Charles Sowell Kellam, the Black luxury brand CEO who accused Nordstrom of racially profiling and humiliating him during a visit to its Scottsdale, Arizona, store, says the retailer has now barred him from entering any of its locations nationwide.
In an Oct. 21 letter obtained by Atlanta Black Star, Nordstrom’s outside counsel told Kellam’s attorneys that the company still bars Kellam from entering or remaining inside any Nordstrom store or eBar. The letter warns that any future visit could result in trespassing allegations and legal action, including police involvement.
The development follows Kellam’s March 21 confrontation with a store manager at Scottsdale Fashion Square. Kellam has maintained that the incident involved racial profiling and said the experience left him feeling watched and humiliated.
Kellam, founder and CEO of the sustainable luxury brand Fruitful Rooster, spoke with Atlanta Black Star alongside his attorney, Sean Woods, after a video of his confrontation with Nordstrom management went viral on June 19.
Kellam said he sat at the store’s eBar with Ruby, his trained German Shepherd service animal, while preparing for an upcoming contract meeting. That’s when a store manager approached him about the dog and told him he was not welcome back.
“Once I started to really engage into what she was saying, I realized it was a threatening matter,” he recalled, saying the manager stood over him in an aggressive manner and warned him not to return without a leash.
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He said the confrontation escalated when the manager used her phone and walkie-talkie to contact security. Mall security eventually intervened as the encounter moved into the concourse, drawing a crowd of shoppers who recorded the incident. Kellam said the public confrontation took a psychological toll on him.
In a message to Atlanta Black Star sharing the recent update, Kellam said his attorney forwarded the letter and instructed him not to enter Nordstrom but confirmed he could publicly discuss the ban.
Nordstrom’s letter presents a different account of the original dispute, accusing Kellam of repeatedly bringing his dog into the store and eBar without a leash despite warnings from employees. The company alleges that he verbally berated the store manager during the March incident, recorded her without permission, and posted a video that disclosed her full name and job title.
According to the letter, the store manager asked Kellam to leash his dog on March 21, and he responded by allegedly “screaming profanities and insults at her.” Nordstrom also claims that other employees reported Kellam recording them without consent.
The company says it received complaints from customers who alleged that Kellam verbally berated them after they asked him to leash his dog around small children. As per Atlanta Black Star’s last interview with Kellam, Nordstrom has not provided security camera footage of the accusations.
“Mr. Kellam’s behavior is unacceptable,” Nordstrom’s counsel wrote.
The letter states that Nordstrom notified Kellam’s attorneys on Sept. 10 that the company barred him from entering any of its stores. Despite that notice, the company states that Kellam returned to the Scottsdale store and Ebar with his dog on Oct. 17.
Nordstrom claims Kellam again removed the dog’s leash while at the eBar, prompting the retailer’s asset protection manager to ask him to leash the animal. The letter characterizes the alleged conduct as a “recurrent failure to comply with store policy” and a “failure to treat store employees with respect.”
The company’s warning extends beyond the Arizona location. Nordstrom’s counsel wrote that Kellam was “not authorized to enter or remain at the Nordstrom Store or eBar located at the Scottsdale Fashion Square Mall, or any other Nordstrom store or eBar, for that matter.”
The letter concludes with a direct warning to Kellam’s attorneys: “Please instruct your client that he should not enter any Nordstrom Store or eBar anywhere.” It adds that any unauthorized presence on Nordstrom property “will be considered trespassing and may result in legal action, including a call to law enforcement.”
Kellam disputes the company’s account, arguing that it overlooks the fact that Ruby is a service animal and the circumstances that led him to walk through the store.
“They blatantly and conveniently overlook the fact that Ruby is a service animal, and a leash prevents her acts of service,” Kellam wrote in his message to Atlanta Black Star.
He also questioned the circumstances surrounding his passage through the store, explaining that Scottsdale Fashion Square has only two main entrances, with Nordstrom serving as one of them.
“Even walking through on a leash and leaving the store immediately, they watched me on surveillance and approached me outside of the store again,” Kellam said.
Kellam added that he complied with a security manager’s request because he considered the manager kind. Despite that interaction, Nordstrom barred him from every location indefinitely.
“My lawyer told me to not worry as they are attempting to shift the narrative as victim which is usual circumstances for racial discrimination cases,” Kellam wrote.
The new letter adds another chapter to a dispute Kellam previously described as emotionally damaging. In his original Instagram video, he accused the Scottsdale store manager of stalking and racially harassing him, saying, “The store manager at Scottsdale literally just stalked me and racially harassed me, and now she blocked me from going back in the store.”
Kellam said the experience was particularly painful because his family had shopped at Nordstrom for decades. He said the company’s lack of response to his racial-profiling complaint left him feeling dismissed rather than heard.
“His response was insult to injury,” Kellam said of Nordstrom President Eric Nordstrom’s reply to his original complaint letter. “He gaslighted me.”
At the time, Kellam said he wanted Nordstrom to acknowledge his version of events. He also urged supporters to stop shopping at the retailer, arguing that Black and brown consumers should not continue spending money with a company he believes does not respect them.
Atlanta Black Star contacted Nordstrom for comment on the letter and is awaiting a response.
Nordstrom Bans Black Luxury CEO from Stores, Warns of Police Action After Racial Profiling Claim