Five Below — Local services in Vernon

I was taken aback by my experience at Five Below, especially after years of spending my hard-earned BLACK dollars there. Today, while I was shopping in Vernon, it felt like I was being watched and singled out. As I made my way through the fitness section, I noticed I was completely alone until I turned around to find a Caucasian female employee pretending to restock the shelves, her eyes trained on me in a way that felt unsettling.

As my daughter and I approached the registers, we encountered a couple ahead of us who were scanning and checking out their items without any assistance. To our surprise, the employee then approached us and asked, “Are you using card or cash?” I replied that we would be paying with a card.

I couldn’t help but observe a Caucasian male walk past the register without anyone bothering him. When it was finally my daughter’s turn, the employee abruptly directed her to a different register to start scanning her items, even though I had already confirmed she was paying separately. Meanwhile, the male customer in front of us completed his transaction and left without any inquiries.

Adding to my frustration, a Caucasian female customer stepped up as the employee continued to ring up my daughter’s items without asking her a single question. I stood there, feeling the weight of the situation, and exchanged glances with the woman who had just been served. I couldn’t hold back the question, “So when do you start ringing up our stuff?”

The employee replied that they try, but it was glaringly obvious they were only focusing on us, two African-American women. At that moment, I decided enough was enough. I left the items on the counter, turned on my heel, and walked out of the store. They will not be receiving my business...

If you're a minority beware of this store. Me and my daughters were followed around the store by these two "workers". At one point one of them walked up behind my daughter and just stood there looking at her. I became annoyed at that point and then followed the workers around the store in return. When I got to the register I didn't even want to buy anything but for the sake of my children begrudgingly did. Here's my receipt as proof almost $80. Interestingly enough as we walked out the store so did one of the workers. SMH. Never again. I'm currently at another store to find everything we bought so I can return these items and get my money back. Update when I returned back to my car, the workers whose face can't be seen kept looking out that window of the store watching us get in our car. I raised my phone to record and he backed up, when I put my phone down he waved at us. Clearly...

Was testing basketballs with my 14 year old son in the dribble zone until an employee came over and told us, "It's fine if you're bouncing balls. Just not to throw balls in the air." 😒 We were abiding by rules and are doing nothing wrong. Just testing the ball in the designated area. I would understand if she came over and mentioned something if we were being loud and rowdy, tossing the ball back and forth... I have been dealing with lots of stress this week with car issues while traveling, and I was so offended by this. I can parent my child, he definitely won't throw a ball in the store.

If you have an issue with customers testing the basketballs, remove the designated area stickers off the...