Sugarboo & Co. — Local services in Boca Raton

So let me give a fair warning to anyone who isn't white or may not fit the Boca aesthetic: The dirty-blonde-haired woman may racially profile you as a possible shoplifter.

The first time this happened was a couple of months ago. My eleven-year-old daughter and I were in the store. There were other customers there. When we went to go look at the paper products near the front, where the journals are, that's when the woman decided she needed to step out from behind the counter and fix something in the display window where she could keep an eye on us. It was uncomfortable, but we soon made our purchase and left.

But yesterday was even more blatant.

To give you some background information, I've recently given my daughter a debit card that her allowance goes on. I'm teaching her how to manage her money and think critically about her spending. That's how we landed at Sugarboo.

When we walked in, there were four other customers there. The same woman was behind the counter. Those customers eventually left and again, we went to go look at the paper products. Did I mentioned that I'm a high school English teacher? Cute quotes and paper products? Yes, please!

Except, again, the woman decided that she needed to keep a closer eye on us. Once again, she left from behind the counter, and as she did, literally bent at the waist and craned her neck to look at my daughter who was bent over looking at something on a lower shelf. It was incredibly obvious that she thought we were trying to steal something. And then she spent the next few minutes standing about fifteen feet away from us, surveilling us. Again, this was not done to any other customers in the store, just us, and again, this was not the first time. I quietly told my daughter that I wanted to leave and we did so.

So the lesson I meant to teach my daughter about thinking critically about spending turned into a lesson in shoplifting and racial profiling.

But no worries, dirty-blonde-haired cashier, we...

Sugarboo is located in the exclusive Mizner Park shopping center, selling expensive “feel good/positive energy” and other novelty items. Given the “positive energy” feeling they are trying to sell, you would expect a very positive sales and customer service experience. But instead, many of the salespeople are not very friendly, and in some cases, very unpleasant to deal with. This is very mystifying as the typical customer is a repeat customer, with enough disposable income, to spend on the type of products they sell. It would be much better if they could make the shopping and customer service experience more positive, and maybe not risk chaso their repeat...

I've shopped at this stores many times in the past and had a pleasant experience. However, my husband and I were in the store a few days ago and had an experience where I felt like I was "shopping while black”. One lady followed us around and asked us multiple times if we needed a basket and we said no. Then she came over and literally took items out of hands and said she would place them at the register. I felt completely humiliated as I watched the lady and she didn't do that to anyone else in the store who all happened to be white. My husband and I work extremely hard and are honest people and it is disheartening that this type of phenomenon...