Suit Accuses K.B. Toys of Discrimination

A civil rights group filed suit against retailer K.B. Toys, alleging that some of its stores engage in discrimination against black customers. The Washington-based Equal Rights Center, along with two African American customers, named the mall-based retailer and its parent company, Wilmington, Del.-based Consolidated Stores Corp., in the lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Greenbelt, Md. In its suit, the center says it uncovered a pattern of discrimination at K.B. stores in metropolitan Washington and Baltimore. The stores refused to accept personal checks from black customers, gave them inferior service and offered them merchandise “under different terms and conditions than that offered to white customers,” the suit alleges. It seeks an injunction against discriminatory practices, as well as unspecified damages. K.B. Vice President Jerry Murray called the charges “totally untrue” and said the company will fight them in court. K.B. Toys is the largest mall-based toy seller in the United States, with an estimated $1.6 billion in annual sales.