So, you’re stuck at home, working remotely, or trying to get your next big idea off the ground and feeling like you’re lonely doing it. You need a spot to go to for some calls or to crush your to-do list or to make your dreams come true and find others doing the same dang thing.

Welcome to the world of coworking.

If you have no idea what that is, don’t worry. Most of us didn’t before stumbling into it on accident, so we get it. Coworking is essentially shared workspace. It’s a cheaper options for start ups to build their businesses in when they can’t quite afford their own office building. It’s a space where remote workers can get out of the house and have some office-style amenities that make their lives easier. It’s where budding authors or entrepreneurs spend their hours after their 9-5 job creating and grinding.

We’re really lucky here in Charlotte to have a ton of great local coworking options, so if you’re in the market for a space, you’re in luck. But here, we want to challenge you to work local…or else.

Okay, we’re not threatening you, we promise. That’s a play on a support local or else initiative our owner, Garrett, was involved with alongside Black Wednesday’s Corri Smith. But really, the sentiment is the same: especially during the pandemic, if you’re not supporting the local businesses in your community, they will be gone tomorrow. That’s just a sad fact of the world right now.

While the national chain coworking spots may have some cool perks and stuff, local Charlotte coworking spaces are owned by people in the community who care about it. We’re small businesses with big dreams, and we want to encourage you to support one of us, if possible.

While we of course would love that to be hygge coworking, we know it doesn’t have to be. The people running many of the other Charlotte coworking spaces are our friends, neighbors, business inspirations and overall really, really cool folks. Supporting local is the key here.

With that, let’s break down some of the local Charlotte coworking options and what you’ll find at each:

1. hygge coworking

I mean, we couldn’t not start with ourselves, right? So we’re hygge coworking: we’ve got 4 locations across Charlotte that our members get 24/7 access to through a secure mobile app. We have several membership types: virtual mail for those who just need a business address and a space to maybe hold a meeting once a month; flex memberships for our laptop warriors who want to be in the open space; dedicated desks for those who want a spot to leave pics of their dogs; offices for those small teams who need their own space and a brand new couples memberships for the parents who need to take turns leaving the house to get some work done without the kiddos. Whew!

At each of our locations you’ll find fun spaces to work in, reservable meeting spaces, free coffee, free parking and a lot of cool people we call our hygge family. We’ve also got a podcast studio at our west charlotte location, which is open to the public, as are our meeting rooms. And did we mention our new wellness space, which our members get a major discount to?

2. Advent Coworking

We just love what Kevin and the crew are doing over here. Advent has open space and private work spaces for different types of workers,  a podcast studio, an outdoor patio, free coffee, and a nap lounge for when you need to catch some zzz’s. They’ve also got an art gallery, an event space and free yoga for members.

3. The Launch Factory

These guys are located just down the road a bit from our hygge west charlotte location. They have a flex option for people who can work anywhere in the space; a resident membership for reserving specific desks, and office memberships. They’ve got free coffee and local kombucha for members as well as a meditation room and bike storage.

4. The Mill Coworking

The Mill is located in Atherton Mill Lofts in South End for the established professional or solo entrepreneurs. They have three membership levels: a flex membership, a dedicated desk membership and 5-person offices. Their space includes private phone rooms, conference rooms and snacks for throughout the day.

5. Packard Place

Packard Place offers coworking and event space options for professionals in Charlotte. Their coworking memberships include a virtual membership, general coworking, a private office membership and an office suite. Members get 24/7 access, coffee, access to a fitness center and conference rooms.