Retailers including Walmart (WMT) and Sears Holdings (SHLD) are stopping the sale of the Confederate flag and related products in the wake of a mass shooting of nine African-Americans at a Charleston, South Carolina church. The shooting by the alleged gunman, who posted photos of himself posing with the Confederate flag, prompted South Carolina governor Nikki Haley to take the flag down from the state capitol building. Now, Walmart is following suit, eliminating all representations of the flag from its stores. Walmart spokesman Brian Nick said in a statement, ‘We never want to offend anyone with the products that we offer. We have taken steps to remove all items promoting the confederate flag from our assortment – whether in our stores or on our web site. We have a process in place to help lead us to the right decisions when it comes to the merchandise we sell. Still, at times, items make their way into our assortment improperly – this is one of those instances.’ And Walmart isn’t alone. Sears spokesman Howard Riefs told us, ‘We are reviewing this matter and are in the process of removing confederate flag merchandise from our selling channels, including items sold by third-party merchants on Sears Marketplace.’
Subscribe to TheStreetTV on YouTube:
For more content from TheStreet visit:
Check out all our videos:
Follow TheStreet on Twitter:
Like TheStreet on Facebook:
Follow TheStreet on LinkedIn:
Follow TheStreet on Google+:
source
