Well, it's all changed so much over the years. When the stores first started opening in 2001, Apple was not enjoying the wild, mainstream success and popularity they are today. Back then, on a weekday afternoon, someone
could stand there and edit their movie, with the store's help and blessing.
Now? Not so much. That freedom and sense of "come in and hang out, because we need you to" is no longer.
Right now, with the success and wide appeal they're enjoying, they can't be the open-ended "hang-out lounge" they once were (certainly not to the detriment of actual sales or demos to paying customers or potential buyers). Decisions have to be made to strike a nice balance between an "open, fun browsing experience" and "not being a pain-in-the-ass to serious customers and staff".
If a few "loiter-magnet" websites have to be sacrificed, that's how it has to be. They can always tweak or adjust that as needed.
I, for one, am awaiting the first ACLU-sponsored lawsuit against the policy, brought on by some 16-year-old brat "denied her right to free speech, expression and expression in an open forum".
"Apple can't, like, you know, pick and
choose which sites they have. Me and my friends should, like, totally be able to, like, use Facebook and stuff if we're not, you know, hurting people and all. It's, like, about the Constitution and freedom, you know? It's, like, what our founding fathers Thomas Edison and that dude with the kite fought the Korean War for! Tom Hanks made a movie about it, remember?"
*click*...POW!!! <reload>