[raitom]

Which is 100% normal. What entitle you to use the toilet for free? Someone will eventually have to clean after you and it costs money.

Even in the US you cannot just walk into every bars and restaurants and use their toilets for free...

[Nasrudith]

Exposure leads to traffic leads which leads to sales is the main reason for why it is mutually beneficial usually. You stop in a place you usually wouldn't bother with just for the restroom and start to be familiar with it and remember it.

Take another extreme - allowing people in only if they will definitely buy something in the store. It reduces shoplifting and traffic that doesn't buy anything! Except that would drastically reduce sales from lack of people who haven't already decided in addition to being put off by it. The "buy something" policies strike me as similarly pennywise and pound foolish.

[lotsofpulp]

It depends on your clientele. If you're in an area where everyone is well behaved, then you might be right.

If you're in a place with tons of mentally disabled folk or other type of people that don't respect public areas, then it's going to cost you more than it helps you.

Also, it could be more headache than its worth if you're at a big tourist spot where the probability of someone buying something is not high enough compared to the enormous amount of people who will want to use a bathroom.