JB Hi-Fi sorry after denying entry to man with Down syndrome

Electronics reseller JB Hi-Fi has issued an apology to a man with Down Syndrome after refusing him entry at a western Brisbane store.

James Milne, visiting with his family, was denied entry at the Mount Ommaney outlet on Monday, according to a Facebook post by his sister Victoria.

"The security guard immediately stepped in front of my brother and said that he wasn't allowed in the store," said Victoria Milne. When questioned by their father, the guard replied that he recognised James as a banned person, showing them a photo on his smartphone.

"When my dad and the manager are shown a photo of a white male who also had Down Syndrome, my dad says it's clearly not James, who has olive skin, and the manager replied 'well they look the same'," Victoria Milne wrote.

She told news agency AAP that her brother is half-Fijian with olive skin: "They clearly weren't the same person."

A store manager continued to deny James entry even after the family appealed that the photo was not of him, according to Victoria Milne. She claimed that when James' mother later phoned the store to demand an apology, the manager said that "[James] would never, ever, ever get an apology" from him.

"I have never been so disgusted and mad in my life," said Victoria Milne.

After a backlash on social media, JB Hi-Fi and its chief executive Richard Murray apologised to James and the Milne family.

"We would like to apologise unreservedly to James. We should have done better yesterday. We are going to make sure that we learn from this and do better in the future. I have sent a personal letter of apology to James and we are continuing to endeavour to contact the family to apologise directly," said Murray via the JB Hi-Fi Facebook page on Tuesday afternoon.

The publicly listed company stated that "JB Hi-Fi and the manager of our Mount Ommaney store believe that we could have managed this in a better way in the interests of James and his family".

"To support this we are reviewing our customer policies to make sure that they reflect best practice."

An online petition called "Stop unlawful discrimination by JB HI-FI" had received over 35,000 signatures by 8:30am Wednesday.