Young singles looking for love in grocery store

Gen Z’s quest for the perfect encounter has taken them to the most banal of places: the grocery store.

Singles in Spain are queuing up at stores of popular supermarket chain Mercadona to buy some goods in the hope of creating some spontaneous romance.

Tired of the endless online dating scene, young people looking for love are increasingly turning their search for love at first sight off apps and taking to the streets instead — just like in the movies.

“It doesn’t happen on apps,” Lidia Izquierdo, 19, told The New York Times last week. The student from Barcelona recently made three trips to her neighborhood, Mercadona, to increase her chances of meeting her soul mate after she saw the quick shopping date go viral on TikTok.

They don’t leave it all to chance. Perhaps borrowing from swinger culture, the pineapple is considered an appropriate signal to other singles that you’re here not just to buy things but also to socialize.

Those ready to take action are advised to playfully bump the shopping cart with the shopper they have their eye on.

The pineapple had to be upside down, and canned pineapple wouldn’t work, Izquierdo discovered on his second try, when the fresh pineapple had sold out due to the dating craze. On his third try, a store employee was manning the pineapple stand.

Despite the failed attempt, Izquierdo told The New York Times she plans to return.

According to Spanish media reports, the trend was popularized by comedian Vivy Lin, who reportedly first observed “Mercadona’s dating time” after she noticed the aisles were filled with seemingly single men and women between 7 and 8 p.m. every night.

Soon after, videos began to appear on Spanish social media of groups of beautifully dressed, hopeful singles pushing shopping carts through crowded stores.

The pineapple is just the first sign of being single. Ana Gildersleeve, a Spanish influencer living in the United States, explained the rules of engagement to her 915,000 viewers on TikTok. She noted that those seeking a long-term relationship should grab a bag of lentils, “because [they] Can keep in your pantry forever, and those who want to connect can grab some lettuce for now.

According to a recent BBC report, this novel dating style has caused chaos in some locations in Mercadona, such as in Bilbao, where the police had to be called to quell the romantic ruckus.