Target Makes Move for Mobility

Target is investing in customers needing accessible shopping carts to assist families who want to shop and not have to push a wheelchair and shopping cart together, according to a report in Upworthy.

Target’s new shopping cart is called Caroline’s Cart, and is named after Drew Ann Long’s daughter, Caroline, who has special needs. According to the report, Long developed the cart and marketed it, and Target began testing it in its stores because of an employee who had a family member with special needs.

With Caroline’s Carts in Target stores, parents can push their family members in the carts without having to have a separate wheelchair. photo credit: Shopping Carts via photopin (license)

According to the report, one parent of a child with special needs, Adam Standiford, posted on the Target Facebook page: “Dear Target, I can’t express enough how happy my wife was to see this at our local Target today. We have a 6 year old handicap girl who either doesn’t fit in carts anymore or gets weird looks to as why she’s sitting in the basket and can’t walk like a normal child. This simple cart literally will change how we can shop, not having to worry as to how we are going to get her into a store. … I will forever be Target loyal! Sincerely, Every parent of a special needs kid.”

According to the Target website, “Beginning March 19, the vast majority of our stores (with the exception of a handful of our smallest stores where we don’t have full-size carts) will have at least one Caroline’s Cart, and many will have more, depending on their guests’ needs.”

According to the Upworthy report, “It may look like a pretty ordinary cart … but for the families who will use it, it’s extraordinary.”