MH
Malika Hendricks
2 days ago
I am extremely disappointed and disturbed by the treatment I experienced at this Sephora location on my birthday.
From the time I entered the store, I felt as though I was being watched and followed. Multiple employees appeared to follow me throughout the store, including an older woman who acted overly “nice” while repeatedly appearing wherever I was shopping. I am not sure whether she was a manager or another employee, but the experience felt uncomfortable and targeted. There was also an older individual who appeared to be acting as security and seemed to follow me around the store.
When I reached the register, the experience became even worse. I asked the cashier a simple question about the birthday gifts available to me as a Beauty Insider customer. Instead of answering my question, she responded in a nasty and dismissive tone, telling me, “I need you to put your phone number in.” Only when she felt like acknowledging my question did she finally tell me what birthday gifts were available and what they were out of, still with an unnecessarily rude and unwelcoming attitude.
Despite feeling humiliated and mistreated, I completed my purchase of approximately $225 because it was my birthday and I had run out of several products I genuinely needed. As I was leaving, I noticed two employees positioned near the exit. At that point, the entire experience became impossible to ignore.
I initially tried to brush it off. Sadly, as a Black woman, I am familiar with the feeling of being treated as though I am suspicious simply for shopping. But when I got into my car and looked at my receipt, I asked myself a very simple question: Why should this store receive $225 of my hard-earned money after making me feel watched, unwelcome, disrespected, and profiled?
As badly as I wanted and needed the products, I went back inside and returned every single item.
No paying customer should have to spend hundreds of dollars while being made to feel like a criminal. No Black customer should have to normalize being followed around a store, watched while shopping, treated dismissively at checkout, and then feel as though employees are waiting near the exit for them.
I will be contacting Sephora corporate regarding this experience, and I also intend to share my experience publicly, including on TikTok. This type of treatment has to stop. Black customers’ money is good enough to spend, and we deserve the same dignity, respect, and freedom to shop without being treated as suspicious.
Sephora needs to take complaints about racial profiling, discriminatory treatment, and disrespectful customer service seriously. I came into this store on my birthday intending to treat myself. I left feeling humiliated, angry, and unwelcome—and I returned all $225 worth of merchandise because I refuse to financially support a store that made me feel this way.