A Toronto couple is accusing an optometry store of racial profiling and says the manager locked them in the store because she thought they were stealing.
On Nov. 30, at around 10 a.m., Symone Sparks and Demi Zannelli visited Bloor Optical, located at 2235 Bloor St. W., to order new contact lenses. After spending five minutes in the store and preparing to pay for their desired items, Sparks says a woman claiming to be the manager locked the store’s front door. Sparks captured the entire incident on TikTok and her videos have collectively garnered over two million views as of publication.
“…As she’s [Zannelli] paying, the lady locked the door, then came, proceeded to come over to me and told me to take whatever I had out of my pockets. And at that point, I’ve been in this situation before. So, I looked around, I noticed she didn’t have any cameras, so, I pulled my phone out, and she went in front of the door,” Sparks said to Now Toronto on Thursday.
“I said, ‘Hey, can you repeat what you just told me?’ And she said, ‘Well, I think you have glasses’…She tells me that ‘I have this’ and she wants it back. And then the customer that was waiting to get his eyes examined by the doctor that was in the back intervened, and at that point I told her what she was doing was wrong,” she continued.
The manager insisted some pairs of glasses were missing after she had just restocked the display ten minutes earlier and claimed Sparks and Zannelli were the only ones who had entered the store since. However, Sparks noted that someone had exited the store when they arrived, indicating it could have been any previous visitor from the time the store opened.
Despite the couple’s insistence on their innocence, the manager remained adamant that they had taken the glasses, according to Sparks.
“I started to get a little panicky and angry, and obviously, I’m not going to leave the store. I have nothing on me, so I started to panic and freak out and yell and say some mean words, and I’m just happy I got it all on tape,” Sparks said.
According to the pair, the accusation was baseless and racially motivated.
“She didn’t pick up her phone once. She didn’t take any type of video on me. She didn’t try to take a picture. She just blocked the door and refused to let me out. [Sparks] And she never said, ‘I saw you putting those frames in your pocket.’ The only thing she said was, ‘I filled up those spots 10 minutes ago, and now they’re gone. I think it was you [Zannelli]” the pair explained.
As a Black queer woman, Sparks said she’s been in similar predicaments before and chose to record the incident to protect herself.
When Sparks attempted to call the police, officers did not consider the situation an emergency and advised her to speak with the store manager. After being allowed to leave, the couple went to a police station to file a report, but officers tried to dissuade them from pressing charges.
“…They looked at my ID, and they’re like, ‘Oh well, you do look kind of young.’ And I’m like, ‘OK, so if I look young, that gives her a reason to profile me?’ He’s like, ‘Oh no. Well, there are lots of schools in the area with kids who fill up the shops after school. And I could see why she would or could have,’” Sparks said, adding that she is 31 years old.
RESPONSE FROM BLOOR OPTICAL AND POLICE
Bloor Optical has not responded to multiple calls and emails for comment.
Meanwhile, Toronto police told Now Toronto they are investigating.
“This incident has been reported to police and is actively being investigated. If there is a theft at a store, the owner or employees of the store are encouraged to contact police immediately.”
Since the incident, dozens of online users have left negative reviews on Google and Yelp. In response, Yelp has temporarily disabled new reviews for the business to prevent rating manipulation.
“When a business gains public attention, people may come to Yelp to express their views on the news. These reviews can artificially inflate or deflate a business’s star rating, potentially misleading consumers or hurting businesses,” a Yelp spokesperson told Now Toronto.
GOFUNDME FOR LEGAL FEES
Zannelli described the experience as shocking and infuriating.
“I was shocked. It never happened to me, it was the first time,” she said. “It’s those kinds of situations that you see online, and you think that it will never happen to you, and then it happens to you. And I’m happy that she (Sparks) thought very fast. She pulled out her phone and she started recording the whole thing,” she said about her partner.
Zannelli adds that she’s happy another customer was there to witness the situation, and that he stood up for them by asking the manager to unlock the door.
“This is against the law. You’re confining them. This is racism, that’s what this is,” the man was heard saying in the video.
Following the incident, the couple cancelled their contact lens order and were given their deposit back. They are now seeking legal representation and have set up a GoFundMe page to cover legal costs for filing a lawsuit against the store. They’re aiming to raise $12,000.
“This experience has been a painful reminder of the racism and discrimination that Black individuals, especially Black queer women like myself, continue to face daily. As many of you may have seen in videos shared online, what happened to me was unjust, and no one should ever have to endure such treatment,” Sparks wrote on the crowdfunding platform.
