Desperate US supermarket chain will offer tattoos to lure hipsters

AN UPSCALE supermarket chain in the United States is trying to appeal to hip millennials with some truly bizarre offerings.

Whole Foods is hoping to attract millennial shoppers with music and tattoos.

A BOUTIQUE grocery chain in the United States is trying to appeal to hip millennials by selling ... tattoos?

That seems to be the concept behind 365 — the new spin-off supermarket of upscale food purveyor Whole Foods — which will sell comparatively cheaper items along with some newly announced extras.

Whole Foods’ co-chief executive Walter Robb tells Bloomberg News that the company is thinking outside the grocery-store box with its program Friends of 365, which will allow suppliers and vendors like body-care-product sellers, record shops and tattoo parlours, to set up in their 365 stores.

“We want to partner with start-ups as well as established brands across a variety of categories to help enhance the 365 experience,” the company said on its website.

Fancy some lotion, vinyl and ink, anyone?

Whole Foods’ push to be cool is a response to a slight 1.8 per cent dip in same-store sales with millennials. The decline isn’t too surprising, considering young, budget-conscious shoppers can easily find their kale and quinoa at cheaper, similarly health-oriented grocery stores like Trader Joe’s.

One of the first outlets to boast some of these bells and whistles will be in Los Angeles’ trendy, indie Silver Lake, according to Curbed LA.

It’s too soon to say whether any tattoo parlours have yet considered Whole Foods’ proposition, though it’s doubtful that morphing a grocery store into an Urban Outfitters will definitively lure young people.

After all, can you remember the last time you needed a dozen free-range eggs and a new tattoo?

This article first appeared in the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.