Turn that 🍍 upside down!

September 4, 2024 11:51 AM

The idea that Mercadona might be a prime location for meeting potential partners was first popularised by Vivy Lin, a TV personality who shared a video on TikTok. According to Lin, many people head to Mercadona between 7 pm and 8 pm with more than just grocery shopping on their minds… They’re hoping to find love in the aisles.

La rebelión de los amantes del Mercadona [El Pais]
“Tinder-Dona” and upside-down pineapples calls for police presence [Euroweekly]
Spain’s 'pineapple-gate' sparks hopes of romance and shop chaos [BBC]
'It's a match': Iberians ditch dating apps to find partners in supermarkets [Euronews]
Nation Embroiled In Controversy Over Uncovered Secret Code For Hooking Up At Supermarket Chain [Bored Panda]

posted by chavenet (18 comments total)

This is hilarious, but it’s also tragic that many people are single that it causes a police presence when some of them go to the supermarket.
posted by corb at 11:55 AM on September 4 [2 favorites]

Happy Days, "A Date With Fonzie," S3.E10
"When Richie breaks up with his long time girlfriend, he finds it difficult to ask a girl out. So he asks Fonzie for help. He decides to take Richie to the supermarket where he says he can meet and pick up girls. But it doesn't turn out so well..."
Also the introduction of Laverne and Shirley.
posted by indexy at 12:04 PM on September 4 [6 favorites]

See also the (SF) Marina Safeway in "Tales of the City."
posted by CheeseDigestsAll at 12:10 PM on September 4 [7 favorites]

Thanks for posting this, because I was considering doing it.

Would that flashing pineapple would make it that easy...
posted by jenfullmoon at 12:21 PM on September 4 [1 favorite]

EroticShopping tag ftw. Nice job there, even if I thought it would have a different meaning.
posted by Snowishberlin at 12:21 PM on September 4 [1 favorite]

I wonder if the upside down pineapple is some kind of nod to its use as swinger symbolism, a question of something lost in translation or just a coincidence?
posted by ssg at 12:22 PM on September 4 [2 favorites]

In other news, if you've been yearning to find a nemesis, allow me to direct you to your nearest Trader Joe's parking lot.
posted by thivaia at 12:22 PM on September 4 [20 favorites]

"legumes indicate a serious relationship"
Beans, beans, good for the heart
posted by indexy at 12:45 PM on September 4 [9 favorites]

Thanks for posting this, because I was considering doing it.

It's now past 8pm in Spain, so I'm sure we all want to know: ligaste?
posted by ssg at 1:01 PM on September 4 [1 favorite]

This was a fun read and I get why people would go why not and give it a try after seeing it online.
A. it tells you that the person you're meeting has also read or viewed the article, so common interest right there
B. its much more fun that just swiping right and left.
C you can get your shopping done at the same time.
posted by Art_Pot at 1:34 PM on September 4 [7 favorites]

I wonder if the upside down pineapple is some kind of nod to its use as swinger symbolism, a question of something lost in translation or just a coincidence?

There's a longstanding Austin urban legend about a specific grocery store being used as a swinger hookup, with shoppers using an upside down pineapple as the sign. This is surely related.
posted by tofu_crouton at 2:07 PM on September 4 [1 favorite]

I knew a guy in my youth who swore to god he only ever got laid by hitting on moms at the Costco.
posted by potrzebie at 3:45 PM on September 4 [5 favorites]

"If you brought me diamonds,
If you brought me pearls,
If you brought me roses
Like some other gents
Might bring to other girls,
It couldn't please me more
Than the gift I see;
A pineapple for me."
posted by Rufous-headed Towhee heehee at 9:03 PM on September 4 [3 favorites]

“As one might bring you cowslips in a hat
swung from the hand, or apples in her skirt”
posted by clew at 10:40 PM on September 4 [1 favorite]

The large Safeway on Wisconsin Ave. here used to be called the "Social Safeway" precisely because of the amount of cruising and eye-fucking that would, reportedly, go on among the singles (and, possibly, not-singles) in its aisles. Some years back, the store underwent a huge renovation into a Super-Safeway or whatever they're called after being put on steroids. No reports as to whether the social aspect of the store left with the old decor.
posted by the sobsister at 8:34 AM on September 5 [1 favorite]

I was just going to comment on the Social Safeway!! That goes back to the 80s. [high-fives the sobsister]
posted by JanetLand at 11:47 AM on September 5 [2 favorites]

Follow-up article on this in NYT:

Lidia Izquierdo, a 19-year-old studying to be a teacher in Barcelona, said that she had tried three times without success to find a partner in her local Mercadona stores. Her first attempt, she said, was thwarted by “too many 14-year-olds walking around with pineapples in their hands.” On her second outing, there were no pineapples so she improvised with canned fruit, but the stars were still not aligned. On her third visit, she said, a store employee was guarding the pineapples. She gave up and went home.
posted by jenfullmoon at 8:29 AM on September 12

STORE EMPLOYEE GUARDING THE PINEAPPLES amazing.
posted by corb at 8:57 AM on September 12 [1 favorite]