And eastern WA, too

i am less familiar with that part of the state but I guess have boobs, will travel

We do not have these here in greater Cincinnati. The first person to open one will make bank.

There’s one where the baristas are guys, or there used to be anyway. Over in Bremerton near the navy base

Question is are they still bikini or banana hammock instead?

Last time I drove through I thought to myself "I wonder how hard it is to differentiate yourself from the other hundred competing coffee shops in your immediate vicinity, I mean talk about market saturation" but I didn't follow through to the logical endpoint, which is totally this.

Our 5th/6th grade teacher did a unit on advertising (introducing me to the phrase "sex sells") and IIRC our assignments specifically included hunting for girls in bikinis selling things that had nothing to do with girls or bikinis, on TV and in magazines. It was *really* easy finding examples.

There's a San Jose only version of these called "Vietnamese coffee shops", which means if you ever mention Vietnamese coffee in the area the dorkiest locals will go "heh do you know what you just said" nonstop

I got taken to one of these in Orange County on a work junket years ago and I thought the night was done and we were getting coffee to end the evening. "I like Vietnamese Coffee", I thought. "Sure!", I said.

So common that some places have actually advertised that they *don't* have half-dressed baristas.

Not just that but pre-OnlyFans a bunch of them made money by selling webcam feeds of the staff working. One person went to jail for not informing said staff, iirc

it’s been a thing here for a couple decades

Truth

Because strip clubs can't serve alcohol in WA, so there aren't many strip clubs. Bikini coffee fills the niche.

Our state supreme court said it was unconstitutional to ban them! Because it would harm women disproportionately ;)

Many of these are husks of dead 1-hr photo booths. Rather than let them rot, health departments allowed espresso and very limited food service despite their lack of plumbing. This led to oversaturation of low effort bznses that couldn't compete on menu... so other forms of novelty substituted.

1: Boobs 2, distantly: coffee

As a coach for youth sports in western WA, lemme tell ya, the bikini stands are a godsend before tournaments when all the families are in other lines 3 blocks long.

HA love this. Is the coffee drinkable tho? Or do you just get drip?

Totally drinkable and normal. Never had a problem and most will go out of their way to be modest when they know you're not there for the skin.

It’s always about boobs. I’m a double gold star gay and even I like boobies.

One of them has an owner that drives a pink tesla i believe

Washington State functionally has zero strip clubs of note due to our liquor laws and tons of independent coffee stands. IIRC the first bikini barista opened in front of the main gate of McChord AFB.

SB 6105, passed last year, repealed the 1975 law that made it illegal for strip clubs to serve liquor, but I am skeptical this is going to cause a strip club renaissance here. People do love the drive through bikini espresso stands, though.

Most per capita of any state! My running hypothesis is that it is because WA doesn't really have beaches, mostly coast. Bikinis are a novelty.

Because people like coffee and hot babes, but also the thing about not having a lot of strip clubs. But we have bikini coffee stands here in Oregon too and, uh, no shortage of strip clubs here

This is the sort of thing you can expect when your state has notoriously lame strip clubs. Horniness, uh, finds a way.

I had no idea this was a Western Washington specialty. Any idea why?

Up until earlier this year, we didn't allow booze in strip clubs

Wait, what? Really? Are you the western half of Massachusetts?

Sometimes they ask for headshots as part of the application process

Most per capita of any state! My running hypothesis is that it is because WA doesn't really have beaches, mostly coast.

Are they particularly concentrated around Ft Lewis? I feel like there’s a natural client base in that area

they certainly aren’t *less* concentrated there

They feature one of these drive-thru bikini+coffee places in the pilot for “Landman.” I thought it was one of the few interesting bits of imagination in the show. Lesson learned

I remeber reading an article like 15 years ago about the rise of the "breastaurant" industry, just as Hooters' popularity/notoriety was fading.

Yep. Trying to lure in a demographic already spending entirely too much time online wishing for government-assigned Manic Pixie Amish Farmgirl brides to be shipped to their bedroom door.

Wait ... these are less of a thing in other parts of the country?

Yes! They're basically just a PNW thing

There was one when I was living in Lancaster but I clocked what it was before going and decided it wasn't my thing. (So I can't really speak to the actual vibe just the impressions from the website)

I had not considered that they were a localized phenomenon. Learn something every day lol

I wonder that no one has tried this business model here in Vegas, where there are at least two places to get a haircut from a topless stylist.