Warehouses with lack of sensory concern...

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My dad's been dragging our family to Costco and Home Depot and I hate them. There's always bumping and loud wood-chopping noises. It reeks of leather and rusty metal and fluorescent lights dangle daringly from the ceiling.

Do you like / not like warehouses?

Menards, Home Depot, and Farm&Fleet are the worst! They are just too big, and there aren't any space(line of sight) divisions. Anytime I'm at these places I latch onto my husband until we get out the door. Way too disorientating.

For some reason I also think of Ikea on busy days. Too many people and no easy way out

But I always try to make a plan and fly from place to place, without spending too much time. And I try to go on the quiet hours.

I haven't seen too many aspies on this site who do like the so-called big box stores, and I'm with them. I wouldn't expect these places to try to accommodate us, as these stores are the way they are so that they can offer the cheapest prices--which I think is the only reason anybody would frequent them, NT or aspie. I think the most we can do is to shop in them during hours when they are least crowded, such as early mornings.

Try 3:00am

Videodrome, I've tried to late-night thing. What I found though was that the people who were in the store were sometimes cause for concern in and of themselves, which created their own causes for anxiety, even if nothing ever happened.

Instead, I would recommend we roust ourselves as early as possible and get to these stores before 9:00 am, and before eight would be even better. At least for me, morning people tend to give me a lot less reason for anxiety than do the night owls.

Of course, this is just me, and your mileage may vary.

I don't really like wherehouses, big box stores or industrial supply type stores as a rule, I shop at my local downtown hardware store with maybe 8 really short isles and I buy most of my wood at a local speciality shop where not much goes on very fast, the service is better at these places aswell and since its usually the same people all the time you can over time develop a working relationship with the store owners/workers. Its easier to stay on track and find things, not get frusterated and not get lost at the smaller stores aswell. I only usually willingly go into a big box store if theres something I want from the discount flyer they send around.

Lol to 3am! I also hate them and most grocery stores etc. My least favorite is Walmart so I just never shop there. Unfortunately my client's family does (my job is as a 1:1 to little boy with HFA) and so I have to go there sometimes. I wish that my boss and other NT autism professionals would listen to us high functioning adults on the spectrum because certain stores I would just advise parents to avoid. I also try to shop the stores I shop when they are less crowded. The Safeway store near me while more expensive, has lower level lighting and darker colored floors which reduces the fluorescent glare and they seem to rarely if ever change their layout and my other coping skill is to memorize how a store is organized so I can just go right where the stuff I need is. I like Target for prices but it's vey bright. Still at least it's logically organized so once I have the one near me memorized then when I do have to go there, I usually know where in the store to head for. IKEA is really tricky because it's a circular maze to me but they do have "short cuts" to get out but those are narrow and if it's crowded then hard to get to them or through them.

All these stores are laid out based on market research on things like what makes an NT brain impulse buy and stay in the store longer so they potentially spend more money. But these tactics don't work on the autistic brain. For me they make me want to leave and in some cases just never go to certain stores that are too over stimulating and not logically organized.

I work in a warehouse. I find the noise doesn't bother me so much in stores and warehouses compared to other responses here. What bothers me is construction zones and power tools. I don't have to worry about that where I work unless there is renovation of some kind going on. I used to hate where I was living a couple years ago because I worked afternoons and construction was going on outside of my house as early as 7:30 am when I wasn't in bed until sometime around 2-3 am.

Totally! I went to Ikea for the first time a few weeks ago and nearly had a panic attack. I got dizzy and started crying a little when I couldn't figure out where I was in the store and couldn't find any employees to help. Wow....that was a tough store.

I hate warehouses. I hate being in them and buying things in them and getting out of them. Plus the last time I was at CostCo, I was in the parking lot waiting for everyone else to finish whatever they were doing, and this guy came up and grabbed my arm and commented on the soda I'd purchased. I mean he wasn't being hostile, but my skin crawled for hours afterward.

Along with the sensory issues, I can't handle the crowds. There are always so many people moving around unpredictably I worry that someone will crash right into me. The word I would use is "careening." It's extremely stressful.

I hate Costco, eggsept for the food place outside that sells the very berry smoothie that I like and the hot dogs that I like.

My verry merry berry habit came from the very berry smoothie at Costco food place.

The smoothie is definitely a redeeming factor.

The hot dogs are good too, although I like the pizza a bit more.

My wife understands that crowds, noise, and bright lights inside the big box stores "bother" me (translation: I want to scream and run out), so we try to go during off-hours and take our time to slowly stroll the aisles unimpeded. The lighting is still a bother (remedy: hat & sunglasses), but the noise is diminished and they're not so crowded.

The local markets are better, imo.

I also like the churro and the sundae at Costco.

Shades and earphones or earplugs...