The State of Public Restroom Access
Generated from live data on 2026-10-05 · methodology below
At a glance
- We track restroom access policy for 44 major US chains.
- 28 are open with no purchase required chain-wide; 15 vary by location; 1 (Starbucks) currently requires a purchase chain-wide.
- 9 of 44 are verified against a citable official source, with the source and verification date shown on each page. The rest are labeled unverified rather than presented as confirmed.
Access policy breakdown
| Policy | Chains |
|---|---|
| Open to everyone | 31 |
| Varies by location | 11 |
| Members only | 1 |
| Purchase required | 1 |
Tracked policy notes (3)
Where a chain's policy has documented history — including reversals — we keep the note on record and date it. The Starbucks 2018→2025 reversal is the canonical example:
Non-customers are generally welcome, though making a small purchase is considered courteous.
Starbucks had an open-door, no-purchase-required policy from 2018 to 2024. That policy was reversed in January 2025 — a purchase is now required to access restrooms at most locations, with some exceptions (e.g. emergencies).
Shell's own Canada support site states not all Shell stations have washrooms — that source is specific to Canada and was NOT used for this US-facing claim (wrong jurisdiction is wrong evidence). This chain's US hasRestrooms fact is sourced separately, via GasBuddy.
Every chain we track
| Chain | Access policy | Purchase required | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7-Eleven | Varies by location | Varies | ✓ 2026-07-12 |
| ALDI | Varies by location | Varies | — |
| Apple Store | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Barnes & Noble | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Best Buy | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Buc-ees | Open to everyone | Varies | — |
| Burger King | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Chevron | Varies by location | Varies | ✓ 2026-07-12 |
| Chick-fil-A | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Chipotle | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Costco | Members only | No | ✓ 2026-09-10 |
| Cracker Barrel | Open to everyone | No | — |
| CVS Pharmacy | Varies by location | No | — |
| Dollar General | Varies by location | Varies | — |
| Dollar Tree | Varies by location | Varies | — |
| Dunkin | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Home Depot | Open to everyone | No | — |
| IKEA | Open to everyone | No | — |
| In-N-Out Burger | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Kroger | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Little Caesars | Varies by location | Varies | ✓ 2026-07-20 |
| Loves Travel Stops | Open to everyone | Varies | — |
| Lowes | Open to everyone | No | — |
| McDonald's | Varies by location | Varies | — |
| Panera Bread | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Petco | Open to everyone | No | — |
| PetSmart | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Pilot Flying J | Open to everyone | Varies | — |
| QuikTrip | Open to everyone | No | — |
| RaceTrac | Open to everyone | No | — |
| REI | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Safeway | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Sheetz | Varies by location | Varies | ✓ 2026-07-12 |
| Shell | Varies by location | Varies | ✓ 2026-07-12 |
| Starbucks | Purchase required | Yes | ✓ 2026-07-07 |
| TA Travel Centers | Open to everyone | Varies | — |
| Taco Bell | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Target | Open to everyone | No | ✓ 2026-07-07 |
| Trader Joe's | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Walgreens | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Walmart | Open to everyone | Varies | — |
| Wawa | Varies by location | Varies | ✓ 2026-07-12 |
| Wendys | Open to everyone | No | — |
| Whole Foods | Open to everyone | No | — |
Methodology & sources
What "verified" means: a chain's access policy was manually confirmed against a citable source — an official policy page or statement where one exists ("official"), or credible news reporting where the company publishes nothing ("reported"). The source name and the date of that check appear on the chain's page.
What "undocumented" means: we found no official published policy. We say so rather than infer one — an honest "we don't know" beats an invented specific.
Where the numbers come from: every figure on this page is computed from the same dataset that backs the individual chain pages, regenerated hourly. If a chain's policy entry changes, this page changes with the next regeneration — there is no hand-maintained copy to go stale.
Page generated 2026-10-05 (UTC) · revalidates hourly · questions via press