Week 16, 2025

Dana Berggren, a commercial real estate broker who opened The Coop coworking space in 2016 has closed their second location after nearly a decade as an owner/operator in the flexible workspace industry. She describes coworking as a "labor of love" that helped many launch businesses and build relationships, but struggled with the management-intensive nature of the business. The closure comes in light of her accepting a position as eXp Commercial’s designated managing broker for Nevada and Tennessee, making it impossible to manage both careers effectively.

Despite ending this chapter, we thank her for a decade of community building and wish her all the best in her next adventure.

In this op-ed in the Guardian, the author shares her take on the issue of remote workers losing their valuable cafe workspaces due to bad behavior from some laptop users. While acknowledging that cafe owners are justifiably frustrated by people who hog tables while spending little, the author proposes a code of conduct: limit stays to four hours with appropriate spending, never take calls, use the smallest table available, don’t ask for charging accommodations, and behave gratefully rather than entitled. The piece contends that cafes provide not only a pleasant work setting but also much-needed human connection for freelancers and remote workers who can’t afford coworking spaces.

For years now, TWIC editors have heard many complain about the cost of coworking spaces, but with a plethora of day pass apps and aggregators, there are more ways for users to access spaces on a short (and more affordable) term.

As for the note in the piece that all coworking spaces are filled with awful people – we implore the author to try out a few of the many MANY different spaces and coworking communities that are filled with some amazing people.

Taylor Mason from Talemaker shares why you shouldn’t just create content and leave it to die an inglorious death. Instead he shares how to create a content distribution strategy thats give each content concept the life it deserves.

A LinkedIn post shared by Paul Stanton has some great observations and makes a great point for workspace operators. Equinox’s evolution from gym to luxury real estate illustrates a powerful model for flexible workspace operators to create higher-value businesses. By prioritizing emotional connection and community over physical space alone, coworking brands can transform from commodity office providers into lifestyle companies commanding premium prices. This strategy involves first establishing a distinctive feeling and community, then monetizing that loyalty through enhanced offerings, and finally separating brand operations from real estate ownership.

Workspace operators who embrace this approach can potentially escape price-per-square-foot comparisons and instead drive value through brand strength, programming that reduces turnover, and a sense of belonging that transcends location.

The team at Flex Workspace Solutions share how they helped a landlord turn a coworking space, who’s operator had decided to move on from the business, into a landlord-owned building amenity.

Cheers to the CBRE Flex Advisory team in the UK for this brilliant video showcasing all the flexible workspace available in the Manchester, UK market.

Manchester has been a frequent topic in TWIC weekly recaps and this video does an excellent job showing all the amazing space that is available in that market. One that is growing faster than London, at the moment.

Users turn to coworking for flexibility, but often times memberships lock them into specific benefits or offerings based on what they’ve signed up for. Lauren Perrett, founder of BubbaDesk, shared some real life scenarios where their offering specifically allows them to adjust their schedule when real life happens. The space offers a subscription model where members can easily swap days, vary their weekly usage, share memberships with partners at no additional cost, and make accommodations for unexpected situations like child illness or travel.

BubbaDesk positions itself as a supportive environment that adapts to parents’ unpredictable schedules rather than imposing rigid childcare arrangements. We expect to see more and more offerings in the gap between workspace and childcare.

Christian Schmitz, Shared Workspace Lead for SALTO shared a recap of his experience attending FLC FES, a two-day coworking event in Okinawa, Japan organized by Yuta Aoki, founder of the Japan Coworking space and Community manager organisation (JCCO). The event took place in Koza Shopping Arcade, which is undergoing regeneration led by Four Cs Inc. to attract startups.

A subsequent report revealed that 42% of Japanese coworking operators are significantly profitable, with larger spaces in cities over one million population performing best, while rural spaces face more challenges despite often receiving government funding.

I love it when coworking members share what coworking means for them or their businesses (oftentimes both). In this post Joe Harulow shares how he went from avoiding coworking spaces for over a year, to realizing that they weren’t providing space for productivity, but about protecting his sanity.

Read. Reflect. Remember: market the benefits of your spaces, not the features.

Coworking has changed so much. Yet, as it has evolved from a movement into an industry, the essence of coworking has not changed at all. Cat Johnson digs into how to not lose sight of what you’re truly doing (and why).