THE lights are down, there is no music over the PA system and no crate-filled dollies blocking the aisles.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Welcome to quiet hour at Coles in Benalla.
For the last three Tuesdays sensory distractions at the supermarket have been reduced between 10.30am and 11.30am to appeal to those with autism.
“The lights are controlled at head office and at 10.30 it actually goes to half-lighting and we switch the PA down,” store boss Michael Bye says.
“Some of the comments coming out from customers have been they generally liked the relaxed environment with no loud noise and no trolleys out.”
Buyer Trent Monar-Venn, 24, who has mild autism, welcomed the inclusiveness of the quiet hour.
“Everyone deserves to have a chance and deserves to have a fair go – I reckon it’s a great idea,” he said.
However, Mr Monar-Venn would prefer piped songs.
“Music is soothing, I listen to music when I’m anxious; I can get a bit aggressive and agitated,” he said.
Mother Julie Kehl also would prefer to have a soundtrack to shopping.
“The lights don’t bother me, the music I like because it drowns out the kids when you’re shopping with them,” she said.
“It stops you having to hear the kids say ‘mum can I have this, mum can I have that?’.”
But another shopper Jimmy Langlands welcomed the serenity.
“I think it’s quite good, you turn the lights down you can’t see the prices,” he said.
“The world should be a lot quieter.”
Benalla is the lone Coles in the North East and Riverina in the quiet hour trial.
Being self-contained, rather than part of a shopping centre, and having lighting controlled remotely made it an easier store to participate than Coles supermarkets in Albury-Wodonga.
A Coles head office spokeswoman said the trial, which is supported by Autism Spectrum Australia, had been successful and the quiet hour was “here to stay”.
By the time the hour has ended at Benalla you feel as though you’re more likely to be in a library than a grocery.
It’s shock to suddenly have an advertisement for the new Lipton iced tea followed by the song I Can See Clearly Now disrupt the day.
Then again the song’s line – I can see all obstacles in my way – is apt given every light has been turned on.
The needs of those with autism have become part of the weekly shopping routine.
