Barnes & Noble has responded quickly to reports that a store employee told a grandfather of two he had to leave the premises because he was a man shopping alone in the children’s section, saying that shouldn’t have happened.

Says Mark Bottini, Vice President, Director of Stores in a statement:

We want to apologize to [the customer] for a situation in which [he] was asked to leave the children’s section of our Scottsdale, Arizona store. We should not have done so. It is not our policy to ask customers to leave any section of our stores without justification. We value [him] as a customer and look forward to welcoming him in any of our stores.

This, after an initial statement from a spokeswoman who told The Arizona Republic, “We have no comment on the store matter you called about. We believe we acted appropriately.”

Previously: Grandfather Says Barnes & Noble Kicked Him Out For Shopping Alone In Children’s Section

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