Abstract: A brake mechanism for a shopping cart able to brake an unattended cart while enabling manual release of the brakes for user control and automatic release of the brakes in response to telescoping joinder of the carts. Comprising the braking mechanism is a brake pad at the underside of a pair of vertically disposed brake rods displaceable for the pads to engage and disengage the caster wheels of the cart. A compressed coil spring on each brake rod biases the pad thereat toward engagement with the wheels. A transverse actuator bar adjacent the cart handle, when squeezed toward the cart handle, causes the brake rod to incur an upward camming and effect release of the brakes. At the same time, a second actuator bar resting on the swing seat of the cart and displaceable upwardly with the swing seat in response to telescoping of the carts is pivotally displaced upwardly in response to telescoping to raise the brake rods and release the brakes.