It's not just about buying things. These places aren't selling workspaces, they're selling drinks, often to people in their immediate community and often with a goal of being part of the community.

So if the community can't get a table, they stop coming at all, and that's a bigger existential threat to the owners than just the money.

> The problem became so severe that the bar began to lose its regulars. Esten and his wife would bump into former customers around the neighbourhood and they told him that they could never get a seat at the bar because there were laptops everywhere, so they started going to other coffee shops instead.

> “That was breaking our hearts,” he said.

These people don't want to babysit tech workers. Even if it's financially sustainable to do, that's not what they opened a small coffee shop or bar to do.