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It depends on the location and competition from other local businesses.

The Starbucks where my parents live is nice to sit down and have a conversation with someone - it's bigger and has more space. Why? It's a small town and there isn't much competition from other local coffee shops.

Compare that with the Starbucks's of Manhattan - usually very cramped, little seating, and meant to be more of a "to go" place than a place to sit down.

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I’d assume that the extreme difference in rent is a bigger factor than the amount of competition.

They are connected. More shops (including coffee shops) compete for the relatively well-off public walking around Manhattan, so they compete by agreeing to a higher rent, too. If you can't afford $50 / sq.ft., a few other bidders may.

For some of the locations that have been takeoutified, they used to have chairs and tables but these were purposely removed. The room is awkwardly empty so they stuff it with random chochkys like insulated mugs to fill the void.

I think there’s some truth to the notion that they’ve done this in markets and stores where they are more likely to have a problem with homelessness and non-paying customers. I’ve seen first hand how much time and energy some Starbucks employees have to put in to waking people up who are sleeping in the store, cleaning themselves in the bathrooms, or trying to bring in a cart full of their belongings. Goes without saying (in my opinion) that it’s sad and a failing of society, but it also has to be a real problem for Starbucks.

Most businesses just take care of that with a security guard. I'd think an $84 billion company can afford a $25/hr guard at some of these locations. McDonalds has figured out how to deal with the issue without ripping out their interiors.

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