[jrmg]

The Starbucks near me, pre-pandemic, always had a few people sitting in it with laptops or books or sitting with a friend.

During the pandemic it was refurbished. All the tables were removed, and the floor size of the shop was halved (I guess they have a big stockroom area or something now?! I can’t imagine what it’s used for.)

So there are now no tables, and only a small public area at the front, which I’d say is mostly taken up by people who’ve ordered online silently coming in and standing until their drinks arrive on the counter to pick up.

Not only can’t I sit there (which if I’m honest I hardly ever did), but it’s a much more unpleasant place to be in now.

[at_a_remove]

This is a little embarrassing to admit, but my favored Starbucks was very much a third place. It had a fireplace with shelves to either side. I got some old books and made a little library out of it. Even got some Starbucks-green metal bookends. Books for the kiddies. It looked cozy and nice. The manager loved it.

Then COVID hit and everyone was bafflingly weird about transmission via surfaces (that was the WHO's stubborn take on it then) and whoosh, all of it gone.