal visibility, the CEO came in and flipped his shit at how much the company must spend everyday on Starbucks coffee, even worse at a meeting to discuss layoffs. He immediately set a decree that the company would only pay for $1 McDonalds coffees at meetings, or you were welcome to the mud drip in the break rooms for free.

it was that day i learned that senior management could make good decisions, and sometimes they even did things that made sense.
Click to expand...

Maybe you should stop and think about how absurd your suggestion that this was a good decision is.

The CEO makes a 7 figure salary. They are laying off employees that have at least 5 figure salaries. The company can afford 400 dollars of food and drink for their employees on occasion (if they have giant unproductive meetings every day that's another problem). This is the kind of penny pinching bullshit that shows how little companies value their employees. Can't be spending too much on the coffee for the little people, will cost a few gallons of fuel for the private jet. I'm sure that really helped morale and productivity. Maybe the next earnings guidance will be positive because they stopped buying fancy coffee.

But I agree this is click-bait - and fuck AT&T
 
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Cyraxx said:
I just don't quite follow the whole coffee brigade. Specifically, the part where people go into coffee shops with a laptop and try to act productive. Anytime you actually get a glance at their machine they are either browsing google or Facebook.

Coffee is just fucking coffee. It's a caffeine, which is a stimulant drug that many people utilize to wake-up. I have a simple cup of joe evey morning right as I wake up... and thats it.... and it costs me less than a quarter.

Maybe If I'm feeling nice about myself I'll treat myself to something more luxurious at Starbucks or some shit - but that is by all accounts not often.
Click to expand...

Well, Starbucks is mostly burned shit anyway. Even their medium roast is burnt to hell to hide the fact that it's mediocre and stale. This shop sounds like it might have actual, real, good and fresh coffee though if they are letting a competition barista run the show.

Coffee is just like anything else you eat or drink, you know, for taste - it's not only about the caffeine. I imagine you drink the cheapest alcohol available then, without regard to taste?
 
Cyraxx said:
I just don't quite follow the whole coffee brigade. Specifically, the part where people go into coffee shops with a laptop and try to act productive. Anytime you actually get a glance at their machine they are either browsing google or Facebook.
Click to expand...

I'm gonna take a stab in the dark and just say you were never a liberal arts major, am I right?
 
How many people clicked through and read the article?

The snippet quoted above doesn't even scratch the surface of eliteism and bait and switch marketing this place is designed to be.

It's a muthafukin ATT wireless store with novel ways to purchase overpriced cell phone accessories DISGUISED as a smugass coffee shop.

This article is just a bit of smoke and mirrors to hopefully provide good press while ATT cranks the bandwidth throttle just a bit tighter on it's customers.

WTF does coffee have to do with telecommunications service?

How does one highfalutin Java shack in a "cool" neighborhood equate to "first-of-its-kind experience"? Target has had Starbuck's in their store for years. This time it just so happens to be an ATT Wireless store stuffed up the cafe's ass.

One of these days I'm gonna send one of the author's of these fluff pieces a picture of my dick and have them describe it to my wife during sex. I'll finally measure up to Lex Steele.

Damn it all this is the dumbest thing I've read in a VERY long time.
 
umeng2002 said:
WTF is the point?
Click to expand...
This guy hit the nail on the head:
mbelue said:
How many people clicked through and read the article?

The snippet quoted above doesn't even scratch the surface of eliteism and bait and switch marketing this place is designed to be.

It's a muthafukin ATT wireless store with novel ways to purchase overpriced cell phone accessories DISGUISED as a smugass coffee shop.

This article is just a bit of smoke and mirrors to hopefully provide good press while ATT cranks the bandwidth throttle just a bit tighter on it's customers.

WTF does coffee have to do with telecommunications service?

How does one highfalutin Java shack in a "cool" neighborhood equate to "first-of-its-kind experience"? Target has had Starbuck's in their store for years. This time it just so happens to be an ATT Wireless store stuffed up the cafe's ass.

One of these days I'm gonna send one of the author's of these fluff pieces a picture of my dick and have them describe it to my wife during sex. I'll finally measure up to Lex Steele.

Damn it all this is the dumbest thing I've read in a VERY long time.
Click to expand...

It's a store disguised as a coffee shop.

I moved from Washington to Missouri and it's crazy how coffee is culturally different.

Here, there are a handful of coffee shops in the whole city compared to a handful of coffee shops per block.

As for the AT&T coffee store, it's just another way for them to make money. Will it be enough? Time will tell. I honestly hope not though, because to me, going into a "lounge" to do things you can do at home is fucking weird.
 
