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Reebo
Sir Postalot
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 1260
Location: Downtown Miami
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 Posted: 09/08/03 - 08:49 Post subject: Discussion Topic #2648 - Cyber Cafes
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What has been your impression of cyber cafes? What would you say made them good and what made them bad? Do you think with DSL and better laptops that cyber cafes are useless? What would you want to see in a cyber café? What are the top five things you would like to see in a cyber café? What is the one thing that would make you go to a cyber café?
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Guest
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 09:38 Post subject: Re: Discussion Topic #2648 - Cyber Cafes
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| Reebo wrote: | | What has been your impression of cyber cafes? What would you say made them good and what made them bad? Do you think with DSL and better laptops that cyber cafes are useless? What would you want to see in a cyber café? What are the top five things you would like to see in a cyber café? What is the one thing that would make you go to a cyber café? |
Add not to expensive lap dances from decent looking, clean bimbos, booze and a clean grill for late night burgers, then it might be interesting.
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Occulis
RealPoor Jedi
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 13293
Location: Moral Relativity Central
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 10:08 Post subject:
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Lap dances would be great.
I'd like a cyber cafe with uh... well I think it's all about atmosphere. Maybe a small (like 4 foot wide at most) stand dedicated to selling game cards, mmorpg games, etc.
Could also provide monthly membership fees. That way someone could go there and pay 4x the cost of the bandwidth for the ambience of the place.
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DrevanMI
Luke Warm
Joined: 12 Oct 2002
Posts: 338
Location: Michigan
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 10:22 Post subject:
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I use to work for a cyber cafe called Interlinks. In the beginning it worked well and things were moving. But, than one of the partners got himself into some illegal shit and the business fell apart from there. Lack of advertising also helped shut down Interlinks after its 2 year run here in Michigan.
If you are thinking about opening yer own cafe Reebo, keep in mind business and friendship are 2 different things. I totally appreciated my boss letting me play for free and letting me keep the shop open as late as I wanted to invite my friends up to drink and LAN. But ya gotta keep making money! So, instead of giving out free time on the computers, come up with a plan to issue time thru a reward program. (like, use 6 hours of net time, get 1 hour free or some shit)
Also, advertising for net cafes can be a pain. Hit up the little ones first if you are aiming towards a gaming crowd. Give flyers to kids that go to middle/ high school. Award free gaming hours to the ppl that bring in like 3-5 ppl etc. If you are aiming to service an adult crowd, yer gonna need to do a lot more advertising than you would kids. Adults LOVE the e-mail and chat. Shit, we had this one dude come in EVERYDAY just to shit there and chat to his friends in Vietnam.
Events are also great ways to get yer business started. Once yer area and the out skirts of yer area are pretty well "flyered" than start spreading the word about a LAN tournament for games like Starcraft (SC) Counterstike (CS) Diablo 2 hardcore (D2H) Day of Defeat (DoD) etc. Starcraft and CS are the games that got Interlinks its crowds really, aside from e-mail, chat, and making CDs.
It was fun while it lasted, only if the owner would of kept advertising and stayed outta trouble heh. Til this day, I still miss Interlinks and all the b*****d children that went up there. Thats how I got the name Drevan =P Good Luck to yas if this is yer goal Reebo!
-D-
P.S. halfbent was a interlinks b***h sometimes too! he knows whats up =P
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compusmack
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 15 Oct 2002
Posts: 6354
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 10:23 Post subject:
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Cyber cafes are way too expensive.
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Luturb
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 4043
Location: Livermore, California
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 10:41 Post subject:
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You might want to try to advertise in local hotels/motels. I know I would never use a cyber cafe at home, because I have all that stuff at home, but when I'm on travel for work I might pay for some computer time if I was there for a few days with nothing to do in the evenings.
