So, a piece of news that could go either way for you I guess, depending on your personal circumstances.
Thanks to that recent racial profiling incident they had in Philly, Starbucks formally announced its now company policy that anyone can loiter in their stores and use the bathroom without buying anything.
Pros and cons:
PROS
+ Opens up a large nationwide network of free restrooms, especially in cities that are rough for public restrooms like San Francisco and NYC
+ You technically don't even have to buy a coffee now to use them as a mobile office, complete with free WiFi
CONS
- Once word gets around your local homebum population, they will straight-up be a shelter.
- Stores where it was tough to get table space under normal circumstances? Impossible now.
- Bathrooms may not be reliable due to extra homebum funk + camping homebums taking showers in the sink, shooting up, jerking off and napping
It's really going to come down to how busy each location already was plus how many bums are in the area. Already busy and lots of bums around? The store is basically going to be ruined.
Starbucks has overpriced not-great coffee and I know the "smash the state" anti-corporate types hate them, but I was OK with the deal of them being a network of reliable mobile offices pretty much anywhere you go. Pay $2 for a coffee, get an outlet and wifi and a restroom and no hassle if you want to be there for two hours doing work.
Obviously, free is better, but I'm not OK with abusing a business (even if it is Starbucks). And you know the entitled sociopathic homebums out there will abuse the shit out of it. Give them a centimeter and they take ten miles.
Anyone experienced with the streets in the US could have told you that this was a boneheaded move by Starbucks. Doubt they have people experienced with the streets in the boardrooms where reactionary decisions like this are cooked up, however. Starbucks will have to actually see sustained revenue loss from urban locations getting taken over by feral bums before you'll see them walk this back.