Four-year-old Sophie Birkin loves the toy Asda shop she got for her birthday so her mum Sarah Foley asked at our Brierley Hill store if she could possibly have a name badge to wear while she was playing.
But our colleague Carol Burgess thought we could do much better than that so arranged for Sophie to have a VIP tour of the store before it opened on a Sunday morning including having a go on on the checkouts. Sophie also received a goody bag of gifts including an Asda T-shirt and lorry.
Sarah says Sophie, who has born at 26 weeks and has cerebral palsy and hydrocephalus, loves her weekly shop to Asda and had missed going there during lockdown.
Sarah said: "She's been going to the store for the last couple of years and just loves it. She's got her own Asda shop and trolley so I asked if she could possibly have a name badge but they invited her down and she got the full experience.
"The shop wasn't open so she got to run up and down the toy aisles, got some home baking goods and then had a go on the checkouts. She was so happy – she loved it. When we got in the car to go home she asked if we could ring Carol back to ask when she could go back.
"Sophie got an Asda T-shirt in the goody bag and she loves it. She puts it on as soon as she's finished school. We can't thank Asda enough for arranging it all."
Carol, who's the store's customer section manager, says everyone at the store is so pleased that Sophie enjoyed her day out.
She said: "I arranged for Sophie to come to the store for an hour while it was closed and no other customers there. She pushed her little trolley round the aisles and then we put the till in training mode and let her scan some items. She seemed to love the chair more than anything! She had such a lovely day which we're all glad about as she's such a wonderful little girl."
