The south Albert Street Sobeys is now offering sensory sensitive hours once a week.
On Thursdays from 6:00-8:00 p.m., the grocery store will dim lights by about 50 percent, eliminate noise from tills, phones and in-store speakers and staff will not gather carts in order to encourage an optimal and calm chopping experience.
Spokesperson Florence Chapman said it all started with one store in Prince Edward Island.
“That just lead to a great feedback which inspired other stores too initiate sensory friendly in their locations,” Chapman said. “So right now all of our Atlantic and Ontario Sobeys offer sensory sensitive shopping as well,” Chapman added.
Chapman said she thinks other stores will start doing the same thing.
“We have teams that provide feedback and speak to our other regions and we have champions that have helped inform how to do this better and the best way, so I think it’s really caught on and is something stores are seeing provides a great deal of community value,” said Chapman.
Chapman added people without these issues are also allowed to shop during the designated store hours, and are encouraged to use the opportunity to learn about what sensory sensitivity is all about.
