Locked Restrooms

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storewanderer
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Locked Restrooms

Post by storewanderer »

Is there some kind of a new law in CA requiring retailers to lock the public restrooms? I was in a number of stores around Sacramento/Bay Area over the weekend and kept encountering locked restrooms with a keypad password needed for entry. In a couple cases they just said they were closed. To be clear these are all customer accessible restrooms directly on the sales floor and with a fixture/sign posted leading to them. This is not something I have seen previously in these chains on such a widespread basis anyway. The locations where I encountered this did not strike me as particularly bad areas nor did I see loitering going on.

Stores I saw this included:
Save Mart/Lucky (have seen this once before in one bad Save Mart)
Raleys (have never seen this before in a Raleys...)
Petsmart (have never seen this before in a Petsmart)
Pet Club (these weren't locked a couple months ago...)
Whole Foods (I think they actually had to install doors to make this happen)
Alpha8472
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Re: Locked Restrooms

Post by Alpha8472 »

The shoplifters use the restrooms to remove items from packaging and then hide the items in their clothes. They then flush the packaging down the toilets. This results in clogged plumbing costing thousands of dollars.

Also, many drug users overdose or leave used needles in the restrooms. When a customer gets poked, there is a lawsuit and thousands down the drain.

I have seen locked restrooms at Jack In The Box where the employees have to buzz people into the restrooms. I found the remote unlocking doors to be very cool.

When I rode trains in the San Francisco Bay Area, you had to check the seats for used syringes. Sometimes they were under the seat cushions and poked through. I often see used needles in parking lots. It is best not to wear flip flops.

Safeway single person restrooms are the worst. They smell like homeless people slept in them. This even happens in the rich suburbs. One Safeway was very close to Safeway's corporate office. It is the train from San Francisco. The homeless are migrating to the suburbs.
Last edited by Alpha8472 on November 30th, 2021, 4:30 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Locked Restrooms

Post by veteran+ »

Bathrooms have been locked for quite a long time in S. Cali. (at least in grocery stores), regardless of neighborhood (as far back as 2006).

Ralphs, Ralphs Fresh Fare
Vons, Pavilions
Fresh & Easy
Trader Joes
Sprouts
Whole Foods

........that I know of.
Super S
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Re: Locked Restrooms

Post by Super S »

Locked restrooms are common in larger cities. In Portland the most notable one is Subway where most have the keypads. I have seen some Safeway stores with locked restrooms, as well as a Burlington store (which had a buzzer system but was not locked) and a few others. Some restaurants and gas stations with outside restrooms require a token from an employee to open the door. (a number of older Arby's in my area had this, but have been moving restrooms inside during remodels) Most are in situations where restrooms are out of sight of the employees.

A lot of them also have the security tag detectors outside the restroom doors.

Ironically, many older Kmart stores had the buzzer system in the 1980s but most were removed during remodels, even though restrooms remained in their original locations.

I find it odd that there are some new-build stores where they are placing restroom doors in far corners of stores instead of in view of employees. I think that placement goes a long way toward deterring shoplifting.
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Re: Locked Restrooms

Post by pseudo3d »

Even in Houston, the only time I saw locked restrooms were higher-crime areas with lots of loitering, like the Panda Express located on the premises of Northline Commons (a strip center where Northline Mall in Houston used to be). Other than that, I've never seen this outside of New York City (I have never been to California).
storewanderer
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Re: Locked Restrooms

Post by storewanderer »

veteran+ wrote: November 29th, 2021, 6:01 am Bathrooms have been locked for quite a long time in S. Cali. (at least in grocery stores), regardless of neighborhood (as far back as 2006).

Ralphs, Ralphs Fresh Fare
Vons, Pavilions
Fresh & Easy
Trader Joes
Sprouts
Whole Foods

........that I know of.
Have not found this to be the case up around Santa Barbara/SLO area, Orange County or San Diego as a rule but only as an exception... can think of a few examples like the Albertsons in Downtown San Diego that have been locked for years, or the Ralphs in Downtown Los Angeles...

Can't speak for F&E in SoCal but they were not locked in NorCal.
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Re: Locked Restrooms

Post by Romr123 »

Ralphs @ Palm Springs Sunrise is locked with a keypad.
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Re: Locked Restrooms

Post by arizonaguy »

Interestingly enough this is a phenomena I haven't really run into in the Phoenix area, even in worse parts of town.

It was somewhat strange though that I did run into a Chipotle restaurant that recently locked its restroom but most (if not all) supermarket, discount store, and warehouse club restrooms are unlocked in the Phoenix area.
TW-Upstate NY
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Re: Locked Restrooms

Post by TW-Upstate NY »

When I was growing up in the mid/late '60's to say mid 70's, customer restrooms in stores were a rather uncommon thing. I can recall on several occasions when my Mother would take me shopping her having to ask in a store if I could use the restroom because I was one of those "you should've thought of it before we left the house" (and didn't) kind of kids. The A+P was about the only place which would allow customers to use the restroom without asking. And even then you had to go upstairs to what appeared to be the employee locker room/break and lunch room area. The only places that really universally had them were gas stations and fast-food restaurants. Most gas stations kept them locked and you had to ask for the key which usually was on a long wooden stick. And wow-were those places dirty. And fast-food restaurant restrooms, while usually much cleaner, were about the size of a small broom closet if you were lucky. Restrooms on the sales floor of most stores are actually a relatively new thing when you think about it. Just in time for me too because when you're a Letter Carrier for over 30 years, you make it a point to know where ALL the restrooms are located on your route :mrgreen:
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Re: Locked Restrooms

Post by pseudo3d »

TW-Upstate NY wrote: November 30th, 2021, 11:03 am When I was growing up in the mid/late '60's to say mid 70's, customer restrooms in stores were a rather uncommon thing. I can recall on several occasions when my Mother would take me shopping her having to ask in a store if I could use the restroom because I was one of those "you should've thought of it before we left the house" (and didn't) kind of kids. The A+P was about the only place which would allow customers to use the restroom without asking. And even then you had to go upstairs to what appeared to be the employee locker room/break and lunch room area. The only places that really universally had them were gas stations and fast-food restaurants. Most gas stations kept them locked and you had to ask for the key which usually was on a long wooden stick. And wow-were those places dirty. And fast-food restaurant restrooms, while usually much cleaner, were about the size of a small broom closet if you were lucky. Restrooms on the sales floor of most stores are actually a relatively new thing when you think about it. Just in time for me too because when you're a Letter Carrier for over 30 years, you make it a point to know where ALL the restrooms are located on your route :mrgreen:
Right, I remember visiting a small-town grocery store a couple of years ago, and was only 20,000 square feet (and that was AFTER an expansion many years ago), the restrooms were located in the store's backroom, and of course, single stall. Very poor condition, too--I especially remember that a small hole in the wall to the ladies' room next door was plugged up with a piece of (formerly wet) toilet paper that had dried up.

But it wasn't locked, and the store was the only place in Texas I've seen where they carried several varieties of Faygo.
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