Walgreens Uses Familiar Trick to Discourage Loitering Outside Stores: Blasting Classical Music

Several Walgreens locations in Chicago have begun playing classical music in their store parking lots as a strategy to discourage loitering.

Critics, however, view it as an attempt to target the homeless, accusing the store of "treating them as less than human."

To implement this, the drugstore chain has installed caged speakers in the parking lots of specific locations, continuously playing classical pieces, featuring compositions from Bach and including Rossini’s “William Tell Overture."

While the intention is to deter potential loiterers, some customers mistook continuous music for a system malfunction. "I thought maybe their system was stuck playing the same track over and over again from Halloween or something like that," Vincent Rodriguez told ABC7 Chicago.

Although there's no conclusive evidence that this method effectively deters loitering, it's worth noting that some 7-11 stores have adopted a similar approach, opting for opera instead of classical music.

Opponents argue that such strategies are a thinly veiled attack on the homeless population.

"It’s essentially treating them as less than human and treating them as a nuisance, whereas, there are folks that are in need of housing and support,” said Doug Schenkelberg, the executive director of the Chicago Coalition for the Homeless.