Calandro’s Supermarket is apologizing on Facebook for a June 25 incident in which a customer was accused of shoplifting at the Mid City store and banned for life from the Government Street establishment after bringing her own recycled shopping bag into the store and filling it with groceries.
The incident, which went viral on social media after the woman posted about it, has caused a stir among some Calandro’s customers and raised allegations of racism against the 75-year-old neighborhood institution. The woman, Lani Gholston, is black.
“We have investigated this incident, taken employee statements, watched security camera footage, and have now concluded that there is no excuse for how we handled this incident,” a statement posted this morning on Calandro’s Facebook page reads. “We have apologized directly to that customer, and we are apologizing now to the entire Baton Rouge community.”
In her original post, Gholston says she was accused of “putting two pieces of meat in her purse” after bringing a Trader Joe’s shopping bag into the store, which she says she has done countless times before.
“When accosted by ‘security’ I showed him the entire bag of groceries and asked how could I be stealing if I’m in the very back and haven’t even tried to leave and have a whole bag of groceries,” her post reads. “He said I could dump everything or else, or get beat by police.”
Gholston says when she reached the front of the store, she was told she was banned for life. In a subsequent post on June 30, she thanks the nearly 200 followers who responded to her initial post and acknowledged the Calandro family has reached out to her.
“I sincerely hope that from this will spring meaningful opportunities to discuss and engage as we move forward,” she writes.
Reached by phone today, Gholston declined to comment, saying she is still too emotionally distraught to discuss the matter.
The incident underscores the changing dynamics in Mid City, a neighborhood that is increasingly populated by millennials, progressive and political moderates, and liberals, whose values of tolerance and inclusion appear at odds with a longtime neighborhood institution that critics say has few African American employees in the front of the store and doesn’t accept EBT cards.
In response to Calandro’s online apology today, several critics posted that they appreciate the company’s admission of culpability but they question whether the store is really willing to change.
“Will you allow EBT?” posted one Facebook customer.
“Will you allow people of color to work as cashiers?” asked another.
Blaise “Trey” Calandro III says the incident has been an important teaching moment for the store and that the family-owned business will do some soul searching and revisit some of its longstanding policies, including whether to accept food stamps.
“It may still not make sense from a business perspective, but we’re in this community, we hear what people are saying and it’s something we’re definitely going to consider,” he tells Daily Report. “We didn’t realize how many people this unfortunate incident has touched and how many people are concerned.”
Calandro would not say what action, if any, has been taken against the offending employee, but says the company is addressing the issue with all its workers.
“As an organization, we messed up—big time,” he says. “But we’re not going to discuss specifics. We’re dealing with this internally and are doing everything we can to make sure this is not a problem in the future.”
—Stephanie Riegel
