Word on the street is Starbucks will cease its open-door restroom policy. To use the restroom in that blessed realm of coffee, you’re (once again) going to need to fork over some money. Of course, Starbucks the private enterprise can do what whatever it likes. The burden of providing (free) restrooms to the public should not fall upon the coffee retailer, no matter how many billions the lefties are going to point out that Starbucks makes annually.
Honestly, kudos to Starbucks for providing this service for the past few years. I can remember seeing a Starbucks in a touristy part of San Francisco completely filled with people awaiting to use the facilities. Better it be a Starbucks restroom than a narrow alleyway.
This once again glaringly highlights the complete lack of public restrooms here in America. A common refrain from my friends in Asia when they travel in the States is difficulty finding a restroom. When I visit major cities in Asia, a public restroom is no more than a few blocks away; clean, stocked, and attended. Here in America, unless you happen to be near a public park, it’s de facto pay for restroom use. Typically, it's the restaurant you’re eating at.
On roadtrips you would buy an energy drink at a gas station in exchange for restroom privileges.
It’s been said the reason we don’t have public restrooms in this country is because the homeless and drug-addicts would constantly takeover and ruin them. I can see this, because we can’t seem to prevent the homeless from defecating on our downtown subway escalators. Heck, even BART station restrooms are constantly out of order (or locked up) due to addicts. Unless this gets solved - and a political will to spend money on a public good - public restrooms are a nice thing that we can’t have.
It’s just not in a our culture, I guess.
Avant garde.