Skip to Main Content | Skip to Navigation | Site Map | Contact Us | Join Us | Support Us
Colorado Cross-Disability Coalition Nothing About Us Without Us

You are here: Home |

UPDATE! The Loaf ’N Jug issue has been fixed.

Is there a Loaf ’N Jug in your town?

There are 194 Loaf ‘N Jugs in Colorado, starting with Store #1 in Fowler, about 35 miles east of Pueblo on Highway 50. Over the summer, members of the Arkansas Valley STEPS noticed that the store was being remodeled. There were trucks with construction equipment all over the parking lot and a shed was erected on the handicapped parking space. The manager said she had requested a handicapped bathroom, but the District Manager had refused to put one in.

STEPS went into action. First we sent a representative with ADA experience to speak with management. When he stopped by the store, he persuaded the maintenance crew to at least move the shed off the handicapped parking space and consider putting in grab bars, which they did. When he spoke with management at the district headquarters in Pueblo, he was told that the renovations underway did not require remodeling the bathrooms because that would cost more than 20% of the total construction project.

We scratched our heads and did a little research. Here’s what we found. We’ve listed the citations to save you work, but they’re long. The plain English is in blue. The bolded text are the key words we used

In short: when you alter an old facility, you have to make your best effort to make it accessible,

In short: this includes remodeling.

In short: You have to make an accessible path to primary functions during construction, but this shouldn’t cost more than 20% of the total project. It doesn’t apply to this renovation.

In short: Kroger can afford to make an effort short of replacing the bathroom.

We made one final plea in writing and followed up with phone calls when our letter got no response. We have a tape recording of a management official angrily denying that Loaf ‘N Jug was under any obligation to bring conditions up to ADA standards. Then we planned for an “information picket” in front of the store along the highway with signs, slogans, chants and media coverage.

The media person in our group called the store manager to let her know what we were doing and assure her that we were targeting the district management, not her. She called district management. We got a meeting immediately with the President of Loaf ‘N Jug, Art Stawsky. He agreed that it would be feasible to put a wider doorway in a non-load bearing wall and make one of the bathrooms accessible. There were several ways of doing this. He even thought there might be a way to get 60” of turn around space. This is more than we asked for. (We just wanted a place to pee.)

Loaf ‘N Jug still believes that it doesn’t have to remodel the bathrooms because that area of the store was not altered in the renovation. Many of the older stores around the state have the same floor plan, which means it’s feasible to make the changes. Of course we recognize that some stores have different floor plans and sometimes there really isn’t a way to make them accessible without tearing down the store. We urge you to keep an eye on the corner Loaf ‘N Jug and contact Art Stawski if you see changes that don’t include access.

Arthur Stawski, President

Loaf ‘N Jug/Mini Mart, Inc.

442 Keeler Parkway

Pueblo, CO 81001

Arthur.stawski@loafnjug.com

Phone 719-948-3071 Fax 719-948-2603

Nothing will happen unless you insist on it.

Kristen Castor

The Arkansas Valley STEPS

UPDATE! The Loaf ’N Jug issue has been fixed.

Thank you for visiting CCDCOnline.org - Come back again soon.