Ok thanks. Just wondering is all. Had it been you that took that pic, I would have been forced at gun point to ask the important question.. "what did you do about that pathetic situation?" Of course I am certain the answer would have been something to the effect of.. " Well, since I am part of the fire service, and soon will be a firefighter, I could not just ignore it, and had to bring it to the attention of the owner of the shop, AND my fire chief" That's what you would have done right? Good job!
So I will play devils advocate because the pic is insufficent to determine the intent.
What if this establishment has multiple exits? The only fault would be not removing the exit signage, as long as the number of exits remaining were sufficient. Occupancies change over time and so does patron occupancy loads.
Then again in my short time and experience, it is probably to limit access from the outside. Many local bars will block some exits to reduce the number of "sneek ins" without paying their cover charge or reduce the access for someone to smuggle in under age drinkers from the back door (college town).
I'd rather see a Pepsi machine though, I would drop a buck on a cold one while filing the complaint charges...
What I forgot to mention is that since it is a small town pizza shop this is the only means of egress (dont think its spelled right) if the front door is blocked. When I was finished with my pizza I took a little trip around and saw that on the other side of the door, there was no way of getting into that door from the outside unless you used forced entry.