Five Minutes With: Slow Shopping Founder Katherine Vero

What is Slow Shopping?

Slow Shopping is about making shopping calmer and more supportive so that everyone feels welcome. It offers dedicated times where shops reduce noise, provide seating, and ensure staff are trained to help. This creates a safe, inclusive environment where people who need more time, whether because of age, disability, illness, or simply life circumstances, can shop at their own pace and with dignity.

What inspired you to set up Slow Shopping?

It began with my own experience shopping with my mother, who lived with dementia. I saw how stressful and overwhelming shops could be for her, and how small changes could have made a huge difference. That experience inspired me to create Slow Shopping, so that others in similar situations could enjoy everyday activities, stay independent longer, and feel part of their community.

What are the benefits of Slow Shopping for both customers and businesses?

For customers, the benefits are about dignity, independence, and inclusion. A calmer environment with supportive staff means they can take their time, feel safe, and enjoy the simple but important act of shopping. Crucially, no one has to identify themselves or “qualify” to use Slow Shopping, it’s the environment that changes to support them. This means anyone who needs a little more time, for whatever reason, can benefit.

For businesses, Slow Shopping builds stronger relationships with customers and opens the door to the “purple pound” – the spending power of disabled people and their families. It also boosts staff confidence and pride, showing that their workplace is caring and inclusive. Often, businesses find that the small changes made for Slow Shopping actually improve the experience for everyone. It also helps businesses achieve their ESG goals.

Slow Shopping was recently rolled out at Newcastle's Grainger Market. Why was the market chosen as the place to launch the initiative?

Grainger Market is right at the heart of Newcastle, an historic space that serves everyone, young to old. Its traders are deeply rooted in the community, and the market already has a reputation for being welcoming, friendly and supportive.

It felt like the perfect place to launch because Slow Shopping is about inclusion, connection, and everyday experiences. Starting in Grainger Market shows how even the busiest, most traditional shopping environments can adapt with just a few small changes to make everyone feel valued and included.

Which other locations and businesses have come on board?

We’ve been really encouraged by the variety of organisations that see the value of Slow Shopping. Newcastle Building Society has introduced the approach in its branches, and Wagamama in Old Eldon Square ran an inclusive dining trial with us and is continuing to offer Slow Shopping on the first Tuesday of each month. We’re also planning a project in Cramlington, working with both Manor Walks Shopping Centre and Concordia Leisure Centre to extend the idea beyond retail and hospitality

I’ve also been asked to help develop a project in Setagaya Ward in Tokyo, and I’ll be travelling there at the end of this year.

What sort of services do you provide for businesses that would like to become more accessible and inclusive?

Slow Shopping works alongside businesses as a partner in inclusion. We start by looking at what’s already in place – auditing current practice, reviewing equality, diversity and ESG goals, and identifying where small, practical changes can make the biggest difference.

We provide consultancy, staff training, and ongoing support so that businesses not only achieve their inclusion goals but also sustain them over time. We’re also building a database of participating businesses, so carers, older people, and those with visible or invisible disabilities can easily see who offers Slow Shopping.

Where possible, we advocate for Slow Shopping to be offered on Tuesday afternoons. This creates a consistent time across businesses, making it easier for people to plan, get out into their communities, and feel supported by a wider network working together.

We also want to work with businesses within their offices to support inclusive times in the working week which are calm.

What plans do you have for Slow Shopping in the future?

My dream is for Newcastle to become the first city in the UK where Slow Shopping is available throughout the city centre. Newcastle has a proud history of innovation, and it would be wonderful if it could lead the way in modelling this inclusive approach.

Looking ahead, I want the philosophy of Slow Shopping – giving people time and space to complete everyday tasks and engage with their community – to grow not just across the UK but internationally. We want to make inclusion part of ordinary, daily life everywhere.

Slow Shopping hours will run at Newcastle’s Grainger Market every Tuesday between 2pm and 4pm. For more information about Slow Shopping and how to get involved visit slowshopping.org.uk.

Image: Katherine Vero, founder of Slow Shopping