Next Door isn’t your typical coffee-house. In fact, it really isn’t. It’s an experiment by State Farm to dive into the third place space by providing free, no-pressure seminars and coaching about personal finance topics; budgeting, insurance, and getting started with a business. These seminars take place in conference rooms and ‘IKEA-like’ portable ‘coaching cubes’ that can be moved around the space. There are seminars and classes put on by locals covering topics like health and wellness, yoga, poetry, blogging, and social media. This is not your everyday space. State Farm owns the space and anyone is welcome to come in and plop down on one of the sofa’s or community tables. There’s a coffee shop that rents space inside to provide coffee, tea, pastries, and crêpes. 

In fact, I spent the entire day here today with my friend Jeff who was streaming some programming video tutorials on some new technology he was learning. Meanwhile, I spent my time trying to get through the massive deluge of email that’s piled up in my inbox over the holidays. Getting this done at NextDoor has been easy for us both. I was able to fuel my efforts with the copious amounts of coffee I drank and took a break with a panini sandwich and tomato soup for lunch. There’s free wifi with download speeds good enough for the roughly forty people here, great lighting, comfortable seats, and decent music piped in via the eight ceiling mounted speakers.

Not sure where to begin when you get here? Just stop by the front desk where there’s a friendly NextDoor employee that can help explain things. Get yourself a cup of joe, find a seat, and get comfortable.

Have you already been here? What was your experience like? Share it with us in the comments below.

Hours: 7am-10pm daily

nextdoorchi.com

Parking: street, metered – lots of public transportation near by