WATCH: Aldi manager ushers student out of store, enforcing a 'whole of school ban'
A manager at a Victorian Aldi has escorted a student out of the store, saying no one from his school was welcome to shop there due to some students stealing in the past.
The student walked into his local Aldi, on the peninsula south of Melbourne last week, to buy food for a school excursion while wearing his uniform.
His mother uploaded footage of her son's altercation with the store manager to Facebook, saying the teenager was "alone, well presented, polite and had a wallet full of cash."
"I am a mum of nine and spend a lot of money in his store every week," she wrote.
The video shows store manager Dom walking him to the exit while claiming "students" from the school had stolen from the store in the past.
"Unfortunately like I said mate, cool kid, out of here buddy," the manager tells him while ushering him away from the registers.
The teenager questions him, saying he was told a single student had stolen from the store, but Dom responds saying there was more than one.
The mother shared the footage to social media on Tuesday night, saying her son was "treated like a criminal" and came home upset from the incident.
She said she complained to Aldi's head office and later received a phone call from Dom himself.
"Dom's response? He told me he would rather lose the custom of all 1600 families that attend [the school] rather than have them in his store," she said.
The mother said her son did not deserve to go hungry on his school excursion due to the "discrimination."
"I understand that they have had trouble with shoplifting in the past, however I think its utter discrimination to outright ban 1600 students just because of the actions of some," she wrote.
An Aldi spokesperson confirmed to Yahoo7 there was a ban on students, but in light of the video and other Facebook posts, have lifted it.
"In store locations where we identify shoplifting, disruptive or disrespectful behaviour that involves school students, our preference is to work with the local school to make the issue known," the statement said.
"As a result, the ALDI Mornington store made an independent decision to temporarily ban students unless accompanied by an adult.
"The Facebook posts from aggrieved parents and students have been reviewed by ALDI. We agree that the decision to ban unaccompanied students is not a viable solution to this issue and we have since lifted the ban."
