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An Australian mother has accused Rebel Sport of “discrimination” amid allegations she was denied access to a section of the store because she had a stroller.
Brooke had her five-week-old daughter in a stroller while shopping at a sports store in Charlestown, in the Lake Macquarie region of New South Wales.
He was hoping to buy soccer cleats for his son, which were sold in the podium section of the store, which was up some stairs.
Brooke says she sought help from staff, but was told she wouldn’t be able to climb to the elevated level.
“I thought, ‘How do I get here?’ Brooke reminded her TikTok followers.
‘And they (answered) “Well, you can’t.”‘
Brooke also claimed that she was not allowed to use the store’s elevator because it was “for wheelchair users only.”
A staff member tried to help her carry the stroller up the stairs, but was then told not to by other staff, she claimed.
“This is something that really needs to be looked at because it’s not right,” Brooke said.
“I’m furious… I’ve probably never felt so upset in a retail store in my entire life,” she said.
“(I) was thinking right now, this is fucking discrimination… that’s not right.”
Brooke’s TikTok video sparked such a divided response that she had to turn off comments.
Some viewers even sided with the store.
Brooke said there were “several other moms” who commented on her video about accessibility issues at the same store.
“I know everyone has different opinions and people were saying ‘just take your baby out of the stroller,’ but they don’t know my story and they don’t know anything about my baby,” Brooke said. Yahoo News.
Their baby recently came home for the first time after being born prematurely and spending his first weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit.
‘I’m not intentionally taking her out of the stroller to travel a small distance. “She is safe in her stroller with the blanket over her,” Brooke added.
The mother asked Rebel Sport to redesign the layout of the store so that people with strollers can access all levels safely (file image of a Rebel store)
In the end she managed to get the stroller up the stairs and buy her son’s boots, thanks to the help of a store employee.
Brooke asked the retail giant to redesign the store layout so that people with strollers can access all levels safely.
“Strollers should be able to access the entire store,” he said.
“There is obviously a design error in the store setup, but anyone should be able to access that part of the store, especially a paying customer.”
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Brooke and Rebel Sport for comment.
