For more inclusion

Quiet hour against sensory overload in the supermarket

Pictured from left: Georg Ebster (ÖH), Alina Kühnel (Deputy Chairwoman of Autistenhilfe Tirol) and David Mölk (GF MPreis).

(Bild: aylinyilmaz40721)

Shopping can be a pain if you are easily overstimulated. Lights, noises, other people - for some people this means pure stress. That's why one MPreis store is introducing the "quiet hour".

Blue, green, yellow and red colors crowd together on the shelves, creating harsh contrasts and yet somehow blurring into one another. The different fonts beg for attention, explaining what the products are, what's in them and why you should buy them. High protein! No added sugar! They are literally shouting at customers.

This can be stressful, just like when someone walks past you far too closely, breathing irregularly and excessively loudly. Behind the shelf, a mother is on the phone while her child sings the Butzemann song. The beeping of the till sounds different to the beeping of the empty bottle machine, which makes noise because it is full and wants to be emptied.

The refrigerated shelf hums. The sales clerk behind the meat counter is talking excitedly with a woman about Lent. And to boot: Pop music blaring from everywhere, high-pitched sounds with annoying bass and a squeaking synthesizer, plus a shrill voice singing about lovesickness.

Dimmed lights and reduced sounds
Our brains normally block out many of these impressions so that we can concentrate on the essentials. In some brains, however, these filters are not set correctly - for example in people with ADHD or autistic or neurodiverse people, formerly known as hypersensitive people. To make shopping easier for them, MPreis is now the first grocery retailer in Tyrol to introduce the "quiet hour" in an Innsbruck store.

Reizreduziertes Einkaufen

Die Stille Stunde in Tirol

Die „Stille Stunde“ findet Montag bis Freitag von 14 bis 15 Uhr sowie samstags von 8 bis 11 Uhr statt – in der Innsbrucker MPreis-Filiale, Salurner Straße1.

This includes dimmed lighting, reduced noise and orientation aids - such as a map on which aisles with a particularly large number of sensory impressions are marked.