Mum unleashes at Rebel Sport for ‘discriminating’ against mothers with a major store design flaw
An Australian mother has accused Rebel Sport of ‘discrimination’ amid claims she was denied access to an area of the store because she had a pram.
Brooke had her five-week-old daughter in a stroller as she shopped at the sports store in Charlestown in the Lake Macquarie region of NSW.
She had hoped to buy football boots for her son, which were sold in the stage area of the store, which was above a staircase.
Brooke claims she sought help from staff but was told she would not be able to reach the increased level.
“I thought, ‘How do I get here?’ Brooke reminded her TikTok followers.
‘And they (replied) “Well, that’s not possible”.’
Brooke also claimed she wasn’t allowed to use the store elevator because it was “for wheelchair users only.”
A staff member tried to help her carry the stroller up the stairs but was told not to do so by other staff, she claimed.
“This is something you really need to look at because that’s not okay,” Brooke said.
“I’m livid… I’ve probably never been so irritated in a store in my entire life,” she said.
“(I) thought to myself at that moment, this is fucking discrimination… that’s not okay.”
Brooke’s TikTok video sparked such a divided response that she had to disable the 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 have said, ‘Get 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.
Her daughter recently came home for the first time after being born prematurely and spending her first weeks in the neonatal intensive care unit.
‘I don’t take her out of the stroller on purpose to go a short distance. She’s safe in her stroller with the cover over her,” Brooke added.
The mother engaged Rebel Sport to redesign the store layout so that people with strollers can safely reach all levels (stock image of a Rebel store)
With the help of a store employee, she finally managed to get up the stairs with the stroller and buy her son’s boots.
Brooke called on the retail giant to redesign the store layout so that people with strollers can reach each level safely.
“Prams should have access to the entire store,” she said.
‘There is clearly a design flaw in the layout of the store, but everyone should have access to that part of the store, especially a paying customer.’
Daily Mail Australia has contacted Brooke and Rebel Sport for comment.