Bookstore apologizes after man claims he was ejected for being alone in children's section
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Barnes & Noble has apologized after a senior citizen said staff at one of the retail giant's Arizona stores ejected him because he was on his own in the children's area.
Omar Amin claimed a store worker told him a female shopper had complained he was in the children's area in the store in Scottsdale, The Arizona Republic reported.
The 73-year-old, who was alone at the time, said he was in the store to buy books for his two grandchildren, who live in Wisconsin.
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He told the newspaper, "Men alone cannot be by themselves in the children's area."
Mark Bottini, Barnes & Noble vice president and director of stores, issued a statement Monday apologizing to Amin.
"We want to apologize to Dr. Amin for a situation in which Dr. Amin was asked to leave the children's section of our Scottsdale, Arizona store," Bottini said.
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"We should not have done so. It is not our policy to ask customers to leave any section of our stores without justification. We value Dr. Amin as a customer and look forward to welcoming him in any of our stores."