Leading global coffee chain, Starbucks is planning to ban smoking within 25 feet of its stores from this Saturday.

The ban will be imposed form 1 June at stores as permitted by its leases. Starbucks spokeswoman Jaime Lynn Riley said that the company is planning to expand the smoke free indoor environment to the outdoor seating area for its customers. The ban will be imposed across the country to the 7,000 cafés owned and operated by Starbucks Corp and will include both those that have outdoor seating and those that do not.

This is a major step for discoursing smoking after smokers were shunned inside the stores. It is not uncommon to see many people sitting outside coffee stores smoking and drinking coffee and the new ban is expected to affect such customers for the coffee chain. Several states in the US already have laws banning smoking in public spaces. American Nonsmokers' Rights Foundation have said that 81.3 per cent of the U. S. population resides in areas that are under some sort of smoking ban.

"We apologize for any inconvenience but we are complying with many current and future regulations," read the explanation on cards at Starbucks stores