Woolworth’s extends quiet hour

By Lua Ikenasio

Feb 25, 2025

The Woolworth’s quiet hour will now happen five days a week. Photo by Steve Huntley

Woolworths has extended its quiet hour to five days a week to help reduce anxiety and sensory stress for customers with specific needs.

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During quiet hour, most Woolworths stores will lower lights, turn down music or radio, turn off beeps at the register and turn off oven buzzers for an hour.

The initiative was developed in consultation with disability service provider Life Without Barriers and launched in 2019.

Since then, it has been rolled out to more than 900 stores across Australia.

Woolworths director of stores Jeanette Fenske said the initiative had been well received.

“We continue to receive positive feedback from customers on the initiative,” she said.

“The expansion of quiet hour to five days a week has been trialled over busy shopping periods such as Christmas and we are proud to now be able to meet customer needs with this five days a week.”

Quiet hour will run from 10.30am to 11.30am every Monday to Friday in most stores nationally.

During this hour, temporary changes are made to the store, including turning off bakery ovens or chicken cooker buzzers, reducing volume on store phones and registers on the trading floor, clearing store entryways, reducing lighting and in-store music, removing roll cages from the shop floor and stopping all PA announcements.