One of Britain's biggest supermarkets is to introduce a new "quieter hours" initiative to help support customers who may struggle to pick up essentials during busier, crowded periods.
Morrisons said new calmer shopping hours will come into force on Saturday and Sunday mornings to help those who many not feel at ease during the week.
Customers who visit between 9am and 10am will be able to browse in silence, with no tannoy announcements or music played in recognition of Autism Awareness Week.
Store lights will also be dimmed to make stores less chaotic for those with sensory difficulties while shelf stacking will be limited to avoid unnecessary noise.
It comes as supermarkets are preparing for busier crowds from Thursday, as shielding rules - which affect almost 4million people - come to an end in England and Wales.
Posting on Facebook, Morrisons wrote: "This week is World Autism Awareness Week. At Morrisons, we continue to support our customers with Quieter Hours, where we make the store environment quieter and calmer for customers with additional sensory needs, like autism.
"This is by dimming the lights, turning off the music, stopping announcements on the tannoy, reducing the movement of stock cages and turning off noisy machines.
"Our Quieter Hour is held between 9am to 10am on Saturday mornings and the first hour of our store opening on Sunday mornings. #QuieterHour#WorldAutismAwarenessWeek.
The post quickly gained traction with shoppers, and many praised the retailer for making time for those with autism.
"Brilliant well done," said one person.
Another wrote: "Good move."
Should Morrisons make this permanent? Tell us your thoughts in the comments section below
"This is good to see for children, teens, and adults with ASD," commented a third.
However, others took the update as a new excuse to complain.
"Should be like this all the time, like you need to get a new playlist as your current taste of music is atrocious," commented one person.
Another said: "Does that include the decibel breaking self checkouts?.. why are they so loud in morrisons?!"
But one disgruntled employee accused the firm of doing too much to help customers.
"Just wish Morrisons would stop doing anything to help anybody as I'm fed up of all the moaning and complaining from the "what about me?" crowd," they wrote.
"It's hard enough for me working in the store without people whinging all the time. "
