Supermarkets have taken to blaring "annoying" opera music in an attempt to drive homeless people away.
Store managers began playing loud classical songs after claims homeless people were harassing customers with one owner even saying it was making female customers afraid to come.
The new method to drive off anti-social behaviour is being used at various 7-Eleven convenience stores across the US including at branches in Texas and California.
Some customers support the music but others just say it's annoying.
Austin, Texas, store owner Jagat Patel said: “Especially a lot of my female customers and my young customers are scared to come here, because there are people constantly hanging out in the parking lot soliciting for money."
He also claims he's had to pay someone to clan up needles and some people have been attacked by homeless people nearby.
He said: “Studies have shown that the classical music is annoying. Opera is annoying, and I’m assuming they are correct because it’s working."
Although some customers are supportive others find it irritating.
Frederick Carter, who lives nearby, said: “I believe, just talk to them, and ask them not to hang around, or not to live around, whatever, I think that’s the best solution."
He continued: “This music is not very good, it’s loud, it’s obnoxious to me, I don’t like it, you can hear it a long way off, it’s very disturbing."
Mr Patel got the idea to play loud music after other stores started doing it.
A 7-Eleven in Los Angeles, California, began playing classical music after a spike in homelessness in the area.
The owner, Sukhi Sandhu, told The Modesto Bee: “Once the music started, the riffraff left.
“It’s hard to hang out and gossip and joke around.”
Recently a gallery owner in San Francisco sparked worldwide outrage after a video of him spraying a homeless woman with a hose went viral.
Collier Gwin, the owner of Foster Gwin art gallery in San Francisco was arrested for battery hours after the city's DA said he would face charges.
The video, filmed on January 9, shows Gwin nonchalantly leaning against a gate while he turns the hose on the homeless woman sitting on the sidewalk outside his gallery - it has been viewed millions of times.
The footage sparked a massive public outcry, with social media users hunting and successfully identifying Gwin, who has since defended his actions to journalists, claiming he was ‘helping’ the woman.
The San Francisco District Attorney's Office announced on Wednesday that a warrant for Gwin's arrest had been issued, with cops confirming he was being held on the misdemeanour charge hours later.
Gwin now faces up to six months in county jail as well as a $2,000 fine if convicted.
San Francisco DA Brooke Jenkins revealed that the unnamed woman who was filmed being doused with a stream of water by Mr Gwin, had not sought to file charges against the store owner.
However Jenkins added: “The alleged battery of an unhoused member of our community is completely unacceptable.”
She continued: “Mr Gwin will face appropriate consequences for his actions.”
