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'Disappointing': Mum outraged by Big W staffer's bag demand

A Big W customer has been left “disappointed and angry” after she was asked to leave her 12-year-old daughter’s backpack outside the store while they shopped.

“Since when do kids have to leave their bags out the front, even if they are with their parents?!” the upset mother wrote on the Big W Facebook page.

The mother said she refused to leave her daughter’s bag outside, which was so small it “would be lucky to fit a loaf of bread”, so she was refused entry to the Gateways store in Western Australia on Thursday.

“I am very disappointed and angry to be made to feel like I've done something wrong. Let alone, my 12-year-old daughter being made to feel embarrassed,” the mother continued.

A Big W entry (left) and a backpack (right) that a mother claims she was instructed to leave outside a Big W store.
A mother was disappointed her 12-year-old daughter was asked to leave her backpack outside the WA store. Source: AAP/Facebook

The customer explained that even though she was a fan of the store she would no longer be shopping there for Christmas and back to school supplies as she felt she was treated like a “criminal”.

“How many kids take bags with them shopping? What's the difference between her small backpack and my handbag?” she asked.

Big W apologises for bag mix-up

In response to the complaint a Big W spokesperson told Yahoo News Australia the conditions of entry policy states that all customers are welcome to carry their own bags when entering Big W stores.

They said staff reserve the right to check the contents of their bag upon exiting the store only.

In the case of the upset mother, the spokesperson apologised for the mix-up.

“We sincerely apologise for the experience our customer and her daughter had in our Gateways store yesterday.

“Immediately following her visit, the store manager apologised to the customer and acknowledged that a new team member had made an error in our conditions of entry policy,” a Big W spokesperson told Yahoo News.

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