At the urging of an Eagle Mountain mother, Wal-Mart is stepping up to help residents here find the specialty uniforms they need to send their children to charter school.

"I wanted our local store to carry our local needs," said Tiffany Ulmer, mother of a fifth-grader and a first-grader who will be attending the Ranches Academy this fall. "I want local shopping, to support the parents."

Ulmer even had trouble finding the uniforms her children needed in stores in American Fork. So she decided to do something to help herself and other families in Saratoga Springs, Eagle Mountain and Cedar Valley.

"They normally do not carry the charter school uniforms," Ulmer said. "I contacted the corporate office, and they got back to me within 24 hours. They were very responsive. They were very excited."

Ulmer said that she didn't approach the store with just her own needs. The charter school her children attend only has about 300 students, she said. Figuring that there was strength in numbers, she also gave Wal-Mart the uniform requirements for Lakeview Academy in Saratoga Springs, which has about 900 students, figuring the store was more likely to cooperate if store officials knew there was a large need.

"It gave me number power," Ulmer said of her strategy.

"Offering the school uniforms fits with our store-of-the-community philosophy, in which we tailor our assortment to meet customer demand in specific communities," said Wal-Mart corporate spokeswoman Kelly Cheeseman. "It is our goal, obviously, to respond to customer requests. This was a customer request and we were able to meet that request."

For Ulmer, having the uniforms available locally also means "we don't have to drive through that nasty Lehi traffic," she said.

In addition to making shopping less time-consuming and saving gas, Ulmer said she also wanted to keep her tax dollars local, as local cities receive a portion of the tax collected within their boundaries.