KC mom’s invention secures solution to rollaway parking lot worries: Shopping with KartWheel

A new product developed by a Kansas City mom is giving caregivers peace of mind in the parking lot, said its inventor, Kristen Rock Chouinard.

KartWheel — launched in August 2024 — keeps a shopping cart’s wheel secure while a person is loading bags, bulky items, and kids into their car, she explained. 

Kristen Rock Chouinard, Kartwheel; courtesy photo

“Right now, there is not a safe way to unload your groceries, unload your kiddo into a car, and know that your cart is going to be where you left it,” said Rock Chouinard, founder of KartWheel, which is manufactured by Hanna Rubber Company in Kansas City. 

Nearly 66 kids visit an emergency room every day related to shopping cart injuries, said Jessica Palm, founder of Storia Strategies, the marketing company working with KartWheel and an early adopter of the product.

“The United States is one of the only countries that doesn’t have any safety standards for shopping carts,” she added.

With nearly 15 years of experience in business development, Rock Chouinard created KartWheel with new moms in mind, she explained. When she was a new mom of two boys under the age of 2, she had her own scary incident in a parking lot as the cart started to roll away with her newborn inside, she said.

“At the time, I was recovering from a c-section, and was exhausted and adjusting to life with a new baby and toddler,” she recalled. “The mom fog was real, and there had to be an easier and more effective way to manage my kiddos, load shopping bags, and not lose track of the cart.”

Rock Chouinard wants other moms to feel the confidence and security she experiences when she uses the KartWheel, she continued.

“Like a lot of us when we first had kids, Target and these places are destinations to fill our days, to keep ourselves relatively sane,” she added. “If this tool empowers another mom and helps her know that she has one less thing to worry about on her path, I will have done my job.”

Click here to connect with the KartWheel inventor on LinkedIn.

 

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But the product isn’t just for moms, Rock Chouinard noted. It was also designed with the aging and “uniquely-abled” populations in mind to help them maintain their independence.

So far, she continued, the emotional response to the product has been exactly what she was hoping for.

“A lot of people come up to me and say, like, ‘I can’t tell you how much I love it,’” Rock Chouinard explained. “‘I don’t go to Costco with my two girls without it. I’m just obsessed. Even when I’m not with my kids, I use it.’ Those are the comments that I was longing for when I created this.”

“Every Costco run, I have multiple people — men and women of all ages and backgrounds — asking, ‘What is this and how can I use it,and where can I get this?’” added Palm, who also has hands-on experience with the product. “I think it’s truly a testament. Out in the wild, people are curious. They want to know what it is and they want to use it.”

Click here to follow KartWheel on Instagram.

From a sales perspective, Rock Chouinard said, KartWheel — her second patented product — is gaining traction.

“I feel like we’re gaining brand awareness,” she continued. “The more I’m just out and about and talking about it, people are like, ‘Oh, I’ve heard of that or I’ve seen that. I think my mom, my friend, posted about that,’ which makes me super happy, too. I think we are gaining momentum and gaining a little bit of hype with what we’re trying to do.”

In 2025, she said the startup plans to partner with local nonprofits to give back, release more video content (some leaning into her class clown side), and get back to the mission of it all — building community.

“Once the product showed up and I started to use it, I was kind of looking at it as a symbol — in some ways — to remind the users that you’re not alone, that you have a little help in the parking lot,” she added. “So we’re trying to get back to that empowerment, coaching, branding piece early because that is just as important, in my opinion, as the product selling.”