Switchyards Decatur - Decatur, Georgia

Kimbria C.

Love this location! I always get so much work done when I'm in the area. I've never been in super early and expected there to be people already there — but to my surprise, there wasn't! I was able to get in, fix my coffee, and go to my prime sitting space! I must also mention that the place looked and smelled amazing for a Monday morning! The cleanliness and freshness were impressive. Keep up the good work, Switchyards Decatur!

Dafnie Y.

Love love love. Thank you for existing. A place that’s open over the weekend when I want to get work done but not in my home office. Very serene when there’s not a lot of people here. Decor is great! Music selection is great and there’s a quiet section too. I plan on being a long time member.

John H.

The best for my money. The price is right, it is literally open all day, which is incredible, and many locations. The Decatur location is large enough, easy to access and great parking. Simply fantastic.

Esther A.

I recently had the opportunity to explore Switchyards for the first time, courtesy of a discounted 8-day trial. Here's a broad review of my experience:

Pros:
1. Accessibility
I was impressed by the 24/7 accessibility of Switchyards. I wish I would’ve known about this place while I was working on my thesis as it would’ve been a great space for late night deadlines. Though I haven’t checked out the other locations, I like the idea of being able to also gain access to other locations for a change of scenery

2. Cleanliness & Ample Supplies
Supply items were fully stocked (i.e. cups, sugar, stirrers for coffee/tea) and they even had pad paper and pencils strewn throughout the space. The bathrooms were clean and well-maintained (and also with feminine products and toiletries)

3. Aesthetics and Flexible Seating
The aesthetic appeal of the space and its diverse seating options, including sofa couches, tables, and phone booths, contributed to a pleasant working environment. The abundance of natural light made it an open, airy space—ideal for productive work sessions.

4. Other Amenities:
For the Decatur location, the Thinking Man Tavern is within walking distance of Switchyards, which can offer a quick, easy lunch break for those working long days. When I came during the weekday and weekend, there were usually about 5-10 members during the day time, so it wasn’t too crowded.

Cons:
1. Noise
As some others have pointed out, the music at Switchyards can occasionally be a bit too loud and distracting. Fortunately, the existence of a quieter "library space" in the back of the building provides a solution for those seeking a quieter working environment.

2. Pricing
My main concern revolves around the lack of flexibility in membership packages. As a teacher, my need for workspace is occasional, primarily on weekends or during holiday breaks. It would be beneficial to have more flexible options like 10-day or 20-day punch cards for those who don't require a full-time membership. Unfortunately, this is the main reason why I won't be committing to a full membership after my 8-day discounted trial period.

Overall, I love the concept of Switchyards and can see how it is a viable option for remote workers. With limitless access to other locations and coffee/tea, I think the membership price is reasonable for someone who wants a routine, reliable, and comfortable space to work.

Shawn M.

Switchyards is my favorite place to work from. The 24/7 secure access fits well with my schedule. The Decatur location is the easiest for me to travel to and the interior details and design of the location are relaxing. The focus library area in the back also has sound proof phone booths for meetings. I love what Switchyards has created!

Alex A.

Switchyards needs to open a 2nd Buckhead location to get all the Buckhead Betties off our backs. This is far more apparent to me now that I am temporarily handicapped and have been aggressively removed from my therapy session by one of these Buckhead Betties.

Perhaps more actionably, this location, and this incident, has really shown me the cracks in how Switchyards sets up Skedda booking for the phone booth rooms, presumably for all locations.

Here me out. When it comes to the booking rooms and the option of mandatory confirmation, there are two options I see.

Option one, you do what switchyards is currently doing. You mandate that people have to double back and reconfirm the booking they made, whether that booking was made 20 hours or 20 minutes prior. If they don't, both the person that (presumably) confirmed their booking, and the person that forgot or didn't know to confirm their booking suffer. I have attempted to book phone booth rooms about 10 times, and 3 out of those 10 times either I or the person in the booth had forgotten to confirm. In this scenario, possibly in about a quarter of booking situations during peak hours, two people are upset by a situation where they were both good faith actors. In the two times that someone was in my confirmed booth in my confirmed time, they did not mean to inconvenience me or anyone. In the one time that I was in someone's confirmed booth in their confirmed time, I did not mean to inconvenience them or anyone, contrary to their loud frustration in the quiet area. This option and current implementation punishes at least two good people in a very tangible way for each single and common mistake that one of them make. This tangible whoopsie is experienced in the physical space, and gets lumped in with the rest of our memories and opinions of the space.

