As for Starbucks, my local one (it's one of few bigger "reserve" store) had this problem before they renovated. When they renovated the store, they changed it

As for Starbucks, my local one (it's one of few bigger "reserve" store) had this problem before they renovated. When they renovated the store, they changed it so they have "bar" desk facing the two sides of the store facing the window with plenty (pretty much every seat) and also some in the very middle section of the seat. What I have been observing is that people who need power for their laptop tend one of those seat -- while some people do use laptop in other seats, they are more transient. Of course given this is all given there are enough space to do this type of arrangement, but sometimes these approach of actually manipulating behavior rather than being prohibitive is one approach those places can take.