Walmart is no longer keeping African American haircare products locked up.
“”We’re sensitive to the issue and understand the concerns raised by our customers and members of the community and have made the decision to discontinue placing multicultural hair care and beauty products—a practice in place in about a dozen of our 4,700 stores nationwide—in locked cases,” the company said in a statement.
This is not done by some other national chains carrying similar merchandise, such as fellow big-box retailers, supermarkets, and drugstores.
Two years ago, a Walmart customer sued the big-box chain for keeping African American toiletries under lock and key, claiming racial discrimination. At the time, the company said that certain items are more likely to be shoplifted and that stores decide how to display their merchandise.
Walmart has more than 340,000 black associates in the United States, according to a speech CEO Doug McMillon gave on Friday.
In the weeks since the killing of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of Minneapolis police, several companies and corporate bigwigs have been called out for racially insensitive remarks and behavior and discriminatory corporate cultures—from the CEO of CrossFit to Anna Wintour and Vogue magazine.
Earlier this month, Walmart announced that it would temporarily remove guns and ammunition from the sales floors of some of its stores.
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