--- description: Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz said bathrooms will be open to everyone after the controversial arrest of two black men title: Starbucks Says Bathrooms Will Be Open to Everyone After Controversial Arrest of 2 Black Men image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9835ab8836a90d2e/69893026929fad4c8bbf0870/howard-schultz-starbucks-bathrooms.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [U.S.](/section/us/) ## U.S. Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [Starbucks](/tag/starbucks/) ## Starbucks Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Starbucks Says Bathrooms Will Be Open to Everyone After Controversial Arrest of 2 Black Men by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. May 11, 2018 11:50 AM CUT  Executive Chairman of Starbucks Corporation Howard Schultz participates in a discussion at the Atlantic Council May 10, 2018 in Washington, DC. Executive Chairman of Starbucks Corporation Howard Schultz participates in a discussion at the Atlantic Council May 10, 2018 in Washington, DC.Alex Wong—Getty Images by [Mahita Gajanan](/author/mahita-gajanan/) ## Mahita Gajanan Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Gajanan is an editor at TIME. May 11, 2018 11:50 AM CUT Starbucks bathrooms will now be open to all, including people who have not made purchases, following [the controversial arrest of two black men](http://time.com/5264380/starbucks-arrest-black-men-interview/ "undefined") who tried to use the restroom at a Philadelphia location. Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz said the company is changing up its policy to make all people feel at home at the coffee chain, the [Washington _Post_ reports](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/05/10/starbucks-chairman-opens-up-about-the-companys-race-failures-and-says-its-bathrooms-are-now-open-to-all/?noredirect=on&utm%5Fterm=.81be0fb56aaa "undefined"). “We don’t want to become a public bathroom, but we’re going to make the right decision a hundred percent of the time and give people the key,” he said while speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington D.C. “We don’t want anyone at Starbucks to feel as if we are not giving access to you to the bathroom because you are less than.” Schultz noted Starbucks’ prior “loose policy” required customers to buy a beverage, but that it was up to [individual stores how to implement the rule](http://time.com/5241671/starbucks-philadelphia-bathroom-rights/ "undefined"). Since the arrest of the Rashon Nelson and Donte Robinson in April, Starbucks announced it will close down more than 8,000 stores on May 29 to hold racial bias trainings for employees. Schultz said the sessions will kick off a change to the way employees are trained. “I think it’s fair to say that most people have some level of unconscious bias based on our own life experience,” he said. “So there’s going to be a lot of education about how we all grew up, how we see the world and how we can be better.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5273969/starbucks-bathrooms/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5273969/starbucks-bathrooms/"},"headline":"Starbucks Says Bathrooms Will Be Open to Everyone After Controversial Arrest of 2 Black Men","datePublished":"2018-05-11T11:50:09.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:15:01.001Z","description":"Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz said everyone should feel welcome","url":"https://time.com/5273969/starbucks-bathrooms/","keywords":["Starbucks","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9835ab8836a90d2e/69893026929fad4c8bbf0870/howard-schultz-starbucks-bathrooms.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Mahita Gajanan","jobTitle":"Gajanan is an editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/mahita-gajanan/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9835ab8836a90d2e/69893026929fad4c8bbf0870/howard-schultz-starbucks-bathrooms.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz Discusses Role Of Public Global Companies","caption":"Starbucks Chairman Howard Schultz Discusses Role Of Public Global Companies","creditText":"Alex Wong—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/starbucks/","name":"Starbucks"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5273969/starbucks-bathrooms/","name":"Starbucks Says Bathrooms Will Be Open to Everyone After Controversial Arrest of 2 Black Men"}}]}] ```