Owner of Boylston Street store charged with racial, ethnic bias

The state Attorney General's office today sued the owner of the Tannery, Hicham Ali "Sam" Hassan, for allegedly refusing to serve a black man and a woman of Middle Eastern origin - and says those instances are "a larger pattern of Hassan’s discriminatory treatment of certain customers."

According to the Attorney General's office:

in December 2017, an African American customer attempted to enter The Tannery to shop approximately 20 minutes before the store closed. Upon entering the store, Hassan allegedly approached the victim and asked him "what's up brother man?" and prevented him from fully entering the store.

When the victim asked Hassan why he was denied entry into The Tannery while other white patrons were allowed to enter and shop, the defendant told him that "he did not want [his] kind in [the] store." Hassan allegedly repeatedly told the victim he was not allowed to shop in the store and implied that he did not have enough money to shop at The Tannery. Hassan then allegedly directed the victim to the door, and told him he didn't want his money and to shop elsewhere.

Also according to the AG's complaint, in March 2017, Hassan repeatedly asked a customer of Middle Eastern descent where she was from. Instead of helping the woman, who had been trying to ask about a pair of boots, Hassan allegedly told her, among other things, that he does not trust immigrants and "I love Trump! I am glad he is going to get rid of all the immigrants." The victim decided she no longer wanted the boots after hearing these comments. As she was exiting the store, Hassan allegedly shouted at her to get out and that he didn't "trust [her] people."

Hassan filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy last year for both the Tannery and the Tannery Outlet. A federal bankruptcy judge approved the final dissolution of the companies he set up for the shops this past February.