"Shopping while black" involves a black person being followed around or closely monitored by a clerk or guard who suspects they may steal, but it can also involve being denied store access, being refused service, use of ethnic slurs, being searched, being asked for extra forms of identification, having purchases limited, being required to have a higher credit limit than other customers, being charged a higher price, or being asked more rigorous questions on applications.
[2] Consumer racial profiling occurs in many retail environments including grocery stores, clothing shops, department stores and office supply shops, and companies accused of consumer racial profiling have included Eddie Bauer, Office Max, Walmart, Sears, Dillard's, Macy's and Home Depot.
He filed a federal civil rights lawsuit alleging "consumer racism", and was awarded $1 million in damages.
[13] In 2000, a black man named Billy J. Mitchell was awarded $450,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from Dillard's, after being arrested despite having done nothing wrong.
Case Western Assistant Professor Cassi Pittman interviewed middle and working class black consumers in New York.
In a survey of white employees, it was determined that staff often rely on stereotypical profiles of black consumers when there is minimal anti-theft training.
[24] In his TV show Father Figure, the actor and comedian Roy Wood Jr. explained about the habit among many black people when shopping of always, irrespective of the size of the purchase, asking for a bag and requesting that the receipt be stapled to the bag, so that security personnel can clearly see the purchase when leaving the store, and thus not suspect them of shoplifting.
[25] In 1992, R&B singer-songwriter R. Kelly told Jet magazine that when he appeared at a Chicago shopping mall to sign autographs, "the security guards took one look at the way I was dressed and the fact that I am a young Black man and thought I was a shoplifter.
[30] In Canada, speaking out in 2016 in response to a recent case of racial profiling in a retail setting, former Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia Mayann Francis, the first African Nova Scotian to serve as the province's chief executive and representative of the Queen, stated that she was the target of racial profiling while shopping at least once a month.