If you want to go out or use the restroom at Starbucks, you’ll have to buy something.
Starbucks announced Monday that it was abandoning a policy that invited everyone into its stores. A new code of conduct – which will be posted in all company-owned North American stores – also prohibits discrimination or harassment, outdoor drinking, smoking, vaping, drug use and begging.
Starbucks spokeswoman Jaci Anderson said the new rules were intended to prioritize paying customers. Anderson said most other retailers already have similar rules.
“We want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable in our stores,” Anderson said. “By setting clear expectations for behavior and use of our spaces, we can create a better environment for everyone. »
The code of conduct warns that violators will be asked to leave the premises and specifies that the store can call law enforcement, if necessary. Starbucks said employees would receive training on implementing the new policy.
The new rules reverse an open-door policy implemented in 2018, after two Black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks where they had gone for a business meeting. Each store had a policy of asking non-paying customers to leave, and the men had purchased nothing. But the arrest, which was filmed, was a real embarrassment for the company.
At the time, Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz said he didn’t want people to feel “inferior” if they were denied access.
“We don’t want to become a public restroom, but we’re going to make the right decision 100 percent of the time and give people the key,” Schultz said.
Since then, employees and customers have encountered unruly and even dangerous behavior in stores. In 2022, Starbucks closed 16 stores across the country – including six in Los Angeles and six in its hometown of Seattle – for repeated safety issues, including drug use and other disruptive behavior that threatened staff.
The new rule is part of efforts by new Starbucks Chairman and CEO Brian Niccol to revive the chain’s flagging sales. Niccol said he wants Starbucks to recapture the community cafe feeling it once had, before long drive-thru lines, mobile order backups and other issues made visits more of a chore.