AUSTIN -- Who's the quintessential Domain Northside shopper? A Domain Northside brochure that's making the rounds online said she's a "classy, trendy, well-heeled woman," and "is most likely to describe her ethnicity as Anglo, Jewish, or Asian."
A screenshot of the brochure, which Domain Northside said is no longer in circulation as of June 27, was shared with KVUE by a viewer.
The marketing material from the North Austin office, retail and residential center states that the "Domain Northside serves a diverse group of new class consumers from across the region."
The brochure then goes on to describe the quintessential Domain Northside shopper as a woman who wears labels such as Louis Vuitton or Givenchy and who drives a BMW 6 Series to "go out with her girlfriends at night and by day she drives a Range Rover Sport." The brochure described the Northside shopper as a woman who "spends generously on the upkeep of herself and her family."
Since the brochure began circulating online, several viewers have reached out to KVUE to express their dismay.
Domain Northside gave KVUE the following statement in response to the brochure:
At Domain NORTHSIDE, we are proud to serve the residents of the Austin community and sincerely apologize for the insensitive and inappropriate language used in a document, which has since been removed from circulation and is no longer in use. These words do not reflect our values, and we remain dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion. We will ensure that future efforts reflect the values of the community in which we live and work.
The Domain, which is not affiliated with the Domain Northside and encompasses the area from Dillard's to Neiman Marcus, sent KVUE a statement admonishing Domain Northside for their "reprehensible" brochure and clarifying confusion some people may have about the two properties.
"We wanted to emphasize this distinction because we manage and operate our property very differently than they do. DomainNORTHSIDE, recently produced a leasing brochure that many in our community, including ourselves, reacted negatively towards because of its exclusionary language. Simon and its property, The Domain, are not responsible for this reprehensible brochure. It's exclusionary and completely at odds with what we stand for. The Domain, a Simon center, is an all-inclusive environment where everyone is welcome. We are very concerned that our center has been mistakenly associated with this offensive piece of marketing collateral and wanted to set the record straight. Since 2007, we have been committed to delivering the best shopping and dining experience possible for everyone and we will continue to do so."
Jeff Newberg and Kirk Rudy, Managing Principals, Endeavor Real Estate Group and Ward Kampf, President, Northwood Retail LLC sent KVUE this statement on Friday:
We sincerely apologize. We are ashamed and take full responsibility. Northwood Retail and Endeavor, which manage and operate Domain NORTHSIDE, created this document in collaboration, and it was intended to outline a customer demographic. This was a mistake, and the ideas conveyed in the document do not reflect our companies’ values.
Upholding the values of the communities we serve is of the utmost importance to us. We are deeply committed to the Austin community and have heard their concerns loud and clear.
We will enroll our Northwood Retail and Endeavor employees in a mandatory diversity and inclusion training with Beyond Diversity, and we are currently identifying third-party diversity and inclusion experts to audit and strengthen our culture and protocols to help us learn from our mistake.
We remain dedicated to promoting diversity and inclusion in everything we do. We are committed to continuing this important conversation. We are sorry for letting our community down.