Oprah Winfrey denied handbag in Swiss shop, told cannot afford it

Oprah Winfrey is said to have a personal fortune of around $2.8 billion

OPRAH WINFREY talk show host attempted to purchase a £24,460 ($35,000) Tom Ford bag at Trois Pommes in Switzerland last month but was told that bag is too expensive for you. Winfrey, who was staying in the five-star Dolder Grand Hotel during her visit and was in Zurich for the wedding of her friend Tina Turner to Erwin Bach. Coincidentally, the store, the Trois Pommes Boutique owner, Trudie Goetz, was also a guest at the wedding.

The 'Trois Pommes' boutique, Zurich

Who can forget back in 2005, while visiting Paris, the US celebrity host experienced the similar negativity when she arrived at the Hermès store, when an assistant from inside the store, raced to lock the door and was refused entry. Speaking to Entertainment Tonight on Monday, Aug. 5, the 59-year-old star of Lee Daniels' The Butler said she was denied service because the sales clerk didn't believe she could afford such a pricey handbag.

 "I was in Zurich the other day at a store, whose name I will not mention, and I didn't have my eyelashes on, but I was in full Oprah Winfrey gear," she recalled. "I had my little Donna Karan skirt and my little sandals and all that on, but obviously The Oprah Winfrey Show is not shown in Zurich. This doesn't happen to me unless somebody obviously doesn't know it was me."


During her solo shopping trip, Winfrey asked the clerk to show her a luxury crocodile bag. "She says to me, 'No. It's too expensive.'" Winfrey asked to see it again, but the clerk once again denied her request, saying, "'No, no, no. You don't want to see that one. You want to see this one because that one will cost too much and you will not be able to afford that.'" Winfrey then said, "'No, I really did want to see that one.' And she refused to get it!"

The Tom Ford 'Jennifer' bag at the centre of the controversy surrounding the 'Trois Pommes' boutique.

The clerk proceeded to show Winfrey "these other little bags," but the star was unimpressed with the other options. "One more time, I tried. I said, 'But I really do just want to see that one.' And she said, 'Oh, I don't want to hurt your feelings.' I said, 'Okay, thank you so much. You're probably right. I can't afford it.' And I walked out of the store." ‘I left the store but it proves that racism is still an issue,’ she added.


After Winfrey told her BFF Gayle King about the experience, King said she would have returned to the store and caused a scene a la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman. The TV mogul, however, she didn't want to give the clerk commission. The bag in question was a Jennifer bag in crocodile skin.

"I could have had the big blowup thing and thrown down the black card and all that stuff," Winfrey said, "but why do that?"

Tom Ford designed the handbag for the actress, pictured with it

Trudie Goetz, head of the Swiss luxury chain Trois Pommes, denies that Winfrey was discriminated against because of her race. "This is an absolute misunderstanding," she tells Us Weekly in a statement. "Any sales person would love to sell a crocodile bag. She simply explained [to Oprah] that the bag she wanted to look at was beautiful but in a very high price range and suggested lower priced models in leather, ostrich and so forth." Goetz adds, "It was a misunderstanding. The staff member who welcomed Oprah is one of the hardest working and regularly deals with VIP clients. There was no discrimination."

Apologetic: Trois Pommes Boutique owner Trudie Goetz put the incident down to a 'misunderstanding'

In a separate statement to the BBC, Goetz said the employee in question is of Italian descent. "Of course, she speaks English, but not as well as her mother tongue," she explained. "It was a real misunderstanding." ‘Everyone wants to sell a crocodile bag,’ Ms Goetz went on to say, ‘It’s a misunderstanding. She insisted her saleswomen put customers first and try to be ‘kind’.

The Tom Ford 'Jennifer' bag now makes it in a number of different finishes

The Swiss Tourism Association also issued a statement saying it regrets the pain and embarrassment the experience caused Winfrey. "We are very sorry for what happened to her, of course, because we think all of our guests and clients should be treated respectfully, in a professional way," spokeswoman Daniela Baer told the Associated Press. Daniela Bar added: ‘We are totally ashamed about what happened. This sales assistant was completely in the wrong.

'We apologise on behalf of Swiss tourism for what happened. ‘This was a one-off and will not have a long lasting effect on the popularity of Switzerland, but the saleswoman should apologise to Oprah Winfrey.’

Despite this, The incident comes as the Swiss authorities came under fire for introducing “apartheid” type plans to separate asylum seekers from its citizens.

Some Swiss towns plan to keep asylum-seekers away from public places such as swimming pools, playing fields and libraries, in a move human rights groups say is racist.

The curbs are aimed at preventing tensions with residents, officials say. Asylum-seekers are to be housed in special centres, mainly former army barracks. About 48,000 people are currently seeking asylum in Switzerland. It has twice as many asylum seekers as the European average.


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