CBS late-night talk show host Craig Ferguson said the other night -- and I read he's said it before -- that the Starbucks at 7624 Melrose Ave in Los Angeles doesn't have public bathrooms because of prostitution problems. Can someone confirm? Are there other stores that have given up on bathrooms because of prostitution, drug or other problems? Discuss this or anything else Starbucks-related -- how about your store's halloween plans? -- in the OPEN THREAD.
Only story about the bathrooms that I can recall (aside from having to clean up gross stuff) was the time we found half of a still-hot pizza from a nearby grocery store sitting on top of the tank in the men's room.
Or the time someone drunkenly tried fight himself in the mirror...and lost.
Posted by: James Connolly | October 22, 2011 at 05:15 PM
They don't have bathrooms. what a blessing.
Posted by: Stan | October 22, 2011 at 10:03 PM
I would be so happy if we no longer had public restrooms. We are near a park that homeless people sleep in which then leads them to try to bath in our sinks. I find razors, half used soap, and all sorts of nasty things in there on a daily bases. It is actually the reason partners have left. it has been stated 2 times on exit interviews in the last 6 months that the bathroom cleaning is disgusting and they can no longer deal with it. No one wants to clean up beard particles out of the sink. It makes me so mad that out DM doesn't care and it has been mentioned at least 5 times. I also think locking up the bathrooms would be beneficial on an Eco Sure audit! it is the biggest waste of my time to have to clean those bathrooms 5 times a day when the simple solution is lock them up.
Posted by: Coffee Soldier | October 23, 2011 at 09:23 AM
The stores with the cleanest men's rooms I've seen in recent weeks are:
The Starbucks off I-94 at Ryan Road
the Starbucks at 780 Lakehurst Rd. in Waukegan, IL.
Posted by: Starbucks Gossip webmaster | October 23, 2011 at 11:42 AM
@ Coffee Soilder- wow, I can't believe your DM won't do anything about that. that seems pretty unsanitary to have to clean that stuff up :( my store is in a mall and we were having issues (not nearly as bad as yours), but graffiti, urine/feces all over the place so our DM allowed us to get a token lock on the door so you have to go up to the register to get a token to use the restroom, maybe your DM would allow something like that?
Just be prepared for a bunch of stupid questions regarding the lock. It clearly states on it that its for customers only (which we dont follow, we allow anyone to use it that asks) and that you need a TOKEN to use it, but we still get people basically almost breaking the handle/screaming across the store "HOW DO I GET IN HERE?!?!?!"/sticking their heads in our backroom to ask/asking us on our breaks if they can unlock the bathroom etc -_-
Posted by: meowgan | October 23, 2011 at 03:13 PM
didn't have one in my store. close to a methadone clinic --- needles in bathroom not okay to find. customers flipped out.
Posted by: 4828 | October 23, 2011 at 04:54 PM
There's a sign offering a $350 reward for a stolen iPhone near the Starbucks on 75th and Broadway in New York City. Anyone know more?
Watch your stuff! My NYC store had tons of thefts, bag-snatchings and computer-snatchings.
Posted by: noquestionsasked | October 23, 2011 at 05:48 PM
The winner- the newest company initiative, the new "community store," on 125th and Lenox in Manhattan, 18 months ago, the restroom was closed due to excessive drug abuse (to the extent that outlet covers and other fixtures were removed to hide drugs and paraphernalia). The store had a quarter million dollar renovation and basically closed off the bathroom, due in large part to nearly being closed by the board of health. Two weeks ago, the region paid a hefty sum to remodel the bathroom so it could be accessible during the company announcement of the Community Store Program, but will never be accessible to the public. Company dollars hard at work...
Posted by: Siberiabux | October 23, 2011 at 09:25 PM
We recently got coded locks for our bathrooms. we used to have a bigger problem with homeless people sneaking in to use the bathrooms or people going back there do dirnk or do drugs, but now that we have the coded locks, incidents have defintely dropped. The bathrooms stay cleaner too. Bonus: I dont have to touch a gross bathroom key!
Posted by: Bearded Barista | October 25, 2011 at 01:34 AM
Ok, I'm a former barista so I understand mistakes happen- but 3 of the last 5 times I've gone to my starbucks for a SCHC, they've put espresso in it. Medically, I'm not supposed to have caffeine and I've had to throw my drink away. I go through the drive-thru usually and only realize it after I've pulled out of the lot, and am on my way to work. I don't want to go in and be the bitchy customer because I know how much those people suck, but what should I do? The person on register takes my order correctly, the cup says SCHC, but the person on bar puts espresso in anyway.
Posted by: frustrated... | October 25, 2011 at 07:01 AM
@frustrated...
easy fix, never, EVER go through a drive through. They usually take longer anyway. Just watch the barista make your drink. If, and I mean IF you see them put the cup up on the espresso machine and hit the shot button, politely remind them it is a SCHC not a SCM. They should be able to rescue your cup before the shots go in. No biggie.
