What you may be missing is that they changed their name from ICCDS not to many months ago.
They use the Sassie system, but don't appear to grade shops for shoppers.
I looked at one of their shops and noticed a grade of 5 or higher was needed to self-assign. Everyone starts at 5 in the Sassie system as far as I know and only rejected shops get a lower grade than 5. So effectively everyone can self-assign that particular shop.
Happily shopping Rhode Island and nearby Massachusetts and Connecticut