Category Archives: social economy business idea

A new kind of café?

Quick sketch of a model café, as it comes to mind.

Location: heart of Plateau? close to metro?

Name: Carré rouge: université de la cité

Purpose: become the hive of political thought on cities. Extend horizontal governance to economic model. Open source financials. Objective is to own the property and become growth model for decommodified business (and eventually housing).

Critics: not radical enough? Also, property prices have skyrocketed…. is this the time to buy?

Activities: political fight club? a kind of Casa del popolo for ideas, with regular events every night? social cultural political…

Sketching café?

Imagine a café, like any independent café you might imagine. Some hipster joint.

This one expects, allows, encourages and (fill in your fave word here)… sketching.

Maybe sculpture, too.

So the business model is simple enough. Coffee, coffee, coffee. (And teas maybe.)

But the added draw…? Ahh, the added draw….!

Not crepes. Not bike parts. Not …. (fill in your fave coffee complement here)…but:

sketching. Everyone is a potential model to another. Pencils for sale, and sketch pads.

Maybe live models some evenings.

Pencil drawings EVERYwhere, evidently, on the walls, in the bathrooms, constantly evolving….

(I *think* it might work.)  (If the location is right.)  (Montreal is the place for it.)

This is a member-based cooperative, evidently. Art supplies at cost.