Posted by: Starbucks is not a spectator sport | October 25, 2011 at 07:23 AM
If you were a barista, you know calling and going in will solve your problem, not posting on a random blog.
Posted by: sbuxchick | October 25, 2011 at 08:16 AM
I'm a barista in Texas, and once I had a customer say to me "I'm sorry to be the one to tell you, but there is S**T all over the floor of the women's room." Apparently homeless man had walked in and made a total mess and attempted to clean it up using only his bare feet... and then tracked it all the way out of the front door.
We still have public bathrooms.
Posted by: Nicole | October 25, 2011 at 10:12 AM
SISNASPS, it's funny, because drive thrus are going to become the norm for sbux next year. cafe stores are a thing of the past. with the main focus being on earning labor and getting as many people through the POS every half hour as possible, drive thrus are going to be what sbux is. No more connection, no more watching the baristas make your drink. i think the ratio of drive thru only stores to cafe stores of any kind going to be built in 2012 is like 10:1. Goodbye customer service!
Posted by: P | October 25, 2011 at 07:41 PM
@P
Having worked in drive thru stores as well as cafe stores I can tell you a few things.
1.) you can do a lot more volume in a cafe store than in a drive thru - trans. per half hour
2.) customers want to drive thru...that's why we have them!
3.) customer service CAN exist in a drive thru. Don't sell your fellow partners short.
Posted by: S | October 25, 2011 at 08:17 PM
Oh, the bathroom. We have a locked bathroom and the question we get asked more than "is this drink mine?" is where the key to the bathroom is. It's always in the same place, you come and sit for hours, you should really know where it is by now. There have been quite a few incidents with the homeless that I really wish we could have either a token bathroom (so we could enforce the whole customers only thing) or just no public bathroom at all, but nobody really cares. It sucks because 9 times out of 10 I am the one who gets assigned the bathroom, so I pick up dirty underwear, hygine products, napkins from dunkin donuts that have obviously been used, drug baggies etc. We've been told to never put our hands in any of the trashes because people throw out needles ALL THE TIME. One poked through the garbage bag once, boy that was fun. I love when they come in and leave the sink on and flood the place and I have to spend an hour and a half cleaning it up. It wasn't until working at Starbucks that I realized how bad the homeless problem is in America and that they really have no where to go during the day.
Posted by: M | October 26, 2011 at 01:31 AM
I love in the afternoon with 2 person deployment and a line of drinks to be made at the bar and a line of customers at the register a customer comes to the hand off and says they just spilled their iced trenta ice coffee all over the floor- sooooo much fun :-\
Posted by: SwabnTheDeck | October 26, 2011 at 02:48 AM
I am not familiar with that Starbucks on Melrose, but the worst Starbuck I have ever been to was at nearby Gower Gulch.
here is the yelp reviews:
http://www.yelp.com/biz/starbucks-los-angeles-145
Posted by: Karl Dahlquist | October 26, 2011 at 02:50 PM
This Starbucks on Melrose has bathrooms, but the doors have the code locks. If you buy a drink the baristas will gladly give you the code.
I didn't find this out of the ordinary since a few of the stores I went to in LA have similar code locks (pretty sure the one in the middle of Hollywood has them).
Posted by: mondrary | October 28, 2011 at 11:52 AM
Hey how about those Holiday Meetings
Posted by: SwabnTheDeck | October 28, 2011 at 02:19 PM
@SwabnTheDeck
What about it? I loved it. I actually think sweetened Verdana is all right. :).
Posted by: Ian | October 28, 2011 at 06:59 PM
Melrose didn't have a bathroom for many years. I never went there, except to pick up supplies on occasion (I worked a mile or so away at another Starbucks for 12 years.
But the real reason they got rid of the bathroom was because of all the drugs and drug dealers that had taken up 'residence'. They were frequented by a lot of younger people and kids (that preferred a little more kick than the coffee was supplying). There was no prostitution. At least, if there was, it wasn't a big enough problem for anyone to ever hear of it!
But now (since they remodelled in 2010) they have two bathrooms! It's been turned into the new 'model' store with lot's more murcury-based lighting (yeah! environment) and some new, super-bright LED lighting and has a kind-of-a cafeteria feel.
Very home-ey and cozy, indeed!
I miss the old 'real' coffee shops that got wiped out by SBUX so much!
Posted by: IJ | October 29, 2011 at 04:03 AM
I still have a problem sometimes going into the men's bathroom at my store. A couple of months ago, a lady drug addict came in and inserted some, I'm assuming, pretty gnarly stuff into her veins. The end result was her blood sprayed all over the wall and floor. I tried cleaning it up but after realizing that it took me a couple of minutes just to psyche myself up to even go in/attempt the clean up job, I just locked the door and had a professional clean it up for me. It was pretty traumatizing.
Posted by: Barista1346914 | October 30, 2011 at 01:51 PM