A Calmer Coop
At the Coop, we want to make shopping an easy experience for all and throughout the duration of our opening hours.
A range of new measures are now available across selected CI Coop stores that aim to help make shopping easier and more manageable for neurodivergent customers and members. You will now be able to access a variety of resources at the Millennium Park, St Peter’s Village, St Martin and St Sampson Grand Marché stores.
As a business, we aim to provide a comfortable shopping experience for all. For customers who are neurodivergent, shopping can be overwhelming and distressing. To create a calmer and more sensory-friendly shopping experience, we are delighted to offer the use of a social story, ear defenders, visual support tools and more resources available at its customer service desks, suitable for all ages.
Please visit the customer service desk to borrow the items you require and return at the end of your shop.
Items available include:
- Shopping social story (you can download a copy of our shopping social story here)
- Ear defenders (adult and child sizes available)
- To do list
- Communication card (you can download a copy of our communication card here)
Quiet Time
Enjoy dedicated quiet time in our Grand Marché stores. Each week we will be dimming the lights, turning down the music and keeping noises to a minimum to create a gentler, more leisurely shop for all.
Mondays 3pm - 5pm
Saturdays 5pm - 7pm
Every week, for dedicated time slots, the cacophony of noises and hectic nature, which is often commonplace in our larger supermarkets, are put on pause to provide a calmer environment.
Other resources
Sunflower lanyards are also available for all neurodivergent customers to keep for their own personal use.
We also offer the use of a GoTo Shop trolley in our Grand Marché stores for older children.