207
Starbucks reverses open-door policy: Buy something or leave
(www.usatoday.com)
I love that comfortable, coffe house vibe of 'get the fuck out', really helps me relax while reading a book or sketching or brainstorming, or waiting to meet up with a friend.
... I get the idea that basically no one in this thread has ever been to an old school, independent coffee shop that basically operates like a pub, ya'll act like everything is a fast food restaurant.
Go watch Friends, or something, and see if you notice how coffee houses used to be places you could just hang out and chill in basically all day untill close if you wanted to.
Its not just a contrivance to make the show work.
That kind of environment used to actually exist.
I used to go to one that just had an entire two and a half floors lined with books on all sorts of topics you could just pop open and read for 3 hrs, no purchase necessary, other people used to do school projects their, bring their laptop and do a days worth of remote work...
This was the original vibe of Starbucks, the original idea, like company mission statement, was to bring that chill, relaxed hangout atmosphere from Seattle and export it.
... But, over 20 years or so, it did just become another fast food restaurant, and now this is apparently so hypernormalized that I feel like the last living hipster or something, telling ancient stories of yore like a hippe explaining woodstock...