The State - News from July 10, 1988

A department store company has apologized and fired a manager in its Newark, Calif., store for writing a memo that told employees to turn away black customers who tried to return linen, but civil rights groups remained outraged. Frank Arnone, president of Marshalls discount stores, said he was “personally embarrassed and appalled.” A sympathetic Marshalls employee showed Cynthia Sterling the memo when she tried to exchange an $80 comforter to get clothes for her daughter. The memo, posted under glass at a cashier’s counter, read: “If any black person returns any sheet sets, refuse a cash voucher or exchange or credit for any reason.” Eva Vidal, a store manager, was fired for writing the memo, company officials said. The local chapter of the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People plans a possible boycott of the Woburn, Mass.-based company with 297 stores.