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Natalie
Luke Warm
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 269
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 10:54 Post subject:
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Drevan, when I read your post I was about to ask if you lived in Olympia. A friend of mine here used to own a little cybercafe with one other guy who got caught doing illegal things. Police broke in about noon one day and raided the place. Turns out about 60% of their computers were stolen including their brand new top of the line dual servers (that the partner bought for $10 each and claims he thought it was just a really good deal)
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Akronn
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 8752
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 10:59 Post subject:
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There isn't anything a cyber cafe can provide that I can't for myself, really. They're way too pricey too, nothing like overpaying for the internet and coffee at the same time!
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Occulis
RealPoor Jedi
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 13293
Location: Moral Relativity Central
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 11:39 Post subject:
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It's the atmosphere what people go there for. What, you pay $60 for a steak dinner because you can't cook a $9 filet yourself? :-p
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Akronn
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 8752
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 13:45 Post subject:
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I can't cook a filet nearly as well as Ruth's Chris. I can make coffee as good as Fourbucks, though.
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Reebo
Sir Postalot
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 1260
Location: Downtown Miami
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 13:49 Post subject:
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Well a lan cafe is in the works but it's not mine it's my companies that's all i can say ATM but im gathering info.
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WheresNWS
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 19 Nov 2002
Posts: 6448
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 13:50 Post subject:
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Starbucks has a better idea with the wireless LANs. I don't think it's possible to make a really profitable cybercafe, given the cost of hardware and depreciation. You just have to charge too much.
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Reebo
Sir Postalot
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 1260
Location: Downtown Miami
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 14:20 Post subject:
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Unless you already have the parts to spare.
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compusmack
RealPoor Master of Posts
Joined: 15 Oct 2002
Posts: 6354
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 16:24 Post subject:
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| WheresNWS wrote: | | Starbucks has a better idea with the wireless LANs. I don't think it's possible to make a really profitable cybercafe, given the cost of hardware and depreciation. You just have to charge too much. |
Exactly. I've never seen a cyber cafe do well around here except for at the airport.
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Reebo
Sir Postalot
Joined: 11 Oct 2002
Posts: 1260
Location: Downtown Miami
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 16:56 Post subject:
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Well we are hoping our name + our rep will = a better cafe more than a cafe more like an experence.
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DrevanMI
Luke Warm
Joined: 12 Oct 2002
Posts: 338
Location: Michigan
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 17:08 Post subject:
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I use to work at Kinkos. And per hour there is 6 f*****g dollars...there were ppl that came in and actually paid 6 per hour and stayed for like a whole shift working on graphics or word docs. U just gotta know the right crowd etc. Interlinks was making profit for a while, cuz all their computers were uber cheap and they had like movie theatre pricing on snacks and drinks. And ppl paid it too. But it can easily start to lose profit as well. Its who you know and how you get ppl into the cafe really.
Natalie, the owner of interlinks got in shit for drugs, everything else was legit lol.
-D-
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Yabden
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 2485
Location: Ohio
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 17:29 Post subject:
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use it as a front for a drug ring and you can make plenty of money and game all you want.
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NinjaBurger
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 01 Sep 2003
Posts: 2800
Location: St. Louis
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 17:33 Post subject:
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I used to go to a Cyber-Cafe before it closed down. I gladly paid the 5 bucks per hour because I loved talking to the people that worked there, and I'd usually see a few people that I could talk to and show shit.
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lauren000
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 21 Oct 2002
Posts: 3510
Location: colorado springs
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 18:05 Post subject:
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<q> use it as a front for a drug ring and you can make plenty of money and game all you want. </q>
correct sir, they're great for money laundering that's about it.
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Kantiz
Sir Postalot
Joined: 13 Oct 2002
Posts: 1267
Location: Harrisburg, PA
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 19:26 Post subject:
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[quote="NinjaBurger"]I used to go to a Cyber-Cafe before it closed down. I gladly paid the 5 bucks per hour because I loved talking to the people that worked there, and I'd usually see a few people that I could talk to and show shit.[/quote]
so you had to pay for friendship? 
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NinjaBurger
RealPoor Guru
Joined: 01 Sep 2003
Posts: 2800
Location: St. Louis
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Posted: 09/08/03 - 21:42 Post subject:
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=/
No I went for the atmosphere and the people who went there
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