Michigan Mom: Menards Ban on Kids in Stores is Discrimination

Uh-oh...Neisa wants to speak to the manager.

Menards is a Wisconsin-based home improvement store that has 350 locations throughout the Midwest, including Wyoming and the Dakotas. The chain was under fire at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic for having sales that were encouraging customers to come to their stores; the Michigan Department of Attorney General sent a cease-and-desist letter to Menards shortly afterward.

Their next step, aside from requiring customers to wear masks, was to ban children and pets in stores (service animals are still welcome).

Now, a single mom from Kent County, Michigan, is calling out Menards for discrimination.

You can see her interview with WOODTV above; she elected to only share her first name, which is Neisa.

Neisa says that she's a single mom who was trying to shop with her children at a local Menards and was turned away, even though she and her kids were wearing masks. Her kids, she says, are too young to be home alone and she didn't feel comfortable leaving them in the car.

She says that, while she agrees with limiting the number of people in stores, she doesn't agree with banning children. She feels that it's discriminatory to single parents who have nobody to watch their kids, who are out of school right now.

What do YOU think? I can see her point, but I also feel like she could shop elsewhere for the time being. This isn't convenient for any of us; should we really make an exception for certain people, or should we continue to focus on the safety of everybody?