Followed Around Store in Santa Barbara, CA

[SiaraBrianne]

My boyfriend and I were visiting Santa Barbara yesterday and decided to pop in at Sephora to purchase a few things that we have been meaning to get for some time. We were asked 4 times if we needed assistance,  2x by the same person. We did need assistance, my boyfriend was looking for a specific cologne. After the employee found it for us, she proceeded to follow us around the store after we put it in our baskets. He and I are both people of color, and were the only other people of color shopping in the store during this encounter. He and I were looking around the skincare section and this employee kept popping up in every aisle we went too, even as more customers arrived in this section. It was really unnerving, and uncomfortable for us both, and I could feel that it was racially motivated. My boyfriend made eye contact with the employee, and she immediately tried to appear as if she was busy and quickly scurried away, but still popped up everywhere we went after that.  As much as I enjoy cosmetics and beauty products, I don’t know that I can continue to patronize Sephora stores physically and online. This is not the first time I’ve had racially motivated experiences in Sephora stores. In 2017, I went to the Sephora in Montclair, CA and asked for a sample of a Tarte foundation, the employee assisting asked me why I want to try that foundation because it “didn’t come in shades dark enough for me.” While tarte doesn’t have the best shade range, I have always been able to find shades in their range. I took a look at the range of shades for the foundation I wanted to sample, and there were a good 5-7 shades deeper than the shade I had swatched and matched on myself. I do not plan to subject myself to these unsettling experiences and do not want to continue to support a business that so frequently let’s their customers know that they do not value them via racist tactics and profiling. 

[DaneeBT]

Hi @SiaraBrianne

I am so sorry to hear about this and thank you for bringing this to our attention! I will send you a PM to gather more information.

Always,

Danee