Bethesda Sephora Stores Are Closing One Day This Week

BETHESDA, MD — Beauty retail giant Sephora says it will close 400 stores nationwide, including in Bethesda, for an hour on Wednesday morning to host diversity training workshops for its employees.

The move comes after Grammy-nominated R&B singer SZA, who is black, said she was racially profiled while shopping at a store in Calabasas, California in April.

"We have been informed of an incident at our Calabasas store and in addition to reaching out to SZA directly, we are gathering more information about the incident in order to take the proper next steps," Sephora said in a statement to Reuters. "We take complaints like this very seriously, profiling on the basis of race is not tolerated at Sephora."

On May 1, SZA shared her experience in a tweet, saying an employee — whom she identified as "Sandy" — called security on her to make sure she wasn't shoplifting.

Lmao Sandy Sephora location 614 Calabasas called security to make sure I wasn’t stealing . We had a long talk. U have a blessed day Sandy
— SZA (@sza) May 1, 2019

Since then, Sephora said it will look into the incident and explained that the company does not tolerate racial profiling. The cosmetic retailer also announced it will hold a one-hour "inclusivity workshop" for its 16,000 employees.

However, those store closures — according to the company — aren't a result of SZA's incident at Sephora.

Store closures for diversity training have been in the works for several months and were not "a response to any one event," Sephora spokeswoman Emily Shapiro said in an email to Reuters.

The "inclusion workshops" — which employees in all U.S. stores, distribution centers, and corporate offices will be required to attend — is part of a larger "We Belong to Something Beautiful" campaign that has been in the works for about a year to promote diversity within both its staff and customers, the company said.

Sephora said it "will never stop building a community where diversity is expected, self-expression is honored, all are welcomed, and you are included."

Owned by the Paris-based luxury goods maker LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vuitton, Sephora is located at Westfield Montgomery (7101 Democracy Blvd.) and at Pike & Rose (11878 Grand Park Ave.).