Wegmans looks out for all customers

"Sustainability.” It’s a big word, and it comes with a lot of responsibility. Sustainability is about:

• reducing food and packaging waste;

• using leftover food to help feed the poor;

• reducing the carbon footprint;

• removing undesirable chemicals and ingredients from food and beverage products to make them healthier;

• ensuring that suppliers and producers practice environmental stewardship and animal husbandry;

• offering products that are inclusive for all people;

• and treating employees fairly and with dignity while compensating them adequately.

Sustainability, simply, is responsibility on myriad levels associated with products and services.

In previous issues of Store Brands Today, we've looked at what several grocery retailers are doing to be more sustainable. These vignettes may focus on one or only a few things that retailers are doing. In most cases the retailers are doing much more and have made sustainability a significant component of their every-day businesses.

Today, we look at Wegmans Food Markets.

LOOKING OUT FOR ALL CUSTOMERS
It was a customer who brought the specially adapted shopping cart to Wegmans Food Market’s attention.

“When Liza Rudroff, a customer at [one of our stores] in Buffalo who shared her family’s need, we recognized there are more families throughout all our market areas that would benefit from the availability of this cart at our stores,” says Linda Lovejoy, community relations manager for Rochester, N.Y.-based Wegmans.

Rudroff’s daughter, Sydney, has a neurological movement disorder that prevents her from standing or walking. Because Sydney is too big to sit in the front of a regular shopping cart and too small for other special needs carts, Rudroff found herself planning shopping trips for when a family member could stay with Sydney. When Rudroff learned that a specially adaptive cart from Firefly GoTo Shop was available in the U.S., she approached the management team at the Wegman’s Buffalo store to see if they would considering offering it. Within two months, Wegmans began piloting the Firefly GoTo Shop carts at that Buffalo store and another store in Pittsford, N.Y.

The cart, designed by Leckey, a manufacturer of mobility equipment for children and young people, is designed for children ages 2-8 (or up to 77 pounds) who require extra postural and head support. The cart features an open front allowing users to easily place a child in the seat, adjustable head and lateral supports, and a fully adjustable, cushioned five-point harness. It provides families with young children who have mobility restrictions a safer, easier way to grocery shop together.

Following the pilot, Wegmans rolled out the carts to all of its 101 stores. Wegmans says it is the first retailer in the U.S. to offer the carts in all its stores.

“We are committed to providing incredible customer service to all our shoppers, and we’re always looking for better ways to make our stores accessible to everyone,” Lovejoy says.

Rudroff was thankful.

“Now I can comfortably and safely take Syd grocery shopping with me, whether it’s a planned trip or a last-minute decision to stop on the way home from school” she says. “Going to the store immerses Syd in the community and gives her the opportunity to engage with others, explore the sights and sounds, and learn how to shop. It’s a great life experience for her that is now effortless and worry-free for me.”

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