Metro Roundup: Vestavia Hills resident creates fabric handles for shopping carts

When Vestavia Hills resident Alison Ketcham began shopping for Shipt in late 2017, she noticed about six months in that her forearms were bruised from resting them on shopping cart handles.

Ketcham, who said she has done about 3,500 Shipt orders in the last few years and averages 35 to 40 orders per week, said it was so bad, she knew her arms would start bleeding. Knowing her job meant pushing carts with her forearms while looking at the Shipt app, Ketcham went to work designing something that would help her be more comfortable while shopping.

Ketcham soon developed Cart Buddies in May 2019, which snap on to the shopping cart handle to keep it both clean and comfortable for the shopper. The creation has helped her better navigate the job, which she said is no longer just a “gap” job. But developing Cart Buddies is in keeping with her entrepreneurial spirit, she said. She previously began a coffee shop and a publishing company.

Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease, the demand for Cart Buddies has exploded, Ketcham said. She never imagined that would happen when she was just trying to make something to help her bruising arms, she said.

But soon after she started using them, even before the pandemic, Ketcham said people began coming up to her, praising the idea and wondering where they could get one.

Those requests have multiplied since COVID-19 began wreaking havoc across the country, Ketcham said.

“Especially with the pandemic, it just became so obvious this was an idea whose time had come,” she said.

The handle slips over the handles of a shopping cart and is measured to fit the carts at 13 major retailers, Ketcham said. Those 13 retailers are Target, Whole Foods, Publix, Winn-Dixie,Costco (both the cart and flatbed), Aldi, Dollar Tree, Dollar General, Piggly Wiggly, Lowe’s, Walmart, Sam’s and Home Depot. A handle for Winn-Dixie’s child’s cart is also available, Ketcham said.

She took time to go to each of the stores and measure their handles to ensure the Cart Buddies would fit securely. Seeing what she was doing, some store managers even expressed interest in selling them in their store, possibly with their logos, she said.

Shopping cart handles, in normal times, are disgusting, carrying disgusting germs and other not-so-sanitary things, Ketcham said.

While shopping cart handles are not new to the market, Ketcham said she has worked hard to perfect her product.

She also brought her friend, Camille Witt, on board to help with the business, with Witt volunteering her new dining room as a space dedicated to the business.

As of early August, Ketcham said she had sold about 25 of the Cart Buddies and was expanding her online presence in an attempt to sell more, now that she has help and more space.

Similar to how masks have no shortage of possible designs, Ketcham has worked to incorporate some unique designs on her handles for customers.

“We’re trying to appeal not just to their sense of safety and comfort, but also make them kind of fun,” Ketcham said.

There are patterns for dog lovers, cat lovers, lovers of tie-dye and even an Autism Awareness Ribbon design, which has been very popular, Ketcham said. A pattern with the numbers 1 through 10 should be popular with parents of toddlers, allowing a grocery trip to be educational, Ketcham said. There are also patriotic designs, camouflage and breast cancer awareness designs.

Connie Bodily purchased the dog print item and loves it.

“They’re cute,” Bodily said. “I’m a big dog person. ... It’s definitely keeping everything clean.”

Bodily said she feels safer not having to touch the handles of shopping carts.

Customers don’t have to worry about washing the Cart Buddies either because they can be sprayed and disinfected easily, Ketcham said. The fleece and the ribbons are adhered to the foam, and the product is durable, she said.

Ketcham said she knows there is always room for improvement but feels the Cart Buddies are ready to go to market, and there’s no telling how far it will take her.

“I really feel like the sky is the limit,” she said.

The Cart Buddies are $25, plus $7.50 for shipping. Ketcham is also selling Cart Buddies for handheld shopping carts, and those are $10. Customers who purchase one of each pay $30 total, she said.

They should be available on Etsy or Facebook this month.