US department store Macy’s has agreed to a series of changes across its 42 stores and paid out $650,000 (£390,000) to settle claims from customers that it racially profiled and detained ethnic minority shoppers at its flagship Manhattan store.

Customers including US actor Rob Brown complained that they were wrongfully detained when moving between floors or were accused of shoplifting or credit card fraud at the Manhattan store.

After buying a $1,300 watch at a branch of Macy’s last year, Mr Brown, who appeared in the HBO drama Treme, was detained by three white police officers and taken to a cell.

He told CNN: "They cuff me, parade me around the store, all the while maintaining, 'we do this all the time; it's a fake card; you're going to go to jail'."

Eric Schneiderman, the attorney-general for New York, said: "It is absolutely unacceptable — and it's illegal — for anyone in New York to be treated like a criminal simply because of the colour of their skin."

Macy's said that racial profiling would not be tolerated in its company.