A Starbucks in Nanchong, Sichuan, locked outdoor seats after elderly non-customers occupied them. After viral debate, all chains were removed on Sept. 15 and staff now use verbal reminders.
Tags:Source: OT-Team(G), 界面新闻, 每日经济新闻
A Starbucks store in Nanchong, Sichuan Province, has removed chains from its outdoor tables and chairs after a video showing some seats locked up sparked heated discussion online.
Why Were the Seats Locked?
On Sept. 15, a user posted a video showing several tables and chairs outside the Starbucks Renhe Chun Tian Plaza store secured with metal chains. A sign on one table said the seats were “for Starbucks customers only.”
The user was heard saying in the video, “It’s not like this Starbucks is a throne, yet they locked it up.”
The store explained the following day that the outdoor seating had originally been provided for customers, but staff began locking some of it after elderly people frequently occupied the seats for long periods without purchasing anything.
A staff member told reporters that the outdoor seats were often filled with elderly people every afternoon. The store was reluctant to ask them to leave or physically move them, fearing that attempts to do so could lead to arguments or other conflicts.
“We can’t push them, and we can’t drive them away. What if something happens, or an elderly person gets upset?” the staff member said.
The employee added that the store was particularly concerned about customers getting into arguments with the elderly people over the seats.
15 Signs Were Made, Only 2 Remained
The store had previously tried using signs to remind people that the seats were for customers.
According to the staff member, the store made 15 signs, but most were damaged or taken away, leaving only two.
“I still have the paperwork for making them. We made 15 signs, and now only two are left. They would throw our signs away. There was nothing we could do,” the staff member said.
The employee also addressed the customer who filmed the incident, saying the customer was unhappy about the seating situation. According to the staff member, some seats shown in the video were actually unlocked and empty, while staff also looked for a key to unlock another seat for the customer.
Store Removes All the Chains
After the video attracted widespread attention, the store unlocked all of its outdoor tables and chairs on the afternoon of Sept. 15.
“We can only unlock all the seats now and remind people when we can,” the employee said. “There’s no better way.”
The store said it would rely on verbal reminders rather than locking the seats in the future.
Online Debate Over Who Should Use the Seats
The incident has prompted mixed reactions online.
Some users said they understood the store’s approach, arguing that people who did not purchase anything should not occupy seats intended for customers.
Others said that if customers had made a purchase, staff could simply unlock the seats for them.
Some commenters also said they had previously seen elderly people occupy the outdoor seats for extended periods while drinking tea, chatting or doing other activities, with some saying that such behavior had frustrated other customers.
From County Markets to Beijing SKP
The seating dispute comes as Starbucks continues to expand both into lower-tier markets and high-end commercial destinations in China.
As of mid-September, Starbucks had entered 69 new county-level markets during its 2026 fiscal year, with nearly half of its new stores located in third-tier cities or below.
At the same time, Starbucks China opened its latest flagship store, Starbucks Reserve Xingyifang, at Beijing SKP on Sept. 16.
The two expansion directions may appear different — one focused on county-level and lower-tier markets, the other on high-end commercial landmarks — but they share an important capital connection.
Boyu Investment is both the controlling shareholder of Starbucks China and a major shareholder of SKP. This ownership relationship places the two sides within the same broader investment structure as Starbucks expands across both high-end commercial destinations and lower-tier markets.
The developments follow the launch of a strategic partnership between Starbucks Global and Boyu Investment in April. Starbucks China has since identified commercial landmarks, lower-tier markets, culture and tourism, and lifestyle as four areas for expanding its store network.
As of Sept. 15, Starbucks China had 8,238 stores, with 227 net new stores added so far in fiscal 2026.
Over the next two weeks, Starbucks is also set to enter Xinjiang, open two stores at Wuhan SKP, and unveil new cultural-tourism stores featuring intangible cultural heritage in Shanghai and Beijing.