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