All I have to say who the fuck buys plain coffee from Starbucks? I'd say the vast majority of their sales are speciatly drinks like Lattes, frozen drinks and the like that have coffee in them, but aren't just coffee. People who bitch about the pricing don't even visit there and you can get a far better cup of coffee from another place for a buck or two.
 
chris7191 said:
Maybe you should stop and think about how absurd your suggestion that this was a good decision is.

The CEO makes a 7 figure salary. They are laying off employees that have at least 5 figure salaries. The company can afford 400 dollars of food and drink for their employees on occasion (if they have giant unproductive meetings every day that's another problem). This is the kind of penny pinching bullshit that shows how little companies value their employees. Can't be spending too much on the coffee for the little people, will cost a few gallons of fuel for the private jet. I'm sure that really helped morale and productivity. Maybe the next earnings guidance will be positive because they stopped buying fancy coffee.

But I agree this is click-bait - and fuck AT&T
Click to expand...

While they cut hundreds on coffee the employer share of premiums went up like $20 per employee that week. $1,040 that year probably unless they were laid off.
 
i have never really been able to get into the whole using a computer in public thing, soo many people having a real issue when i start 1 handed surfing.. geez

:oops:
 
So a AT&T store with coffee? AM I missing something?
 
While this sounds absolutely repulsive, I can think of something similar that I would frequent on a somewhat regular basis.

Give me a Mouser or Digikey electronics warehouse with a whiskey bar, hot waiters and waitresses with laid back yet sassy attitudes (I'm sure my wife would come with me once in a while). The tables can be PCB CAD workstations, and you can buy the parts while you're there having a drink and laying out boards. Oh, and a humidor.

:D Well, at least I'd like it. hehehe

My wife is a bartender, and I used to go in and have a couple of drinks while laying out circuits at the end of the bar on my laptop. The above would just be an extension of that experience.

They'd also need to play mellow electronic music in the background. Or Scandinavian techno, but not everyone is into that. :D
 
J3RK said:
While this sounds absolutely repulsive, I can think of something similar that I would frequent on a somewhat regular basis.

Give me a Mouser or Digikey electronics warehouse with a whiskey bar, hot waiters and waitresses with laid back yet sassy attitudes (I'm sure my wife would come with me once in a while). The tables can be PCB CAD workstations, and you can buy the parts while you're there having a drink and laying out boards. Oh, and a humidor.

:D Well, at least I'd like it. hehehe

My wife is a bartender, and I used to go in and have a couple of drinks while laying out circuits at the end of the bar on my laptop. The above would just be an extension of that experience.

They'd also need to play mellow electronic music in the background. Or Scandinavian techno, but not everyone is into that. :D
Click to expand...

I loathe cafés but this sounds absolutely incredible. I'd totally bath in tech while fooling around with actual nerds while listening to mild tracks during the day and detroit techno after it gets dark :D
 
dgz said:
I loathe cafés but this sounds absolutely incredible. I'd totally bath in tech while fooling around with actual nerds while listening to mild tracks during the day and detroit techno after it gets dark :D
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Detroit is nice too! A little Hawtin, Dixon, etc.

Wouldn't mind some live appearances at this facility by Marika Rossa, Fernanda Martins, Charlotte de Witte, or Amelie Lens either ;)
 
J3RK said:
Detroit is nice too! A little Hawtin, Dixon, etc.

Wouldn't mind some live appearances at this facility by Marika Rossa, Fernanda Martins, Charlotte de Witte, or Amelie Lens either ;)
Click to expand...

Hawtin I get plenty of but I'd kill for another Beltram and Mills. It's been a decade. I should just go to that festival but that would mean skipping work for a whole month.
 
dgz said:
Hawtin I get plenty of but I'd kill for another Beltram and Mills. It's been a decade. I should just go to that festival but that would mean skipping work for a whole month.
Click to expand...

Saw Beltram at the Sound Factory in NY while visiting some friends around 97/98 or so (IIRC). That was fun. Saw Mills on New Year's Eve once. Can't remember where that was off the top of my head now. Maybe Portland or something. I went to a good techno night at the Liquid Room in Tokyo. That was insane. That place... a tiny little elevator that people were lined up for blocks to use to get up to the club floor. No fire escapes as far as I could tell. Gives new meaning to die in a fire. :D (well, maybe not new meaning... original meaning perhaps... )

A friend of mine brought Adam Beyer, Mistress Barbara, and a few other good ones up to Seattle in around 2000 I believe it was. That was also fun. I haven't been out in years though. I'd love to hit a party in Europe some year though.
 
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