Local mothers said they're being discriminated against after a local Target store made it difficult for them to shop with their young children.
The problem is the shopping carts; they are built to be baby friendly, but when a local mom wanted to take a shopping cart into the dressing room, she ran into a roadblock.
Natalie Brooks does all she can to protect her disabled son, Brandon, because she said, "He is vulnerable." At fifteen months, he is just beginning to walk and during a recent trip to the store, a manager blocked her entry. to the fitting room. "I said are you going to discriminate against me with a disabled son, and she said you are not taking that cart in there no matter what you say."
Brooks said she told the manager her son is unable to support himself like other toddlers, and she claimed, the manager responded with unacceptable options.
"I can't hold him and try on clothes [and] I am not putting him on the floor and getting all these nasty germs, or have him fall off the bench," said Brooks.
Customers are welcome to use the carts as long as they don't take them into the fitting room. Stephanie Feeley told ABC 7/NewsChannel 8 reporter, Stephen Tschida that she had to skip trying on clothes when she found out that no shopping carts are allowed in the fitting rooms.
Several employees of the Falls Church Target store said it is official policy to prohibit carts in the fitting rooms for security purposes. But according to a Target spokesperson, the incident "appears to be isolated" and "shopping carts and child holding equipment are permissible in fitting room when required by a parent."
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