Starbucks now requires customers to purchase a drink in order to hang out in the shop or use the restrooms as of January 2025 according to CBS News.
The coffee chain has been a popular spot for students and casuals alike to drink coffee, hang out and study using the free Wi-Fi available.
How do students at Fresno City College feel about this most recent change? After all, there is a Starbucks not too far from campus, on Blackstone and Clinton Street, which stays busy throughout the year.
Mark Oseguera, an FCC student, does not see a point in just going into a coffee shop to use the Wi-Fi.
“I wouldn’t go into a coffee shop and just use the computer, use my laptop, use my personal computer, and use the Wi-Fi without purchasing anything,” Oseguera said.
Osegurea does bring up the fact that he sat down once at a Starbucks during COVID-19, but that was his only experience sitting in the store and using the Wi-Fi.
“I make my coffee at home almost every day. The only time I buy Starbucks is if I don’t have time to make coffee at all,” Sara Valentino, an FCC library employee, said.
FCC library employee Kylie Pritchett echoes a similar sentiment.
“I would say I only drink Starbucks, like, maybe once a month,” Pritchett said.
When it comes to restroom usage, Valentino understands why Starbucks would enforce the rule, but thinks it is a tough rule to enforce.
“There’s a Starbucks not far from my house and sometimes when I do need to go, I saw recently that they took all the seating out inside of the store because the loitering from the transient community had gotten so bad,” Valentino said. “I think they’re not just taking away the bathroom privilege just for funsies. I think there’s a bigger issue at hand.”
Many businesses and franchises around Fresno are fed up with the homelessness crisis, as evidenced by some stores and shops having “No loitering” or “No panhandling” signs outside their business. Shop owners have lost patience and believe that the unhoused are costing them business.
Alex Benavides believes that taking away the right to hang out in Starbucks and use the restroom are both unnecessary decisions.
“The fact that you have to pay money even to have that relaxation, or maybe be with a group, it just kind of eliminates the purpose of what Starbucks is,” Benavides said.
As of Feb. 2, Starbucks’s revenue is down 0.29% and its net income is down 23.78% according to the National Association of Security Dealers Automated Quotations ( NASDAQ.)
Benavides also believes that Starbucks taking away restroom access is not necessary as well.
“If someone needs to go to the restroom, like really bad or something, and the restroom is close inside a Starbucks, they can’t use it. I think there are some complications,” Benavides said.
