I like the point made way down at the bottom, especially about libraries:
For readers looking to find Third Places the good news is that for now they do still exist throughout the city. However, without regular patrons that could always change. Seek out the cafes, reading rooms, and esoteric bookstores of Kensington Market. For world renowned collections of books and high speed free public Wi-Fi, one hundred Toronto Public Libraries are scattered throughout the city. For close quarters laughs many small bars host casual open-mic nights for everything from comedy to music to poetry.
Also, seems wrong to not even mention Tim's. Are Tim Hortons in Toronto not like Tim Hortons outside of Toronto? Maybe they're too small to qualify as a third place?
I varies a lot by location. But many of the downtown Toronto locations are small with little seating. The suburbs and highway side locations are often larger and more comfortable.
Not to mention that Tim's has a pretty bad reputation these days. The food and drink quality has dropped significantly and it isn't "cool". So at least for younger people it is likely not used as a third place. (Maybe this is a business opportunity for Tim's!)
Re: libraries, one sad thing that's happening in some US states is that smaller libraries are becoming "adult only" because of new state laws regarding how they organize their collections [1]. In cities like New York, budget issues are causing public libraries to have to cut hours and only be open 5-6 days a week or cut programming for children [2]. While these issues don't seem to be widespread (yet), I think there's good reason to be concerned that under-18 friendly third spaces aren't as common as they used to be.
Tim's used to be the original third place up north. In smaller communities or local (blue collar) enclaves, it still is. It's the blue collar connotation that's lead to their declining use in urban centers.
I'm not sure its 100% "blue collar connections." That may be part of it, but the quality of food/drinks at starbucks has gone down dramatically in the past 5-10 years.
I worked full time there for awhile and happily ate hundreds of meals there. Now I won'tbeven touch my favourite donuts (#sourcreamglazedgang)
I dont know if its a corporate level thing or a franchise level thing, but man, Tim's sucks now
[edit: i meant to say the quality of tim's food has gone down, not starbucks]
I think it’s a mixture of corporate decisions and economic forces. For one thing, commercial real estate has skyrocketed even moreso than residential. If you’re a franchisee and your lease has shot through the roof but you can’t raise food prices then you’re going to demand corporate switch to cheaper ingredients and processes.
I just had a sandwich at Tim's the other day. It was freshly made with fresh ingredients. I was pleasantly surprised. In the middle, Tim's had food quality issues, but if the last experience is any indication, they have recovered nicely from it.
I heard from a Canadian friend of mine (very reliable source) that Tim's corporate changed to the same supplier of coffee beans that Starbucks uses. It's possible their other meal options were changed similarly.
The implication that I don't go to Tim's because I don't want to be in proximity to or associated with blue collar workers is extremely offensive to me as a Canadian.
Hanging out at Tim's is like hanging out at Subway or Dairy Queen. Other than the quality comparison, or the just plain sad vibes comparison, Tim's is in the "quick service" restaurant business since private equity bought them out and they are not designed to have people stick around.
TH has been my 3rd place since forever. You can actually get a medium coffee for under $2. The same at Starbucks would be 3x the price. Canadians can be very quick to put it down though.
