Starbucks Corona del Mar - Bathroom UPGRADED
The Starbucks in Corona del Mar UPGRADED its Bathroom! This is awesome news because the Corona del Mar Starbucks had an OK bathroom before but it wasn’t super inviting. But now it has new tile on the walls and it looks like the walls have a sort of line-based texture. It kind of looks like the walls are covered in ivory corduroy. The whole look has been polished and cleaned up. It is a much friendlier looking bathroom now. Before the tile was pretty boring. Now there is a sort of layered look to it. The toilet is the same but it looks nice in its new backdrop. There are still the same amenities that one would expect to see in a Starbucks bathroom, like seat covers, soap dispenser and towel dispenser. The whole feel of the bathroom is, “Fresh.” It seems refreshing and relaxing. Before it had a cold and uninviting look to it. But now the bathroom at the Corona del Mar Starbucks is much better.
A clean and comfortable bathroom is a major plus to any coffee based establishment. I’ve been to coffee shops that don’t have immediate access to bathrooms and I get nervous. Are you sure you want to serve caffeinated beverages and milk products and not offer a bathroom nearby? That’s a recipe for disaster on multiple proportions. A coffee shop is often evaluated for the whole package, not just the coffee. A good coffee shop has great coffee, friendly staff, comfortable seating, clean lobby area, optional snacks and a nice bathroom. Even people that just come in for their coffee to go evaluate the overall niceness of the entire store. But when the bathroom is looking good, it is a sure-fire sign that the coffee shop is being managed well. The Corona del Mar Starbucks always does a great job of keeping their bathroom clean and the baristas are quick to fix it up whenever it is having issues.
The main difference I noted with the Corona del Mar Starbucks bathroom was that the walls were different. That’s what really stuck out at me. Walls are important because they define the space and depth perception on an enclosed environment. For example, a bathroom with large mirrors on all the walls would make the space seem much larger than it really is. This technique is used in the dining area of the Cheesecake Factory in Irvine Spectrum. There is a wall that is almost entirely a mirror, and it makes the space seem huge and almost daunting. When I first walked to our booth, I was thinking, “How are they able to serve so many seats and still provide good service?” Then I realized that there was a huge mirror and the room was half the size that I originally perceived it to be and then I had a chuckle. “Silly me,” I thought, “I got tricked by the interior designer!”
The interesting thing about the walls in the Corona del Mar Starbucks is that they have an interesting texture. That is intriguing to me because things with interesting textures usually make people want to touch them. But I think the last thing anyone should do is touch the walls of a Starbucks bathroom. That is a bad idea. More people traverse those places than a Mos Eisley Space Port on New Year’s.
A funny thing about how the bathroom came to my attention. I didn’t experience it of my own accord. One of the baristas said to me, “Have you checked out our new bathroom?” And I said, “No, is it different?” And he said, “Yeah, you should go check it out!” And I paused for a second. This is because my self-preservation instincts usually make me second guess any suggestions or invitations to public restrooms for any reason. But I trusted the Barista who told me about the upgraded bathroom. And I am glad I checked it out because people should know about how nice the tile was in there!
-Tyler