In 2022, the company said it closed 16 stores for repeated safety issues such as drug use and other disruptive behaviour that endangered staff
Starbucks is reversing its open-door policy in a bid to make paying customers feel more welcome and more safe.
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On Monday, the company announced a new code of conduct for all North American, company-owned stores. The code bans discrimination, harassment, drinking outside alcohol, smoking, vaping, drug use and panhandling.
The code of conduct warns that violators will be asked to leave, and says the store may call police, if necessary. Staff are to receive training on how to enforce the new policy.
Starbucks spokesperson Jaci Anderson said the new rules are designed to help prioritize paying customers. Anderson said most retailers have similar rules.
“We want everyone to feel welcome and comfortable in our stores,” Anderson said. “By setting clear expectations for behaviour and use of our spaces, we can create a better environment for everyone.”
The new code of conduct reverses a policy introduced in 2018 that permitted anyone, even those who had not buying anything, to enter their stores and use the facilities, including washrooms.
It was introduced after two Black men were arrested at a Philadelphia Starbucks, where they had gone for a business meeting. The individual store had a policy of asking non-paying customers to leave, and the men hadn’t bought anything. But the arrest, which was caught on video, was a major embarrassment for the company.
At the time, Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz said he didn’t want people to feel “less than” if they were refused access.
“We don’t want to become a public bathroom, but we’re going to make the right decision a hundred per cent of the time and give people the key,” Schultz said.
Since then, though, employees and customers have struggled with unruly and even dangerous behaviour in stores. In 2022, the company said it closed 16 stores in the U.S. — including six in Los Angeles and six in Seattle — for repeated safety issues, such as drug use and other disruptive behaviour that endangered staff.
Inderdeep Singh Gosal was later arrested and charged of second-degree murder.
— With files from Associated Press