Walmart Being Sued for Locking Up Beauty Products
Remember when we discussed Walmart locking up makeup and beauty products last week? Well, if you aren’t in the know it appears that many, many Walmart locations have taken to locking up makeup and beauty products. I haven’t been to Walmart in a few months so, I’m not really sure if my store is doing this. I really need to get over there for a look because I was SHOCKED to hear a reader tell me this and almost didn’t believe it but a bunch of you came forward and said, “Yes, indeed, it’s true my store does this!”
I not only shocked but also, annoyed. I expressed in the article I wrote how much a pain it would be to shop makeup if it was locked up. And how irritating it would be to find someone to open up the case when I wanted something. Turns out Walmart has employees at a counter in the beauty department that will help you out. That does make things easier for sure but no less annoying for me. I’m one of those people that likes to leisurely browse and pop things into my cart that I might decide I don’t want later. Or I like to sit and read the back of the packaging, touch the item, etc…! I think most people aren’t willy nilly about their purchase and do like the experience of shopping for makeup. That means touching items, looking at the labels, etc…! You can’t do that if things are locked up and you can’t do that if someone has to unlock the case and stand watching you as you decide if you want the item or not.
Needless to say I’m not into Walmart’s new lock up policy at all!
But one woman took it even further recently as she’s suing Walmart for locking up beauty products as she feels what they are doing is racist.
According to the New York Times a woman is suing Walmart for racism because her store keeps African-American personal care products locked up. I imagine this refers to brands like Shea Moisture, Carol’s Daughter, etc…! The woman, Essie Grundy, said the experience of purchasing a mere $0.48 comb made her feel humiliated and discriminated against due to the experience of having a store employee having to unlock the case to get the comb.
She states all products that were “targeted at African Americans” were locked under glass from the middle to the end of the aisle. She’s quoted in the NYT as saying “Combs, brushes, wave caps “� everything was grouped together and separated,”� she’s also quoted as saying “I felt that I was being treated as a person who might be a thief,”� Ms. Grundy said in a statement she issued on Friday, the same day her lawyer, Gloria Allred, filed the lawsuit in California Superior Court in Riverside County.
I actually said the same thing about feeling like a thief in my prior article.
The only problem with her lawsuit though might be the fact it appears that most Walmart’s are doing this across all beauty not just certain products or at least that’s what I discovered when I did my post about makeup being locked up at the drugstore and how you’d feel if it was. If Walmart is only locking up certain brands especially ones geared towards men or women of color that is horrible! But if they are just locking down the beauty department in general, well, it might be an issue for all of us when shopping there. Because I truly believe locking down makeup and beauty like this really takes away from the shopping experience and yes, indeed, makes me feel like a thief!