Woolworths has expanded its low-sensory Quiet Hour to five days a week, an experience designed to reduce anxiety and sensory stress for customers with specific needs.
During Quiet Hour, most Woolworths stores will lower lights, turn down music or radio, turn off beeps at the register and turn off oven buzzers for an hour, every Monday to Friday between 10:30am and 11:30am.
Quiet hour was developed in consultation with disability service provider Life Without Barriers and launched in 2019 one day a week to meet the need in the community for a low-sensory shopping experience. Since then, the initiative has rolled out to over 900 stores across Australia, providing customers with a less stressful shopping experience and increasing their independence.
Woolworths Director of Stores Jeanette Fenske says the retailer continues to receive positive feedback from customers on the initiative, with its team taking great pride in ensuring the stores are quieter and less stressful for customers during this time.
“Quiet Hour is now an integral part of how we aim to assist independence in our stores, in addition to the opportunity provided by Direct to Boot and delivery options for many customers,” she says.
“The expansion of Quiet Hour to five days a week has been trialled over busy shopping periods such as Christmas, and we are proud to now be able to meet customer needs with this five days a week.”
Life Without Barriers Chief Executive Claire Robbs says the expansion of Quiet Hour at Woolworths from one to five weekdays is a fantastic initiative that recognises and is actively responding to different needs of many people in the community.
“Life Without Barriers has been delighted with Woolworths leadership to give people more options to do their shopping in store and increase their independence in an environment that is not stressful and overwhelming to them,” she says.