Whole Foods wants to put indie record shops in their stores

More fresh produce from Whole Foods.

As Urban Outfitters, Gap and Whole Foods themselves have already proved, record shops needn’t just be record shops. Although it’s been a couple of year since Whole Foods announced it would stock vinyl alongside other organic produce, a new initiative from the retailer wants to bring independent record shops under its wing too.

Setting up independent suppliers and vendors in its 365 stores, Whole Foods has launched a Friends of 365 project to identify independent retailers to sell ‘produce’ those stores. Among the food and drinks, fashion and services they’re after: record shops and tattoo parlours.

Just as Gap announced this week that its Oxford Street store would play host to Clapton’s Lion Coffee & Records pop-up, so it seems Whole Foods are keen to harness the credible pulling power of independent businesses to entice younger people into their stores. [via Bloomberg]

At the other end of the supermarket spectrum both Tesco and Aldi have both trialled selling vinyl in the last six months.

Photo: Whole Foods