Sephora Stores Close Nationwide For Hour-Long Diversity, Inclusivity Training

STUDIO CITY (CBSLA) — Singer SZA's experience of having security called on her at Sephora's Calabasas store is one shopper Patricia Acosta is familiar with.

Acosta says her daughter loves Sephora and would live there if she could – even though employees have made her feel uncomfortable while she's shopping.

"When she comes to the store, people are looking at her like, 'Oh my gosh, what's she doing here.' It's upsetting, you know," Acosta said.

That frequently shared experience – most recently shared by SZA – is why the beauty chain shut down for an hour Wednesday for an hour of diversity and inclusivity workshops for 16,000 employees across the country. Sephora says the workshops were already planned even before SZA tweeted last month that an employee at the Calabasas store called security on her to make sure she wasn't stealing.

"It's like a rainbow here in LA, you know, we have all the colors and everything, and it is hard, you know, when you go to a store and they think 'oh my gosh, she's gonna steal something,'" Acosta said.

Sephora has apologized to the singer and said it would address the issue.