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Is Starbucks redesign a 'keep out’ sign for Philly’s homeless people?

by Samantha Melamed
The Philadelphia Inquirer


On Mondays, members of a running group with the organization Back on My Feet like to end their early-morning workout by lingering over coffee at the Starbucks at Broad and Pine streets in Center City — “Monday motivation," they call it.
But a couple weeks ago, the group of volunteers and homeless individuals arrived to find that the usual tables and chairs were gone. All that remained were two high-top tables in a corner, a half-dozen tall stools along the windows, and an expanse of vacant territory.


“The space looked really empty,” said Sophie White, 26, of Queen Village, who had noticed an increase in homeless people lingering at the cafe since the coffee giant overhauled its policies following a viral incident last year.
“Starbucks said, ‘Everyone is welcome. After this incident, we don’t want to turn anyone away; you don’t have to buy anything.’ It seems like people have taken that to heart, maybe too much — so now they’re trying to find a more natural way to deter people.”

The Starbucks in question happens to sit just a few doors from Broad Street Ministry, which serves lunch to the hungry five days a week and runs an overnight respite each winter. It is also just five blocks from the Starbucks cafe where two black men were arrested last year after refusing a manager’s demand that they leave, fueling a national media firestorm and inspiring the company to devote a day to anti-bias training.
A Starbucks spokesperson said removing the furniture was not intended as a deterrent. The store had been feeling crowded, so the managers were merely experimenting with a new configuration, the spokesperson said, adding, “We are really proud that the store is a valued community gathering place."

Still, to some, that experiment seems indistinguishable from the “defensive design” maneuvers deployed in public parks, where benches are bisected by dividers to prevent lying down — or, in the most extreme cases, are removed altogether.
“There are lots and lots of those kind of strategies that are explained for the market: It’s better for the customers. But it’s better, usually, for some customers than others," said Setha Low, a professor of environmental psychology at the Graduate Center at City University of New York. “So, not wanting it crowded is a perfectly legitimate [goal]. On the other hand, is it a cover for saying, ‘We only want some kind of people, and not others,’ or, ‘We don’t want people to stay so long'?”

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Originally posted by Shaql:
So now they have room to lay down and get some sleep.

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Originally posted by Shaql:
So now they have room to lay down and get some sleep.

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Originally posted by kz1000:
Get rid of the bathrooms too. No more whore baths.

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Originally posted by smschulz:
Black Rifle Coffee needs to franchise a bunch of Coffee Shops across America.

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Originally posted by bcereuss:
If you're not buying anything, you're not a customer.

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Originally posted by Bytes:
Seems like Starbucks management has a lot of book learnin' but zero common sense. This is hilarious

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Become a Franchise Owner

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Originally posted by TigerDore:

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Originally posted by Bytes:
Seems like Starbucks management has a lot of book learnin' but zero common sense. This is hilarious

True, but they don't understand that. Their CEO, Howard Schultz, has said he wants to run for President.



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Originally posted by Balzé Halzé:

Howard Schultz is no longer the CEO of Starbucks, for almost two years now.