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Comment by dghughes | Hacker News Reader

This is similar to an article about McDonald's restaurants in the US becoming de facto community centres.

Older people sitting there all day, free WiFi, clean washrooms, thousands of restaurants.

In the US Midwest its Caseys, a chain of folksy convenience stores. Every small town has one or two (one at each end of town). A couple tables inside allow for socializing. Every morning the old folks gather and talk over coffee. They're completely familiar to the behind-the-counter workers; clearly welcome to stay and drink coffee and chat. Reminds me of the old town diner or truck stop of my youth.

Waffle Houses are somewhat analogous in the US South. They're everywhere (there are 4 within a 15 minute drive of my house), but many people have a favorite one. We'll occasionally pop into one of the nearby ones after church on Sunday. Usually the same regulars in there and the staff know them by name and order. My daughter loves it because she loves watching them cook.

Fun fact, FEMA has a "Waffle House index" [0] to determine how damaging a weather event such as a hurricane or tornado outbreak has been based on how many Waffle Houses are still open and what they're serving.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waffle_House_Index

I'm impressed at how much more gracefully 7-11 handled it than McDonalds initially did in Queens, NY where I grew up [1]. It also helps that a government agency was observant and proactive enough to partner with a private company to build on existing customer behavior, vs trying to start separate initiatives.

[1]: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/21/nyregion/elderly-patrons-e...

That, and 7-11's in Japan are actually really nice.

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