This is the sign that greets shoppers at our Henderson Mall Countdown Supermarket on Wednesdays.
Countdown's explanation of the practice is this. They realize that some people may have difficulty in coping with the bright lights, loud noises and high energy that are often a part of grocery shopping in modern supermarkets. They wanted to do something to give those people a more positive shopping experience. They felt that by reducing the intensity of the lighting and minimizing the sound levels encountered within the market, they could allow the shoppers to feel less intimidated. They would feel welcomed and comfortable as they shopped.
Check out Countdown's video.
I decided that I'd do a bit of shopping myself this past Wednesday at 2:30 p.m. so that I could report to you on the experience.
They turned off about half the lights, but as you can see if you compare the upper picture of the produce department with the lower, the change is not huge.
I could tell the difference when I walked through it however. The intensity was gone.
This corner of frozen foods almost felt cozy.
Overall, the store did feel as though it was on a break.
The beepers on the auto check out machines seemed subdued, but I had no way of measuring the change.
I applaude Countdown's efforts to ease the pressures of modern life, even for just an hour each week.
I did notice that a lot of high school kids were just out of class apparently and congregated outside the store. They, by nature, are boisterous. And 'girlsterous'. Anyone hoping to shop in peace and quiet today at 2:45 would have had to first run the gauntlet of a group of teens exhibiting their version of Brownian Motion.**
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion -djf
** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownian_motion -djf
This is such a nice gesture that Countdown has done for their customers with sensory issues. I'm sure the pandemic and all the current restrictions have now totally eclipsed this practice - but once they are lifted I think it should be expanded to every day of the week and the time changed to the early morning or a different hour than when all the unsupervised school-kids have congregated in the mall right in front of the store.
ReplyDeleteA lot of the stores here now do a similar thing for us old people and designate their early hours from 6 to 7 or 8am every day. When I went shopping yesterday during these early hours, I also found there were not only fewer people there but also fewer or no advertising distractions, no piped-in elevator music (that I can remember), no toilet paper on the shelves - there was one pallet of Cottonelle mega-rolls at the end of the tp aisle so I bought one package, no eggs at all, no yeast to make some special Easter buns, BUT there were plenty of meat choices and I got a small ham for Easter dinner today, AND what remained of all the seasonal candy and goods were marked 90% off! so I indulged a little on that.
By the way, I love that teddy with his heart fishing pole!
It was raining last night and we're due for more coming. I wonder how they're holding up at their fishing spot?
ReplyDeleteI am so thankful that you are getting some rain. This is a wonderful idea for the quiet time in the stores. The amount of produce & other items is improving in Henderson so that is wonderful. McKenzie
ReplyDeleteSo cool that we both live in Henderson now.
DeleteOhhhh, so this is what Dianne was talking about on Skype today!!
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