{"id":108864,"date":"2024-02-05T23:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-02-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=108864"},"modified":"2024-02-06T15:44:18","modified_gmt":"2024-02-06T15:44:18","slug":"all-quiet-on-the-exchange-front","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/?p=108864","title":{"rendered":"All quiet on the Exchange front"},"content":{"rendered":"<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.army.mil\/\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>STUTTGART, Germany &#8211; Dimmed lights, no music, and a calm, refreshing atmosphere enveloped Stuttgart\u2019s Army Air Force Exchange Service main store (PX) during their inaugural sensory shopping day on Nov. 18, a worldwide first for the \u201cwe go where you go\u201d organization.<\/p>\n<p>The one hour of hustle-free shopping, a contrast to the store\u2019s usual holiday buzz, was a commitment the store workers aimed to fulfill for their most vulnerable customers. At the entrance, children and adults could choose from fidget spinners and bubblesquares to keep in their pockets and play with while walking around the store.<br \/>\u201cAs we continue to evolve as retailers, we recognize that we have to be more inclusive to our community members,\u201d said Carla McDowell, Exchange general manager, about the pilot program.<\/p>\n<p>The Stuttgart Exchange plans to host sensory shopping every second Saturday of the month from 7:55 to 8:55 a.m. Part of the shopping experience includes the opportunity to see and touch items before purchasing them.<br \/>\u201cCustomers want to see how items function in reality when they shop in person. They like to see TVs in their full glory. However, it is impossible to give both sets of customers the same experience simultaneously. This is a great solution for people who want to experience shopping in a less crowded and overwhelming space,\u201d said Robert Boylan, the PX store manager.<\/p>\n<p>To ensure a more peaceful and relaxed shopping experience, all TVs and the beeps at the checkout counters are turned off, and the lights are dimmed.<\/p>\n<p>AAFES Exchange employees are excited about this new program and are encouraging community members to participate, as it will help them provide the best service for all customers. \u201cThe community members drive this program, so we need people to come and give us their honest feedback so we can continue improving our service,\u201d McDowell said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m super excited about this event today. We want to make it an exclusive shopping environment and give people who would otherwise be hesitant to come out, and benefit from the service the Exchange can provide for them,\u201d said Boylan.<\/p>\n<p>McDowell is looking forward to having more customers make use of sensory shopping hours.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Exchange is here for the community. We serve a community that protects our freedom. It\u2019s not just the service members on the frontlines, but also their families who are here deployed with them. And we want them to have the best service we can provide,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>STUTTGART, Germany &#8211; Dimmed lights, no music, and a calm, refreshing atmosphere enveloped Stuttgart\u2019s Army Air Force Exchange Service main store (PX) during their inaugural sensory shopping day on Nov. 18, a worldwide first for the \u201cwe go where you go\u201d organization. The one hour of hustle-free shopping, a contrast to the store\u2019s usual holiday [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108864","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108864","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108864"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108864\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108865,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108864\/revisions\/108865"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108864"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108864"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/adn.monetizemail.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108864"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}