Jennifer Moonsong/ WCLU News Director
Phillips Family Grocery in Hiseville, has had a lasting legacy steeped in tradition since 1960, when Clyde and Helen Phillips built the store after the encouragement of farmers in the community. Over the course of the past year major expansions, upgrades, and updates have taken place. Before the end of the year, they hope to open a Glasgow location, known as The Butcher Shop, as well as a Greensburg location. Under the direction of Trevor Phillips and his siblings, the store has continue to add elements of the new, while keeping the traditions of yesteryear live, creating an atmosphere of small shopping with big conveniences.
This week they’ve added a new element, making the store and Phillips shopping experience more accessible to more people.
The new Caroline’s Cart was designed by a mother of a child with special needs in 2008.
“We got new carts with the changing and rebranding, and a patron asked if we’d consider getting a Caroline’s Cart,” Phillips said.
For those of you who don’t know, Caroline’s Carts were designed by mother, Drew Ann Long, who first started drawing sketches of a shopping cart at her kitchen table in 2008, designed to accommodate her daughter Caroline, who has special needs. No less than two decades later the cart can be purchased for stores worldwide, and is used around the globe.
Drew Ann Long and her daughter Caroline, the inspiration behind the cart.
Many big chain stores including Target have made Caroline’s Carts common place, but for a small entity such as Phillips Family Grocery, it is an above and beyond measure, for meeting the needs of all shoppers, and Phillips is proud of the addition.
“It can be used by families who have children with special needs, it can be used by adults with special needs, and we can even use it for elderly couples who come to shop, and one is more capable than the other,” Phillips added.
“I hope it makes for a more pleasurable and more accessible shopping experience for our customers who needs such a cart.”
The Greensburg location will also have a Caroline’s Cart, as the Phillips family ordered two when they made the purchase of new carts.
If you’re interested in learning more about the story of Caroline, the inspiration for the car you can do so, by scanning the QR code located on the back of the cart. It tells the complete story of the family and the little girl for whom the cart was named.
