(Nexstar) – If you’ve been to a US city over the past few years, you may have noticed that certain coffee shops are appearing in your retail space. No, it’s not Starbucks, but it’s a little more odd.
These strange places are usually bustling and look similar to most coffee shops you can find everywhere. We set out to understand what is going on in these places you may have passed before but never stopped.
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There are all the things I didn’t know about Capital One Cafés.
The history of Capital One Cafe
The origins of COC date back all the way back to 2012, when Capital One purchased the bank’s direct USA bank. The American arm of a Dutch-owned banking company called the place a “cafe” instead of a “brunch.” According to a 2009 news release, the vision behind the idea was to “save money just as simple as drinking a cup of coffee.”
Capital One Café on 17th and Walnut Avenues in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania (credit: Russell Falcon/Nexter)
After $9 billion in direct acquisition of Capital One, they left much of these cafe-style space. Over the next decade, Capital One invested in refreshing these locations with Capital One Cafés, Full Food and Beverage Menus, WiFi and charging stations, as reported by Yahoo!. finance.
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What happens at Capital One Cafe? Is it a bank?
The first and most obvious question: Can I do banking at Capital One Café?
As Capital One explained, bank customers can access ATMs within the cafe location, in addition to managing their accounts and obtaining other financial advice from what is called Café Ambassadors. According to the company, anyone can meet something called “Money & Life Mentors.”
Anyone can visit COC, but according to the company, bank customers earn 50% purchases when paying one card with capital.
In addition to the usual cafe operations, Capital One said the cafe location also has community rooms, allowing it to be freely used by nonprofit organizations, alumni groups and student clubs.
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The appeal of the internet
Despite being a regular cafe with additional banking options for Capital One customers, the COC concept remains a dependency of appeal across the internet. The “joking” is that these places are very random, always crowded and “no atmosphere.”
One post from X in January said, “Women should not settle for fewer people than those who brought coffee from the Capital 1 Café in the morning.”
Me in a murder mystery: ….You’re probably all wondering why I called you to the Capital One Café
— Russell (@RussellFalcon) October 18, 2024
Another frequent joke is “New York’s hottest club is Capital One Cafe,” or from another user, “Meet for brunch at Capital One Cafe.”
Meanwhile, many other online acknowledge the oddity of encountering these spaces, but are grateful that it acts as a “third place” where customers are allowed to work and relax in an environment that encourages them. The idea of ”third place” (meaning a place to hang out rather than work or home) has taken off online more and more over the years. Over the past few years, certain major coffee retailers have been attracting attention from their customers for making several changes to the environment in their location. Recently, the company also updated its policy requiring you to be a paid customer using a seat, table or bathroom.
Currently, there are approximately 60 capital one cafes in 18 states and the District of Columbia.
