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🎉 Coworking celebrations.
🎂 The Shop SLC turns 4! #
Four years ago, The Shop Workspace opened its doors in Salt Lake City with a big dream: to create a coworking space that went beyond desks and Wi-Fi. Congrats on 4 years!
👉 Read this.
📰 Coworking news & views.
👩🎨 Is giving each location their own brand too risky? #
Jamie Dundas shares the first in a four-part series of articles on ‘scaling with soul’ looking at how coworking brands can grow and balance the tension between ‘scale’ and ‘soul’. Using lessons from scaling Good Space.
This post looks at the wins and challenges of giving each location in a network their own brand.
👉 Read this.
🛑 Firm in Glasgow stops offering virtual mail plans #
Teresa Jackson from Collabor8te shares that a fellow local operator Blue Square Offices has ceased offering virtual mail or "addresses" plans referencing that they’ve become unprofitable.
This is something we’ve touched on a few times in the newsletter recently, as more and operators take a closer look at which services produce the best kinds of revenue. Worth noting that Collabor8te is taking up the opportunity to serve these clients and plans, highlighting that if you optimize correctly other operators’ risks could be your opportunities.
👉 Read this.
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💻 Coworking technology.
💳 Visa pushes into AI-commerce #
Simon Taylor shares that Visa have rolled out 3 core technologies to make it easier for Ai Agents to complete shopping or checkout flows.
In case you were wondering, they are 1. tokenization, 2. APIs for inventory parsing, and 3. dispute and chargeback protections.
👉 Read this.
👩💻 Platform makes docking a laptop book the room. #
Brennan McReynolds and Evangeline Grimshaw share how Microsoft Teams-connected devices can now automatically book a desk simply by plugging them into a monitor or docking station.
This sits alongside other upgrades that allow assigned rooms to be update Teams panels to better communicate availability with other coworkers.
👉 Read this.
🦾 Office-as-a-service platform pivots hard into AI assistant space #
Christelle Rohaut breaks her 6-month social media hiatus to introduce Codi‘s pivot from an office-as-a-service platform to an AI Office Assistant platform, helping all kinds of offices centrally manage furniture, cleaning, IT, pantry supplies, and even building requests.
👉 Read this.
📈 Coworking data.
🚶♀️ How walkability affecting office utilization in NYC #
Gabe Marans from Savills shared an observation gathered directly from clients in NYC that indicated that the walking distance from transit was indirectly proportional.
"Buildings within a 10-minute walk of Grand Central or Penn are thriving. At 15 minutes, interest slows. Go beyond that, and vacancy rates rise fast."
👉 Read this.
🇳🇿 NZ market report shows 6% growth #
SharedSpace.co.nz shared their 2025 Market Report, with key takeaways that there are now 205 coworking and flex spaces across the nation, averaging 930 sqm each. This brings the total square footage of flex spaces in NZ to 2,023,615 sqft.
_Other averages include the permanent desks occupancy (57%) and price ($640); and the private office occupancy (80%) and price ($882). _
👉 Read this.
📉 VODI shows end of 20-month growth streak #
The latest VTS Office Demand Index quarterly report notes that although the index was up a modest 4.6%, looking closer it masked declines in Jan and Feb that ended a 20-month streak of year-over-year growth.
On a local level San Francisco’s VODI jumped 31.7%, while Boston, Seattle and Washington DC all saw 20% growth. NYC and LA saw drops of 4.7% and 12.9% respectively.
👉 Read this.
🤝 Coworking market moves.
🇺🇸 NYC getting a new Malin #
Charlie Robinson shares that The Malin are expanding with their first event + work location in NYC in Chelsea.
The 20k sqft location is once again in partnership with TF Cornerstone, following successful collabs in NoMad and Washington DC.
👉 Read this.
🇸🇦 Emirati brand expands into Saudi Arabia #
Emirati coworking brand Cloud Spaces has 6th location in the Gulf area, with a 2k sqm site in Saudi Arabia, their first in the kingdom.
👉 Read this.
👷♀️ Firm awarded $3.65M to build Grand Rapids community #
Amanda Lewan shared that Bamboo are partnering with Midwest House and Start Garden for their new location in downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Bamboo received a $1.25M grant + a $2.4M loan from the start to renovate the building that previously housed Urban Institute for Contemporary Art gallery and movie theater. A big vote of support for the team that are looking to re-open the theatre, add coworking to "foster community and create density, serving as a central welcoming place for technologists, founders, and organizations to collaborate together."
👉 Read this.
🚊 Coworking added to US train stations (and commuter cars) #
Jamie Hodari shares that Industrious has been tapped by Brightline Trains to activate coworking spaces in both train stations and commuter cars.
"When Industrious tested outdoor workspaces a few years back, spots sold out in minutes. People don’t just accept new work environments—they crave them. They’re curious about them. The truth is, people are already working in trains, in stations, in airports, in hotels — so it’s less about bringing work to places it doesn’t currently exist. It’s about making it a more delightful and humane experience."
👉 Read this.
🎙 Coworking conversations.
Marc Navarro sits down with Uri Iskin of HIT on The Flex Factor podcast by Spacebring to talk about the challenges of working with landlords, the complicated world of brokers, and what the future actually holds for flexible workspaces.
On the Flex Uncensored podcast Giovanni Palavicini and Jamie Russo dive deep with Arian Lewis, founder of Kiln and former head of global partnerships at Barclays, to unpack the evolution of flex from “startup scrappiness” to a full-on solution for enterprise clients.
📆 Coworking events.
🐝 GCUC UK Returns to Manchester this June! #
GCUC UK, the world’s leading coworking conference series, is returning to Manchester for a second year, with the main event taking place at MediaCity’s Content Studio, in Salford on Wednesday 11 June 2025, followed by exclusive tours of Manchester’s top coworking spaces on Thursday 12 June 2025.
Following the success of last year’s event, GCUC UK is delighted to bring it back to this incredible city. Manchester is special, and so are its people.
As the coworking sector continues to redefine the future of work, GCUC UK Manchester 2025 will once again bring together industry leaders, workspace operators, investors, and innovators for two days of thought-provoking discussions, networking, and knowledge-sharing in one of the UK’s most dynamic creative hubs.
As coworking continues to reshape the way we work, live, and connect, GCUC UK invites coworking operators, workspace professionals, property leaders, and creative entrepreneurs to be part of the conversation.
GCUC UK Manchester 2025 takes place at Content Studio, MediaCity on 11 June, with exclusive coworking space tours across the city on 12 June 2025.
Tickets are available now. Secure your spot and be part of the future of work.
👉 Read this.