[sfmz]

Your link is broken. I do know that Mr. Schultz has given lip-service to the fact that Starbucks is no longer a third place, but in the other column I present the fact that there are no longer any comfortable chairs at my nearest Starbucks and the next one by distance is Drive-Thru only.

[shigawire]

For what it's worth, they are working on a bunch of store redesigns to incentivize people to stay in stores. It probably hasn't hit your area yet.

All that said, I do think it is a sorry state when Starbucks is the only/best third place option.

[satvikpendem]

Updated my comment with the original source. What kinds of chairs are those? Maybe it's me but I found my Starbucks pretty bustling, people gathering, the chairs fairly comfortable for even long periods of time working on a laptop for example. Hell, we even have several single seater couches and that's been fairly standard since I can remember.

[sfmz]

Welp, I should have probably told you I'm in a suburb. I'm guessing you are in a cool city. /jealous