Disability Access Success Story: Tops Friendly Markets

Have you ever gone to a grocery store and found closely-spaced poles and a padlocked gate at the entrance?

This happens more often than we realize, especially in economically depressed or poor neighborhoods. Stores are trying to prevent the theft of shopping carts, which they say are quite expensive. One method of theft prevention is to put closely spaced bars around the store (known as a cart corral), and install a gate in the midst of the corral so that shoppers who use wheelchairs can enter. Management then assigns staff to watch the gate so that he or she can unlock it when someone needs to get in or out.

The problem with this system, and my experience

The problem arises when the person assigned to the gate is not there, and the patron using a wheelchair must wait for someone to unlock it. This happened to me. I went to Tops Friendly Markets (Known as Tops), located at Clinton and Upper Falls Blvd in Rochester, NY, on December 6, 2008, and noticed that the gate was locked. My partner went into the store to look for someone while I waited in the cold - it was 10 degrees outside that day!

Watching as people who were able to walk slipped between the bars and entered the store, while I had to sit at the gate was humiliating and excruciatingly painful, to say the least. The unfairness of this hit me on a number of levels - I, a middle-aged African-American woman in a wheelchair, waiting at the Jim Crow entrance.

How I handled the situation

After 15 minutes, I was finally able to get in, and went directly to the store manager, Rocco Marcellino. He explained that the person who was supposed to open the gate called in sick at the last moment, and the person who replaced him went and did some other duty.

I was quite angry, but calmly explained that this was unacceptable. The store is located near a high rise building where many people with disabilities and seniors live, and reports indicated that this often happened to wheelchair users. I gave him my business card and invited him to meet with me and the Advocacy Team at the Center for Disability Rights so that we could work together to develop ideas on how to achieve access fairly.

Access and security are not mutually exclusive. People with disabilities should have real access to businesses. Sometimes, mere accommodations do not work. Access is the key to equality!

The store's response

Rocco Marcellino, the manager of the Upper Falls Tops, and Robin Perrone, a Service Specialist, met with us three weeks later. During the meeting, ideas were presented regarding access. I mentioned that a competitor used a system that utilized an accessible cart corral. After consultation with Paul Hertzel, the District Manager, it was agreed that a structural change would be made to the gate area that would eliminate the gate, but provide cart security and access for people who use wheelchairs.

Success!

On January 6, 2009, Tops installed a new, accessible cart corral! I and several of my colleagues and friends who use wheelchairs tested it, and loved the new solution. The date that the new system was installed did not escape me - it was one month to the day from when I experienced the humiliation of the lack of access at this store.

Thank you Tops Friendly Markets for working so diligently with us in such a timely fashion to ensure that everyone can shop there. You have shown us that all of your customers are important to you!

Source:

Personal experience