I run a small retail clothing store, and I recently got hit with a rather shocking Google review. The gist of it was that my employee did not greet the customer, which they assumed was due to their race, so the customer felt uncomfortable, unwelcome, and discriminated against. Upon further searching, this person has left 100+ reviews across the country at random businesses, all coming to the same conclusion. Platos closet? They didn’t offer much for my clothes, probably racist. Little coffee shop (theres like 8 of these) Coffee tasted bad, barista looked at me weird, racist. Pet groomer? Took too long to get to my dog, racist. Restaurant (again like 2 dozen of these) server took too long, food was bad, seemed intentionally racist. Each one of these reviews is always summed up by something along the lines of “I felt extremely uncomfortable and unwelcome here due to my race, I would caution any POC or person who values inclusivity against shopping here”.

This hit me like a slap in the face, because while my employees are white, we live in a black city and have a very diverse customer base and rely heavily on our LGBTQ and POC customers, we couldn’t exist without them. The accusation is insulting and damaging to our reputation and I think could affect business if an uninformed shopper saw it. Is there anything I can do about this, or do I just have to craft a polite response and hope I get evened out by some good reviews soon?