Sainsbury's operates the first sign language supermarket in the UK

Sainsbury's has turned one of its stores into the first supermarket in the UK to support the hearing-impaired community.

The Bath branch, renamed "Signsbury's" for the three-day project, took this initiative as part of the supermarket's 150-day supermarket community program to mark the company's 150th anniversary.

Staff communicated with clients verbally and with sign language, signing words and phrases such as the location of food products.

The children took part in a challenge that earned them a free snack when they learned to sign simple words.

To prepare for the project, more than 100 store employees took British Sign Language clbades, led by a local signature center, I Can Sign.

The lessons were supported by Sam Brook, a deaf Sainsbury employee, and Rachel Shenton, the actor who played Lily Summers in the film. Exchanged at birth.

Last year, Shenton received an Oscar for The silent child, a short film that she wrote about a four-year-old deaf girl.

The screenwriter, ambbadador for the National Society of Deaf Children, has signed her acceptance speech at the Oscars.

"It's a fantastic initiative to participate in," said Shenton about the sign language store.

"It's great to see Sainsbury's colleagues also be engaged in this idea and it's a big step towards inclusion of the deaf community."

Paul Robertson, the store manager, said, "We have many hearing-impaired customers in Bath and we always want to make their experience as brilliant as possible."

In October, Starbucks opened its first sign shop in the United States.

The branch was opened in Washington DC, near Gallaudet University, which houses students who are deaf or hard of hearing.