Morning people are an oppressive class.

Same. There used to be an all night cafe by one of the colleges near me. It was one of those "hidden gem" places for night owls. I had only just discovered it shortly before Covid hit, which closed it down for good. Damn it.

An hour of some activity probably doesn't cut the hours of non-activity before and if it's a small coffee shop, likely worked by owner and one or two employees.

Would you give up an hour 3 times a week for so little? Time is money.

When I drove a taxi, the last full month I did included driving a blind kid to a sport he had a few times a week. It was usually around 19-20 (7-8pm). But preceding it I had no fares for like two hours, and the one fare before was driving him there. And before that usually no fares. So I'd wake up in the morning at like 5.30, get ready and start driving kids to school. I'd be mostly finished around 3. And then I'd have the rest of the day off. But, I had trouble saying "no" to employers when asked for things. So when they asked whether I'd drive the kid at 16.30 and then back at 19.30, I pretty much always did. But that made it so my 6-15 day became 6-20.15 or so. And it increased my pay by maybe 15€. That ended up in a breakdown not many weeks after.

So I'm just saying I understand your view that they might have a good sale or two when the movies let out. But if the shop has to keep an employee, it's prolly not profitable, and the owner probably can't be arsed for the little profit he'd get for spending several more hours just waiting.