On January 27, 2025, Starbucks made a major change to its in-store policy. From now on, if you want to use Starbucks’ seating areas or restrooms, you are required to buy something. The policy was changed to prioritize paying customers and bring back the community coffee house feeling that it used to have.

As someone who often goes to Starbucks, I see both benefits and drawbacks of this policy. Although Starbucks no longer allows customers to use its restroom or seating areas without purchasing something, it does allow free refills of hot and iced coffee for in-store customers. Free refills are something I will take advantage of because the price for a Starbucks coffee is six dollars, which is expensive.

However, the free refills Starbucks now offers to in-store customers apply to only certain drinks. Free refills include hot and iced coffees only, and extra syrups and toppings are additional charges. Refreshers, cold foams, and cold brews are excluded from this policy. I buy refreshers the majority of the time I go to Starbucks, so for them to not include them in their new policy is annoying. These are some of Starbucks’s most popular drinks, so if you get one of these drinks to have in-store, you aren’t saving any money.

Starbucks is often used as a popular place to study and to have meetings. Now, to do that, you need to purchase either food or a drink. When I go to Starbucks to study, I always end up getting something to help motivate me. The policy change doesn’t affect me when I go to Starbucks, and I agree with it. I think that if you go to an area to study, you should be required to buy an item from that store. However, this can be frustrating for those who attend Starbucks often for meetings and don’t buy anything.

The part of the policy I don’t agree with is the rule that you can’t use the restroom unless you buy something. The Starbucks I visit the most is at 50th and France, and a lot of the time people are walking around with their friends and family. Sometimes when you’re walking you have to use the restroom, and most people will use Starbucks for that. Now with their new policy, you can’t do that and that is not fair. If someone were to have an emergency, or have to use the bathroom in general, they have to buy a drink, which doesn’t seem right. Overall, though, I agree with the new policy change, and I think that it will give Starbucks more business and make it a better store.