Dillard's Clearance Center — Attraction in Saint Peters

I had an extremely upsetting and humiliating experience at the Dillard’s Outlet in St. Peters, Missouri. I was on my way to Macy’s to make a return and entered through Dillard’s so I could cut through the mall. I was with my wife and child and, being former military, I walk with purpose. I wanted to finish my errand and come back to shop at Dillard’s before they closed.

As I exited Dillard’s into the main mall area, an employee—whose name I believe was Brennan or Brannan—yelled after me and loudly accused me of stealing. His words were something like, “Hey sir, did you buy that here? You didn’t take that from my store, did you?” This was in full view of my family and other shoppers. It was completely unprovoked, deeply embarrassing, and entirely unjustified.

Let’s be clear. I hadn’t purchased anything. I was simply headed to Macy’s to return an item. His entire accusation was based on the fact that I was walking quickly. For context, I’m 6’3” and 250 pounds, so my normal walk may look fast to others, but it’s just a brisk pace with long strides.

And here’s what makes even less sense. If someone had actually stolen something, why would they walk back into the mall instead of heading straight to the parking lot? Nothing about the accusation added up.

Even more disturbing is what I learned after the fact. I returned to Dillard’s to speak with the manager, who was professional and apologetic. She explained that, according to store policy, in the event of suspected shoplifting, it is the security team that monitors the cameras and determines whether an actual theft occurred. If there is credible evidence, a police officer is dispatched to handle the situation—not a floor employee. In other words, this employee completely violated store policy. He took it upon himself to go rogue, racially profiled me, and tried to justify it by saying I was walking fast and carrying something. That is not policy. That is bias.

As a Black man, I know what this was. It was profiling. It was a public attempt to humiliate and criminalize me in front of my wife, my child, and complete strangers. This kind of incident isn’t just inconvenient—it’s traumatic. It reinforces the painful and exhausting reality that Black people are too often treated as suspects just for existing in certain spaces.

There was never an apology from the employee, only excuses. But there is no excuse for what happened. Dillard’s needs to take this seriously. This isn’t just poor customer service. It is harmful, racially charged behavior that creates an unsafe and unwelcoming environment for Black shoppers.

I hope leadership addresses this issue head-on. No one should be made to feel like a criminal for simply walking...

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