Philadelphia (WPVI) — When Alysha Jackson was decorating her company Sugar and Spice Kiddie Spa in Northeast Philadelphia, she just knew there had to be a lot of pink in the decor.
“Honestly, I love pink,” she said.
It fits perfectly with the gorgeous service she provides.
“We do manicures, pedicures, facials, makeup for girls,” she said.
The colors also complement the nursery rhyme that inspired the spa’s name.
“Sugar and spice, all is well,” Jackson recalls the rhyme.
But what happened in front of the merchants on Sunday afternoon wasn’t all that great.
A video recorded by Jackson shows a woman throwing trash and bins on the grass in front of a store that serves children.
“(She) dumps trash, picks up trash, litters everywhere,” said Jackson, who said she lived across the street from the company by the woman. “She was in front of me like ‘You guys are always here!'”
Problems started long before Sunday, Jackson said. She has been at this place for seven years.
“She’s been putting cat food on the steps and throughout the house just to feed the cats,” Jackson said. “They have a lot of kittens. When my customers are here, a lot of cats come over. They’re shitting.”
Jackson didn’t know why, but she couldn’t help but wonder if the actions were racially motivated.
“I’m the only black business here, and you chose my business to put cat food?” she said.
Jackson called police on Sunday and showed them video of the woman dumping trash on her lawn
“They gave me a (police report) number and they left,” Jackson said of the police, adding that she had to pay out of pocket for someone else to clean up the trash.
Action News knocked on the door of the house where Jackson said the woman lived. No one answered the door, and no one called back from a message left on the home’s doorbell recording system.
The woman threatened to return to the company every time Jackson hosted a children’s party, Jackson said. That alleged statement caused Jackson to do the only thing she thought she could do.
“I’m closed,” she said. “So I was closed all week.”
If she closes the door, she opens up on social media. An employee posted the video and it went viral.
“The whole (social media) network, (the video) is probably close to a million (views),” she said.
All of these views have sparked messages from across the country.
“I felt a lot of love and support. It was crazy and overwhelming,” she said.
That support changed Jackson’s mind about staying shut, even after she considered closing permanently.
“We’re opening! We’re celebrating,” she said of the celebration planned for Friday afternoon.
A security guard volunteered his services to monitor the business after seeing the video on social media. As for the woman in the video taking out the trash, Jackson hopes she’ll get the news.
“I don’t want her to be severely punished…I just feel like she needs a fine so she can learn not to do it again,” Jackson said.
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