A mother from Michigan is calling on grocery stores to become more family-friendly. Jane Kramer, who lives in Bath Township, has set up a petition for the removal of candies, junk food and tabloid magazines at the checkout line. She believes that doing so will reduce the number of the kids and parents who pick up these items at the last minute.
Kramer's petition was lodged via Change.Org, where she specifically names Meijer, a superstore chain in Ohio, as well as Wisconsin, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. She plans to deliver her petition to its CEOs Hendrik Meijer and Mark Murray, and company president Rick Keyes, once it has reached her target number of signatures.
The mother said that she didn't use to have problems with these items at the checkout lines in the store that is near her home. But things changed when she realized how this has influenced grocery habits when she became a parent of an adopted boy.
"Our only options were junk and I wanted to be able to buy a banana or carrots," she told ABC News. Apart from the food, she said that the tabloids at the checkout lines have "horrible titles" that prompted her son to ask questions.
Michigan mom launches petition to remove candy and magazines from Meijer checkout aisles - WXYZ https://t.co/bKzPeo1OXi pic.twitter.com/4Zi5NjqkcF
— Dora Wurth (@DoraWurth) January 3, 2017
Jane Kramer could always say no to her son when he would pick up the junk food but not every mom does the same. For her, stores should make shopping experience more family-friendly and this is one way of ensuring buying healthy habits - if stores also become proactive about it, Freep reports.
Jane Kramer's son was only 5 when he became part of the family. Now, he's 13-years-old and the mother said that she had called Meijer's selling practice over five years ago through their customer service department. The chain store didn't act on her complaint.
The mom was adamant about this and called up the store again in 2016 and was told there is no way she can have an audience with the corporate heads. "I thought the only way I can get people to listen is to get other people who feel the same way I do," she said. As her drive has been picked up by media, Meijer has not given its response regarding the issue as of press time.