Option two, you do like the other organizations using Skedda do, and don't require a second confirmation of the room and time. Whereas the first option results in people trying to be well intentioned but attempting to use the space over capacity, the second option results in more quiet but less conflict. The way this has panned out at the other organization I know, you get more downtime on booking absences, but in return you get virtually no face-to-face conflict, no hurt feelings, and no attempt of overcapacity use. If you're going to put the booking spaces in quiet areas, this seems doubly helpful, as an empty phone booth is much less of a nuisance than a phone booth where someone outside is angry and someone inside is confused and frustrated.

Overall, I think Switchyards is a very interesting business model, but incidents like those catalyzed by the current Switchyards Skedda system make the place feel less like a great value, and more like you're getting what you're paying for. Next to nothing.

Also Switchyards seems to be using basically to only oatmilk with gluten left on the market, and it gave me multiple allergy attacks before I figured it out, but that issue doesn't affect everyone. The booking issue presumably affects many more.

Jasdeep S.

Great work space (the ambience and music are always on point) with great customer service. Always get tons of work done here. The coffee/tea/snacks taste great and can easily make it worth the price if you come often enough.

Plenty of parking on the street, although it tends to get pretty full around noon. I never had any issues parking in the thinking man tavern lot, however.

E G.

For everyone thinking about paying the low low price of $100/month to come to Switchyards to work! Here is what you need to know:

As you can see there is almost no information on their website about how their membership works other than it’s a 24/7 space and the price of the membership. There isn’t even a way to tour the space before putting in any money towards accessing the space. When I emailed them requesting a tour they said no tours, purchase the 8 day for $12 pass.

The policies and “club rules” they don’t tell you until you opt in changes the purpose of the space, at least it did for me. There are no full meals allowed, only snacks. This is NOT your day to day office, this is a coworking place you come to for a couple of hours then leave. If I had known these two things off the bat, I wouldn’t even have invested the $12 just to see the space.

The no full meals was wild to me but it’s because they don’t want you here for more than a few hours. This means they have no kitchen facilities other than a small sink. I saw a man eating in his car the day I came.

The space is divided into two: the cafe type vibe at the front which blares loud music through the speakers and the deep work space in the back that has incredibly hard wooden chairs to sit on. As someone with chronic pain, I couldn’t sit for longer than 15 minutes at a time because my back and legs would start hurting. They also have phone booths with high stools for calls that you have to book and there are only three at the Decatur location.

The bathrooms are positioned towards people so if you have to do anything “more” you’re in trouble.

There are no onsite staff. If they were there while I was (business hours) they didn’t make themselves known.

There is no clear guideline or “club rule” on how to ensure cleanliness of the tables and chairs/workspaces. While eating a snack I found a long hair on my desk which made me feel sick. Walking around there were crumbs and napkins left on desks. In the age of covid how do you not ensure a level of cleanliness that too in a 24/7 space?

This is a PACKED space. Not sure if all the Switchyards spaces are but the one in Decatur was stacked with people. People kept coming in trying to look for seats every other hour. There were some people sitting on a bench and working with their laptops on their laps.

Even though it’s not anyone’s “office” people sure do treat it that way. There is no time limit for how long someone can be there for so once someone takes a seat they can have that seat indefinitely (it’s a 24 hour space) which is paradoxical to their “come for a few hours” policy.

Also if/when you decide to cancel you have to email them rather than pushing an unsubscribe button on your account and you don’t know when they’ll respond. As soon as you say you want to cancel the membership is terminated immediately rather than covered for the amount of days you already paid for.

I hope this was helpful to someone especially if you’re living with disabilities or tight on money and feel like this is a good investment. I really wanted it to be but I am not coming back to Switchyards.