From: Darren D. MacDonald, thenorthbaybay.ca staff
NORTH BAY – Running an independent business anywhere is hard. But, some business owners in North Bay are learning the hard way that you need to adapt to the needs of customer or be left behind. And no one is adapting faster than North Bay’s own downtown coffee shop, Sticks & Scones Café.
Sticks & Scones recently opened up after a week-long renovation, welcoming customers in for a nice warm mug of coffee and a signature scone. No one knew what changed. After a week of silence, owner Alex McLean has spoken out on the Sticks & Scones Café Facebook page.
“As you may have noticed, we recently closed for renovations. And as you may have also noticed, we opened a week later. But none of you seem to have noticed we made some changes. We removed the urinal from the men’s washroom, and replaced it with a drain in the corner. This is because customers will just piss on the walls anyways!
“Instead of wasting time constantly maintaining both an unused urinal AND a wall, we have taken the urinal out. That way, we can focus on just cleaning the wall.”
McLean did also add in their post that they are “thankful that most people have stuck to an actual toilet to take their number 2’s…so far.”
Community Support
While this obviously only affects the customers that use the men’s washroom, it has received an unusual amount of support from the community. Some going as far to buy vinyl targets to stick on the wall to make it a better, more fun experience for all.
“FINALLY! They stopped standing in the way of me and pissing on that wall” writes Facebook user Blane Stevens.
“I didn’t know that this was an issue, but I’m glad that they are listening to their customer base!” writes fellow Facebook user Brooke McKellen.
It seems that this decision has been nothing but good news for McLean and Sticks & Scones Café, as they have seen a spike in patrons. Most of which going in to just behold the “Wall of Piss”.
“It’s been quite the experience,” says McLean. “Since we wrote that post we have instilled a rule that the washroom is for paying customers only. Now we’ve had men piss on the wall, women piss on the wall and EVERYTHING in between. The only downside is the cleaning of the wall. For the most part we just spray it down with a hose and then send the new hire in there with a toothbrush.”
Progression
Sticks & Scones Café expect hopes that their renovation will rub off on surrounding stores. The hope is that people pissing on a bathroom wall will bring the Downtown North Bay back to its former glory.
“We didn’t throw the urinal out,” explains McLean. “We just put it in the women’s washroom. Who knows, someone might use it, and they might be thankful that we finally gave them the option. That’s progressive right?”
Poop