St Kilda retail worker: ‘Blood splatter found in the fitting room’

A former Acland St retail manager has written a harrowing open letter to her local MP, detailing violent threats and shocking incidents on the job — including finding blood and urine in fitting rooms.

A frightened Acland St retail manager has revealed the violent threats and vile acts they were victim. Picture: Mark Stewart

A frightened retail manager has penned an open letter to MP Nina Taylor about the vile and violent threats and acts they were subjected to at the Acland St store where they worked.

In the letter, the clothes shop manager, who remains anonymous, describes finding blood in fitting rooms, along with bags of urine, and of how they were threatened with sexual assault.

They say they have now left the store and need beta-blockers just to get themselves to leave the house.

The store manager describes how they moved from Tasmania in 2020 and worked their way up from a retail employee, to store manager to helping open the new Acland St branch.

But after opening the store they were confronted with behaviour that has now led them to reach out to the member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly district of Albert Park.

Nina Taylor is the member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly for the area. Picture: Nicki Connolly

“I’m sure (and hope) you’ve been inundated with messages regarding the state of crime and antisocial behaviour in St Kilda,” they wrote.

“I thought I’d share my story to help build a picture of my experiences of living in St Kilda.”

The letter then goes on to detail to Ms Taylor exactly what the store manager experienced in Acland St.

“During my first week of the brand new store I was threatened to be ‘raped in the a--’ by a gentleman in the front of the store,” they wrote.

Residents have been crying out for more police to tackle antisocial behaviour in their suburb. Picture: Mark Stewart

They then go on to describe some of the “other things I have had to deal with”.

“A bag of urine was found in the fitting room,” they wrote. “Blood splatter found in the fitting room possibly from injecting.

“Meth-addicted customers would harass other customers ... drunk shoplifters flipping the front table of clothing.

“I was assaulted (pushed) by a regular shoplifter when I had confronted him after 27 other thefts he had done at our store.

“This is about 2 per cent of what I experienced in my two-year period there and I have had to leave.”

St Kilda residents gather to push for a stronger police presence in their neighbourhood. Picture: Josie Hayden

They go on to tell Ms Taylor how their mental health is now affected from their time working on Acland St.

“If I feel scared or threatened, my speech becomes stuttered and I shake,” they wrote.

“I have to take beta blockers to go to the supermarket — which is in Acland St and convenient as I don’t drive. I do this because I get so anxious walking down the street.”

It comes after hundreds of frustrated Port Phillip locals hit the streets of St Kilda on a march demanding an increase in police resources that finished in the Acland St Village.

Nina Taylor was contacted for comment.

Originally published as St Kilda retail worker: ‘Blood splatter found in the fitting room’