Following the recent cold snap in Beijing, elderly residents have struggled to keep warm. With no place to go, many have turned to one place they now will have the heat turned on - IKEA.

Although authorities have moved up the official start of heating season by two full days to November 13, that still leaves a few days before the furnaces finally start up.

According to a report in The People’s Daily, the cafeterias at IKEA’s Beijing locations, are filled with elderly residents enjoying the pleasures of central heating. An elderly woman named Li was quoted as saying “IKEA is the best place for elderly citizens in such cold weather,” adding she always comes to IKEA together with her friends to enjoy the free water and coffee as well as the heating.

A Beijing IKEA employee confirmed to the People’s Daily that they have welcomed a number of Beijing seniors looking for a reprieve from the cold. The employee said that since IKEA aims to offer comfortable living spaces, the store won’t intervene unless the elderly heat-seekers start to negatively impact the shopping experience of real customers.

Last month, IKEA took back years of hospitality it had shown toward elderly residents who used its Shanghai store as a swinging singles’ scene. Store staff cordoned off the cafeteria and enforced a “paying customers only” rule in order to weed out the freeloading seniors.