Comment by socalgal2
7 hours ago
Starbucks in bookstores? Hasn't that been a thing at Barnes and Noble for 35 years?
Tsutaya has been trying to re-invent itself because yea, it's main businesses, video rental, video/DVD sales, and music CD sales died to digital/streaming. It's not clear it's succeeding. It's unclear how they are doing. They pivoted to bookstore + starbucks + luxury stationery + lifestyle goods. Recently they've been trying co-working spaces "Share Lounge", you can pay by the hour or get monthly subscriptions. Whether this will prevent them from dying is not clear at all.
As for libraries, yes, turning them into community centers sounds great!
That said, I think the blog post is jumping to lots of unfounded conclusions.
Honestly, the share lounge idea is not a bad one, at least in the major cities. It can be pretty difficult to find a working space that isn't a tiny pod or a monthly commitment.
That said, the only Tsutaya share lounge I've seen was basically a glorified Starbucks, which is not so appealing.