Aritzia Apologizes After Clerk's Racist Comment

Canadian fashion retailer Aritzia has apologized to a customer in Toronto after a clerk uttered a racist comment behind her back.

Samantha Grant was looking at a winter coat in a store on Queen Street West when she asked if she could try on a different size, BuzzFeed Canada reported.

She told the website that she then heard an employee say something like, "[I] don't know why I'm helping her; she probably couldn't afford the coat anyway because she's black."

Grant left the store in tears and wrote into the company's head office that same day. But she hadn't heard anything from them a week later.

I had a shockingly racist experience at the Queen Street @ARITZIA last week and am still waiting for them to get back to me about it.
— Sam Grant (@mcsammer) October 26, 2015

@briames @ARITZIA Was shocked and upset so I just left the store. I did write to the Aritzia head office that night, but haven't heard back.
— Sam Grant (@mcsammer) October 26, 2015

Grant received plenty of support on social media.

But after speaking to BuzzFeed, she also became the target of some offensive comments.

Must. Not. Read. Racist. Comments. In. Comment. Section.
— Sam Grant (@mcsammer) October 28, 2015

Ugh, I need to stop reading the comments. Someone just called me Rachel Dolezal.
— Sam Grant (@mcsammer) October 28, 2015

Aritzia eventually responded to Grant personally, as well as on Twitter.

Thanks for all your tweets! @ARITZIA has responded. Let's see what happens next. pic.twitter.com/5xVzfZNPtp
— Sam Grant (@mcsammer) October 26, 2015

.@BuzzFeedCanada @BuzzFeed We are sincerely apologetic for @mcsammer’s most recent experience at our Queen Street West store.
— ARITZIA (@ARITZIA) October 28, 2015

.@BuzzFeedCanada @BuzzFeed @mcsammer We celebrate diversity & strive to deliver outstanding service to all without exception.
— ARITZIA (@ARITZIA) October 28, 2015

.@BuzzFeedCanada @mcsammer We have been taking this very seriously & are committed to ensuring instances such as this are never repeated.
— ARITZIA (@ARITZIA) October 28, 2015

The retailer offered to send Grant the very coat she was looking at as part of an apology, CBC News reported.

Aritzia told the network that the comment Grant described was "unacceptable" and it was sorry for the time it took to respond.

Grant will meet with the company's vice-president of retail Friday, and Aritzia said it will also meet with staff and review its policies around customer complaints.

As for Grant, she told BuzzFeed that she wants to see "something more tangible come out of this."

"I don't want this to happen to anyone else. The way I felt and the way that my friends feel sometimes from shopping there is disgusting and shouldn't be happening."

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