Bed Bath & Beyond clarified that it’s still carrying Ivanka Trump merchandise in some stores after a representative’s claim that the company dropped the line was celebrated by anti-Trump boycotters.
Shannon Coulter, co-founder of the nationwide #GrabYourWallet boycott against all things Trump, claimed a victory Friday by tweeting a screenshot of an email from a Bed Bath & Beyond customer service representative informing a customer that they no longer carried Trump merchandise.
“This is a big one,” Ms. Coulter wrote in the now-viral tweet. “Just removed it from boycott list.
This is a big one: @BedBathBeyond now confirming to customers it’s no longer carrying Trump products. Just removed it from boycott list. + pic.twitter.com/OXxagLkZtN
— Shannon Coulter (@shannoncoulter) March 31, 2017
However, the New Jersey-based retailer issued a statement Saturday saying its representative was misinformed and gave the wrong information.
“We want to apologize for recent confusion caused by one of our customer service representatives,” the company said. “Our customer service representative inadvertently provided information to a customer that was not accurate. We are not making our merchandising decisions based on anyone’s political beliefs.
“We have Ivanka Trump products in some stores and carry them where consumer demand and business performance justifies it,” it continued. “Bed Bath & Beyond strives to provide our customers with a wide variety of high quality product choices across our businesses that fit their varying preferences.”
A search for Ivanka Trump products on the Bed Bath & Beyond website yielded no results Monday afternoon.
Ms. Coulter said Ivanka Trump merchandise was scrubbed from the website in mid-March.
“BTW @BedBathBeyond thing may follow pattern of retailers removing Trump products from their websites, but still carrying in a few stores,” she tweeted Sunday.
.@BedBathBeyond Other retailers that may have consciously done this: @SaksOFF5TH, @belk, @Burlington, and @HSN.
— Shannon Coulter (@shannoncoulter) April 2, 2017
• Jessica Chasmar can be reached at jchasmar@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.