Starbucks Reveals The Dark Future of Coffee in Santa Monica: No Seating, No Bathroom, No Cash Register, No Problem

After a three year hiatus, Starbucks Coffee Inc has opened a location on Main Street in Santa Monica again. Main and Ashland, to be precise. It offers no seating, nothing to steal in the small lobby. Not even a cash register to rob. But it does offer the full menu of Starbucks products.

The store, which replaces the Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf that moved out two years ago, has no seating. And you can't just walk in and order; you have to use the mobile app. (In the interest of disclosure, I use the Starbucks app every day, which means every tenth coffee is free for me).

Starbucks made national news when the coffee company closed its newly opened location just south of the Santa Monica Pier. "Our timing was off," said our inside source. "We opened right at the start of Covid in 2020. And there were too many incidents involving homeless people to leave it open. Tragic really," she said.

Starbucks founder and CEO Howard Schultz was caught on video camera recently saying that crime from homeless people and others, was forcing them to rethink their business. "Local municipalities and counties have let us down," he said. He said they had failed to provide security for Starbucks staff and customers, "which is our first priority."

“Starbucks screwed themselves and every other coffee shop/cafe a few years ago with their inept handling of the homeless situation, by declaring an open door policy and giving the local managers no authority to kick out problematic “customers”, one local woman posted to social media.

“Perfectly legit business model for many reasons. There are definitely people who just want to get their coffee and go. It may not be for every person on every coffee occasion but if you want coffee on the run it would work out well. Less waiting in line. I'm not too familiar with the space but I imagine it is smaller than most locations and can save money on a lease,” posted another.