Newly appointed Starbucks CEO Brian Niccol has reportedly reversed a seven-year policy that allowed the general public to use store bathrooms without making a purchase. The policy had resulted in widespread drug use at certain store locations, particularly in lawless, Democrat-controlled cities.

The Wall Street Journal obtained a copy of a memo sent to employees outlining the new code of conduct being rolled out across stores in North America. 

"There is a need to reset expectations for how our spaces should be used and who uses them," Starbucks North America President Sara Trilling said in the memo. 

The updated policies also include adding signs prohibiting harassment, violence, threatening language, outside alcohol, smoking, and panhandling in its stores.

In 2018, former CEO Howard Schultz transformed Starbucks into America's "largest public restroom" by allowing non-customers to use the chain's bathrooms across thousands of US stores. 

Schultz's bathroom policy backfired...

I love how you can now do drugs in the gender neutral starbucks bathroom 💕 pic.twitter.com/CGoQtoNnLL

— cinna ✨ (@cinnarollingg) October 8, 2023

How forward thinking of @Starbucks to have installed baby changing stations in all of their #HomelessHotels. Now drug addicts can shoot up on the very surface where you place your infant! #MultiUse #StarsbucksFunZone pic.twitter.com/D7aJ7XSgiW

— James Woods (@RealJamesWoods) May 27, 2018

May 2018: “New Starbucks policy, no purchase needed to sit in cafes”

July 2022: “Starbucks to close 16 US stores because of crimes, rampant drug use”

Aug 2022: “‘Woke’ NYC Starbucks now a haven for junkies, drunks and homeless”

Today: Starbucks abandons its no purchase policy pic.twitter.com/GBACEHNyRw

— John Hasson (@SonofHas) January 13, 2025

Ensuring safety with new bathroom policies is just part of Niccol's turnaround strategy to save the struggling coffee chain, which has suffered from three straight quarters of declining sales.