The Entertainer has announced plans to roll out its Quiet Hour for children living with autism every Saturday, following a successful pilot last month.
Starting this month, the toy retailer will roll out the initiative across all its stores, shutting the music off for the first hour of opening.
This comes after a pilot of the programme during half term last month which received “positive feedback” from customers.
Quiet Hour is designed to make shopping a more comfortable experience for children with autism, who can find busy crowds and loud noises overwhelming.
“We continually look for ways to improve customer experience as it’s hugely important to us that all children feel comfortable in our stores and are able to explore the toys we have available,” The Entertainer’s founder and managing director Gary Grant said.
The National Autistic Society’s Daniel Cadey added: “We’re delighted that The Entertainer is taking this positive step to make shopping a better experience for autistic children.
“Small changes such as removing in-store music can make a huge difference to autistic people, who can struggle to filter out background noise which can cause them enormous distress.
“We hope to see other stores follow The Entertainer’s lead and make whatever changes they can to support the needs of all their customers.”
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