I’m really lucky to work in a place where, across several sites, there are good coffee shops available. And in those spaces, people do have coffee. Sales always look rather good. 
But I also know that more than coffee drinking takes place there. As well as the coffee, there are meetings and conversations and networking and learning. The spaces are pretty amazing places. I really feel we’d be poorer without them. 
I think that Vito Fortunato might know what I mean. He owns Caffe Rigoletto in Salsomaggiore Terme, Parma and has noticed many young Italians turning away from their home-grown coffee shops, in favour of a new breed of American ones.

And the reason? It has nothing to do with the flavour of the coffee, but with culture:

“The customer sees the bar as a place to open up, to confide and have a chat and a point of human contact between two people. I see that this is slowly disappearing, but it is very important for our lives.”
A large please, drink in.