Why Sephora Stores In Miami are Closing June 5

MIAMI, FL — The beauty retailer Sephora will close its more than 400 stores nationwide, including the stores in the Miami area, the morning of Wednesday, June 5, so its 16,000 employees can go through diversity training. The move comes after Grammy-nominated R&B singer SZA said she was racially profiled while shopping at a store in Calabasas, California.

Sephora, which is owned by the Paris-based luxury goods maker LVMH Moet Hennessy Louis Vitton, does business at the following locations in the Miami area:

• Sephora Brickell City Centre, 701 - B South Miami Avenue, Miami, FL 33131 (786)261-0507 | Open until 9:30 p.m. Store details
• Sephora Design District, 4044 NE 1st Avenue, Miami, FL 33137 (305) 573-6969 | Open until 8 p.m. Store details
• Sephora Lincoln Road, 818 Lincoln Rd, Miami Beach, FL 33139 (305)535-2525 | Open until 10 p.m. Store details
• Sephora South Beach, 721 Collins Avenue, Miami Beach, FL 33139 (305) 532-0904 | Open until 9 p.m. Store details
• Sephora Merrick Park, 358 San Lorenzo Ave, Coral Gables, FL 33146 (305) 569-9296 | Open until 9 p.m. Store details
• Sephora JC Penney at Dadeland Mall, 7201 N Kendall Dr, Miami, FL 33156-7874 (305) 666-1911 | Open until 9 p.m. Store details
• Sephora Dadeland, 7479 N. Kendall Drive, Miami, FL 33156 (305) 740-3445 | Open until 9:30 p.m. Store details
• Sephora JC Penney at Westland Mall, 1655 W 49th St, Hialeah, FL 33012-2966 (305) 823-9880 | Open until 9:30 p.m. Store details
• Sephora JC Penney at Miami International Mall, 1603 NW 107th Ave, Miami, FL 33172-2707 (305) 477-1786 | Open until 9 p.m. Store details
• Sephora Miami international, 1455 NW 107th Ave, Miami, FL 33172, (786) 464-1313 | Open until 9 p.m. Store details
• Sephora The Falls, 8888 SW 136th St, Miami, FL 33176 (305) 255-3300 | Open until 9 p.m. Store details

• Sephora Aventura, 19575 Biscayne Blvd, Aventura, FL 33180 (305) 931-9579 | Open until 9:30 p.m. Store details
• Sephora JC Penney at Aventura Mall, 19525 Biscayne Blvd, Aventura, FL 33180-2397 (305) 937-0022 | Open until 9:30 p.m. Store details
• Sephora JC Penney at Southland Mall, 20505 S Dixie Hwy, Miami, FL 33189 (305) 252-9836 | Open until 9 p.m. Store details
• Sephora JC Penney at Pembroke Lakes Mall, 11401 Pines Blvd, Pembroke Pines, FL 33026-4117 (954) 433-2445 | Open until 9 p.m. Store details
• Sephora Pembroke Gardens, 516 SW 145th Terrace, Pembroke Pines, FL 33027 (954)438-2030 | Open until 9 p.m. Store details
• Sephora JC Penney at Plantation Westfield Mall, 8000 West Broward Blvd, Plantation, FL 33388-0900 (954) 472-2500 | Open until 9 p.m. Store details

SZA, who is black, said an employee she identified as “Sephora Sandy” called security on her in April to make sure she wasn’t shoplifting.

Sephora apologized a day after she complained, writing in a tweet:

“You are a part of the Sephora family, and we are committed to ensuring every member of our community feels welcome and included at our stores. We want to let you know we take complaints like this very seriously and are actively working with our teams to address the situation immediately.”

“We had a long talk. U have a blessed day Sandy,” SZA said in a Twitter post.

The “inclusion workshops” — which employees in all U.S. stores, distribution centers and corporate offices will be required to attend — is part of a larger “We Belong to Something Beautiful” campaign that has been in the works for about a year to promote diversity within both its staff and customers, the company said.

Sephora said it “will never stop building a community where diversity is expected, self-expression is honored, all are welcomed, and you are included.”

Sephora spokeswoman Emily Shapiro said in an email to Reuters that the store closures for diversity training have been in the works for several months and were not a response to any one event.