Starbucks bathrooms may be open to all, but good luck finding a free stall

NY Post ^ | December 8, 2018 | Steve Cuozzo

[C19fan]

When you’ve gotta go, don’t go to Starbucks.

Seven months after the coffee kingdom declared its toilets open to all — no purchase necessary! — visitors who hear nature’s call are finding it isn’t always easy to lighten their loads.

Finding a usable Starbucks toilet in the Big Apple might actually have gotten harder since last spring’s announcement — and not just for non-customers.

Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson declared the open-toilets policy after two black men were infamously arrested in a Philadelphia Starbucks. They asked to use the toilet and were told it was for customers only. When they sat to wait for a friend, they were handcuffed and charged with “trespassing.”

But a Post survey found some supposedly liberated loos in different Manhattan neighborhoods closed to everyone.

[Wuli]

There was one Manhattan Starbucks that long before any controversy had restrooms that anyone who entered could obtain acess to. That was in part to the very large size and arrangement of the store, and how it was busy most of the time. If needed a key from the staff had ever been required, I think they just made it easier on the selves and left the restrooms unlocked.

They easily became what I thought was the most grossly dirty Starbucks restrooms.

The only change I later saw was they had reduced the restroom use to one for customers and one for employees only. On affect of that was it added to the wait time if you needed a restroom.

Still, the one remaining room was still not “hygenic” accept that the porcelean sink and toilet were replaced with all stainless steel units. Oh, but the toilet was often clogged because people could not depend on toilet paper being available and so they made sure to take Starbucks napkins to the restroom with them.