Kroger Honored by American Foundation for the Blind

The Kroger Co. (Cincinnati) has announced that one of its Cincinnati-area stores won the annual Access Award from the American Foundation for the Blind for store layout and design features that accommodate blind and visually impaired shoppers.

Kroger will accept its award at a luncheon ceremony Feb. 20, 2003, at the Beverly Hills Hilton in Los Angeles.

The store, which has also been honored by Cincinnati's Inclusion Network (a non-profit organization that promotes inclusion of people with disabilities), features textured sidewalks near three entrances, weekly sales fliers printed in Braille available at the customer service desk and specially trained store employees.

The store contains no vending machines, benches or newspaper stands near the entrances, where they could become obstructions.

“The American Foundation For the Blind values the thinking and consideration of the supermarket chain that wanted to make sure that people with visual impairments and other disabilities have an easier time shopping at their store,” said Tony Candela, a spokesman for the foundation for the blind, which sent visually impaired “mystery shoppers” to the store to evaluate it. “The artistry of what they did is in the subtlety of what they did,” he said.