Customers staying for an extended period of time at Starbucks? Here’s what the coffee shop giant has to say
STARBUCKS PHILIPPINES – The coffee shop giant doesn’t mind when customers stay for as long as they want at its shops.
Starbucks is a multinational chain of coffeehouses and one of the largest coffeehouse companies in the world. It opened its first store in the Philippines at 6750 Ayala in December 1997 and has since grown to 424 stores across the country.
Starbucks is making a buzz online after Scottish vlogger Dale Philip called out customers in one of its chains, allegedly turning its coffee shop into their workspace. According to him, some customers would buy just one coffee and stay for hours, taking advantage of the free wifi and electricity provided by the establishment.
Philip remarked, “Look at all these guys with their laptops just sitting, using it as their personal office. I would hate that.” He added, “I would hate to have a business where people just come and use it as their personal office, use your WiFi and electricity, and buy like one coffee.”
Dale questioned the preference of some people to work at coffee shops when they could do it in the comfort of their homes. He suggested, “Just sit in your house, just sit in your condo, just sit in your hotel room and do your work…I don’t understand this whole concept.”
The coffee shop giant has yet to issue any statement regarding the remark of the Scottish vlogger. But it can be recalled that last year, Starbucks Philippines President Noey Lopez said that they didn’t mind when customers stayed for as long as they wanted at its coffee shops even with just a cup of coffee.
Lopez said as per GMA News that Starbucks wanted to be the “third place” customers would want to be at after home and the workplace. He remarked: “Third place is between home and work right? That’s where you come up with the third place, so we wanna be the third place. If we can be the first place, then even better. We don’t really mind.”
