Starbucks had a moment in the media spotlight when a store called the cops on two black men accused of loitering: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/us/starbuck

Starbucks had a moment in the media spotlight when a store called the cops on two black men accused of loitering: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/us/starbucks-philadelphia-black-men-arrest.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/15/us/starbucks-philadelphia... In response, they updated corporate policy so that you don't have to buy anything to occupy a chair: https://www.eater.com/2018/5/21/17375806/starbucks-no-purchase-policy-third-place-bathrooms https://www.eater.com/2018/5/21/17375806/starbucks-no-purcha... https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/use-of-the-third-place-policy/ https://stories.starbucks.com/press/2020/use-of-the-third-pl... Predictably, every chair is now occupied by a sleeping homeless person. So now their choice is to either remove all the chairs, or potentially be mean to someone, and receive a firestorm of criticism. You can see which one they chose. See also how MTA has removed all the benches from its stations, for the same reason: https://hellgatenyc.com/train-stations-should-have-benches https://hellgatenyc.com/train-stations-should-have-benches