The Super Supermarkets . . .

These days, supermarkets are offering so much more than just groceries and luxury goods.

Normally, when people go shopping in a supermarket, they park as near to the entrance as possible, take a trolley from outside, whiz up and down the aisles, fill their trolley– pay at the checkout counter, put the groceries into the boot of their car and get home as soon as possible.

However, many supermarkets, especially in England, have decided to go that extra mile and offer more than groceries. Firstly, they have realised that shopping is not easy for many people and are trying to cater for the needs of these customers. Morrison’s, for example, one of England’s largest supermarket chains, has introduced a "quieter hour" for autistic shoppers who struggle with noise. Its 439 UK stores will turn music off, dim lights, avoid using the tannoy and turn check-out beeps down on Saturdays from 9am to 10am – and many other stores have followed suit. Parents with autistic children, who used to dread shopping because the lights and noise in stores upset their children, have welcomed this idea.

Dementia-friendly supermarkets, such as Sainsbury’s and Tesco’s, have specially trained staff to help with customers who suffer from dementia and a special checkout that is for people who need more time to pay for their goods, as they can’t recognise the coins. They have introduced "Dementia-friendly" toilets with colourful exits to help the customers find their way out.

Many supermarkets, all over the world, offer special "Singles’ Nights" when, if you are single and looking for a partner, you can meet other single people while getting your weekly shop. Customers often go home with more than just their milk and bread and they have the chance of seeing a potentially new partner, before speaking to them.

Then there are the supermarkets that want to get a political message across .An Edeka store, in Hamburg, organised a campaign against racism and removed all foreign-made goods from its shelves and replaced them with anti-xenophobia slogans on signs saying: "This shelf is pretty boring without diversity", "Our range now knows borders", "This is how empty a shelf is without foreigners" and "We will be poorer without diversity". Imagine the shock and disbelief of the customers, when they entered the store to find the only goods available were those made in Germany.

Edeka, the largest supermarket chain in Germany, wants to organise more campaigns and I find it fantastic. However, even though some shoppers were full of praise for the campaign – many others were furious. As customers looked around for their Greek olives, Italian tomatoes, Spanish ham, Brazilian coffee, Indian tea and even Swiss chocolate, they were forced to accept that without foreigners the supermarket shelves would be dull and empty.

Immigration is still the main talking point in Germany and has been since 2015, when Angela Merkel allowed more than a million migrants into the country. Many of them were refugees from war-torn Syria, who are still waiting for their right to asylum in the country of their choice. Racism is on the rise in many countries all over the world and hate-crime is increasing as Muslims have to tolerate being abused or shouted at in the streets and their mosques set fire to. You only have to read the comments that some trolls have written on Facebook, about the Edeka campaign, to realise that there is a huge problem.

I think it is wonderful that supermarkets and stores are paying more attention to their customers’ needs and offering us not just goods but special care, romance and politics too.