Black customers denied entry to “closed” 24-hour store.
Apology issued Friday.
It was a bad day for Good Nature Market.
First an Instagram post outed an employee for letting white customers, but not black customers, into the Broadway grocery. That employee is now out of a job.
Then a city task force conducting routine Covid-19 inspections shut down that market and its Whitney Avenue outlet for allegedly widespread health and building code violations.
The customer incident occurred at 1 a.m. Thursday.
Four African-American friends, Yahmad Rountree of Bethany, Terence Johnson of New Haven, Johnanes Girium of Hamden, and Wilby Martin of Ansonia, went to buy food at the grocery.
Later Thursday, Johnson posted videos on Instagram with the following write-up:
“Last night my friends and I went downtown to get something to eat. As I tried to open the door, the worker told me they were closed.
“I said okay and walked away.
“As soon as I walked away, he let two white people in the store to get something to eat, but let me remind you that it’s a 24hour store.
“As I walked back to the store, I tried to go inside and the worker ran to the door again and said, “No, we are closed — you can’t come in” as he’s letting other white people in the store. He was giving my friends and I a hard time and cops were then called on us.
“With all this going on, I strongly recommend anybody especially my black people to not to go back there again.”
Watch the videos below:
Friends Elaborate
Martin, Girum, and Rountree elaborated in interviews with the Independent. Rountree works as a bail bondsman. Girum just graduated from Southern Connecticut State Unviersity with a physics degree. He said he used to go to the market when studying at Yale’s library.
They said they saw a man working the register. Johnson knocked; the man told them the store was closed. Johnson said that he knew that the Good Nature worker was lying because he is a regular customer.
The Good Nature Market worker denied that it is still a 24-hour store.
The group of friends stood around the store to converse.
“A gentleman from Yale was walking, this white guy,” said Martin. “I asked him if he was about to get something to eat.”
The Good Nature Market employee opened the door for that customer but closed the door on the group of friends.
Girum said a white person inside the store who witnessed the encounter called police.
It wasn’t long until Yale campus police arrived.
“They’re denying us food. They’re feeding everyone else but minorities,” said Wilby.
“They’re letting all the white people in, but they’re not letting us in,” reported one of the friends. (Watch some of the encounter in the above video recorded by Rountree.)
Wilby said that the police were shocked. He said the police acknowledged that it was wrong but couldn’t force the Good Nature Market worker to open up the store.
That’s when the Good Nature Market worker, who was listening to the conversation,offered his services to the group of friends.
Rountree said that people were still entering the store while the group were conversing with the cops.
“The worker came out a few minutes later and said, ‘I’ll make you guys whatever you want. Come on in.’ It was a completely different attitude then the previous 45 minutes,” said Rountree.
“‘Sir, I don’t even want to spend my money here. You already made me feel some type of way,’” Martin recalled saying. His friends agreed.
Update: The market issued an apology Friday. It is pictured at the top of this story.
Landlord Yale Issues Statement
The market’s landlord is Yale University Properties. Yale Media Relations Director Karen Peart released the following statement Thursday night about the incident:
“Today Yale University was made aware of an incident that occurred last night at Good Nature Market, an independently owned and operated tenant of the Shops at Yale. Yale Police arrived at the scene and learned that a group of Black men, one of whom is a Yale student, had been denied entry to the store, while white customers gained entry.
“While the circumstances were deeply upsetting and inexcusable, the situation was handled gracefully by the group and the YPD. Yale stands by the men who experienced this discrimination and is grateful for the dignity they showed in a very trying circumstance.
“The ownership of Good Nature Market has informed us that it deeply regrets and apologizes for the action of its employee, whom it immediately terminated. The owner has said it will immediately initiate an anti-discrimination training program for all employees at both of its locations.
“The Shops at Yale is committed to an open, welcome, and inclusive environment for the entire community. We will not stand for racial discrimination.”
Mice & A “Rat’s Nest Of Wires”
Pre-Covid photo.
The store encountered more unrelated trouble on Thursday, after city inspectors stopped by for a previously scheduled visit.
A task force of inspectors has been visiting establishments that have opened or reopened during the Covid-19 pandemic to make sure they’re following newly strict public health guidelines.
The task force has representatives from the health department, the fire marshal’s office, and the building department.
Often these are informational (“educational”) visits. Inspectors alert owners to problems that need fixing.
The inspectors were scheduled to visit establishments in Wooster Square and parts of downtown Thursday night, according to city Health Director Maritza Bond. The previous night they visited Crown and Temple Streets.
At other establishments, the team found minor problems that could be easily corrected — like tables situated not quite six feet apart or a certification not being properly posted.
The visit to Good Nature Market — and an outlet owned by the same company on Whitney Avenue — turned up larger violations that required immediate action, according to Bond.
“We saw so many significant health violations there, that we had to close them down” in order to protect public health, she said.
Bond said the inspectors found expired food and food being kept at “hazardous temperatures” (like not being refrigerated).
“I found live mice stuck in glue. Big roaches that were tropical-looking ones that were alive.”
City of New Haven
Inspectors also found numerous electrical and plumbing violations at both stores, said city Building Official Jim Turcio. “I’ll be sending two more inspectors in there within the next week.”
“They had a lawn hose in the kitchen. There are illegal gas hooks in the basement. There’s wiring all over the place — it looks like a rat’s nest” (pictured).
On the other hand, “there wasn’t a single violation on Wooster Street,” Turcio said.
Good Nature Market’s manager did not immediately return a call to his cell phone seeking comment for this article.
An employee called the developments “sad” for the workers. “Right now it’s hard to find a job,” he said.