But as quickly as the fad emerged, it fizzle - at least in this area. Cybercafes in Oshkosh, Green Bay, Manitowoc, Marinette and Sheboygan pulled the plug within the last two years.
Backpackers traveling across Europe comprise a large percentage of cybercafe clients.
When such eateries started popping up across the United States in the mid 1990s, few people carried laptops with Internet access and the PC was not yet a staple in households. People, especially teens and young adults, wanted somewhere they could chat online or check e-mail. Now that more than 51 percent of households own a PC, according to the U.S. government, people would rather stay home and use their own systems, said Ray Williams, who formerly owned the Cyber Zone Cafe in Marinette. There has been an evolution within the cybercafe arena, Nelson said. Nelson and his brother, Angus, realized cybercafes didn't usually bring in a lot of revenue, so they turned their building into a non-profit hangout for teen and young adults.