Wally Day wrote:
 >I would say it's about half "show" and half business in the coffee
 >shops I frequent.

While I started this with a comment on people buying coffee and then 
walking home with it, this local little coffee shop gets a very 
social crowd. There are a lot of outside benches. Most of their 
customers buy their coffee and hang out and socialize. There are 
pastries for breakfast, and sandwiches and soup for lunch. While I 
have never made a purchase there, I have seen friends on a bench and 
stopped for a chat. They do have a couple small bistro tables. Just 
big enough for a laptop. And when I went a looked a few minutes ago, 
each had a laptop on it.

There are also groups of stay-at-home moms that hang out in cliques 
at different coffee shops in the neighborhood. But they are the ones 
with inside space.

Don.