For some people, simple things like going to the grocery store can be tough. The overstimulating environment can make shopping unbearable. One store is creating a special hour for people to shop stress free.

“It’s very exciting, I love it,” said Five Below manager Kim Demaio. “I think it’s great, I do.”

What You Need To Know

  • The Five Below in Auburn offers a 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. window every Sunday for sensory friendly shopping

  • The lights are low, the music is off and there are fewer shoppers

  • It's helpful to people on the autism spectrum who otherwise may be unable to enter stores

Once a week her store turns into a sensory friendly environment. For one hour on Sunday mornings when there aren’t too many people in the store, the lights are low and the music is off. It’s called a sensory hour, and this is the first month of the shopping window. The inspiration for the special hour came from a special girl named Gia, who is on the autism spectrum. Her mother Christina wanted to take her inside, but the lights and noise were too overwhelming for her.

“The staff, very supportive, turned the music down.” Christina VanDitto Warter said. “So we were able to come in and shop. So that following Monday I came back because I thought to myself if our family could benefit from this, then there’s plenty of other families and people that can as well.”

When Christina talked to her, Kim was completely on board to make the location more inclusive.

“I myself have an autistic child, he’s on the higher spectrum level of autism," Demaio said. “I know in my son’s situation bright lights can cause him to have a seizure, sometimes loud music might get them agitated, or cause them to have what we call a meltdown. So I just think it calms them down more.”

“In today’s age we are so aware of the needs of a lot of children that we weren’t aware of many, many years ago, and these children now have so many opportunities," said Megan Nightnegale who brought her daughter to the sensory hour Sunday morning.

Kim and Christina are hoping more stores of all kinds will catch on and create their own sensory hours. If someone you love is easily overstimulated and the store you’re going to doesn’t have a sensory hour, Christina recommends wearing soundproofing headphones or sunglasses.

“If you find that you do get overstimulated have a plan in place,” VanDitto Warter said. “Do you have an item that you can squeeze to help yourself feel a little bit more calm during you shopping trip?"

The Auburn Five Below offers a sensory hour from 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. every Sunday.