For 17-year-old Dhwani Shah, it’s a completely new experience of learning how to generate a bill for the goods purchased by a customer. For Abhiraj Singh, 17, it’s knowing which is the dedicated rack for noodles and guiding customers towards it. All this is happening at newly launched Urja Mart, which is not an ordinary supermarket.

Launched on March 20 in Mahavir Nagar, Kandivli (West) by Dr Mihir Parekh, a psychologist and special educator, and his wife Pooja Parekh, who have been working with children with special needs since 2008, the supermarket aims to provide children with special abilities with skill sets that will help them become employable. Within a week of its opening, the mart has caught the attention of the local residents who stepped in to purchase goods.