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You can visit lots of commercial spaces without buying something as long as you're polite and not smelly.
by loeg 3y ago
You can visit lots of commercial spaces without buying something as long as you're polite and not smelly.
- mbrameld 3y agoBut the expectation that you will buy something is still there.
- aaomidi 3y agoSome won’t even let you use the bathroom if you’re not buying stuff.
- loeg 3y agoNo, unless you're using "expectation" in a way that significantly differs from the common meaning. Browsing without buying is extremely common and expected.
- skyyler 3y agoBrowsing would imply that you're looking for things to purchase, wouldn't it?
- loeg 3y agoNo, it's a perfectly valid outcome to not buy something.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- deredede 3y agoYeah, but that does not imply you will find what you're looking for, or that you want to buy it immediately (e.g. you have something else afterwards where it would be inconvenient to carry what you bought and prefer coming back another day).
- karmakaze 3y agoI've found this to be true of many Starbucks locations. I usually do buy/drink a tea/coffee or two, but have never felt any pressure to keep buying. It might be an unwritten/unknown policy to allow this. I recall reading that Starbucks intentionally serves as a kind of 'third place'. Here's one[0] I just googled. [0] https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2022/reimagining-the-third-place-how-starbucks-is-evolving-its-store-experience/ https://stories.starbucks.com/stories/2022/reimagining-the-t...
- vel0city 3y agoI can go and wander and look at the wares. But if I were to go to a Dick's Sporting Goods with some friends, plop down in an aisle, and start playing a board game they'll probably ask me to leave.
- loeg 3y agoYeah, but if you did this at a Starbucks or mall food court, you probably would not be asked to leave. File that under "being polite."
- throwaway173738 3y agoI think you’d be surprised what you can get away with if you’re really pleasant and don’t bother anyone. Just act like playing board games in the aisle is perfectly normal and smile and wave at people.
- loeg 3y agoThere seem to be a lot of people in this thread who have never been to a store, or cannot imagine being pleasant. If you're not a jerk, people will be quite patient! And if you are asked to leave, that's also not terrible! You can go somewhere else. There's a huge, quantifiable gulf between setting up a homeless encampment in a space and a normalish person just hanging out.