Shopping while Black is something many of us have probably experienced, whether it happened in a high-end store or a discount outlet. It occurs when a salesperson follows around thinking you’re going to steal something and doesn’t offer to help you because he or she thinks you can’t afford the merchandise. Other red flags include the salesperson constantly reminds you of the price of an item when you ask to see it.
Recently, singer Tory Lanez had his own experience of shopping while Black. Apparently, he was in high-end Canadian retailer Holt Renfrew and a salesman “tried to play him like he was a broke boy” who didn’t have any money. So what did Lanez do in response? He spent $35,000 on designer items.
They tried to play Tory Lanez like he was some brokeboi window shopping and then he dropped $35,000 in the store pic.twitter.com/TgkicJ9CJe
— DJ Akademiks (@IamAkademiks) June 11, 2017
The social media consensus was that Lanez should not have spent a dime in a store that didn’t want his business, or he should have returned his $35,000 worth of items so the salesperson wouldn’t be able to make commission. Tory Lanez, 24, clearly still has some growing up to do. The Toronto native probably thought by spending such a large amount he was “sticking it to the man,” proving he could afford to buy whatever he wanted.
In tweets that have since been deleted, Lanez said of his purchases, “It’s not the fact that we spent $35K in there, we were already going there to do that. It’s the fact that HE didn’t get the percentage.”
Hopefully, Lanez learns there are other ways to handle incidents like this, such as shopping only at stores that value you as a customer.
