If you live in Spain or have been here on holiday, there’s a very big chance you’ve done grocery shopping at Mercadona.

But did you know there’s ‘a time to flirt’ at the country’s most popular supermarket?

It all started with a TikTok video that’s gone viral (although if there was someone in Mercadona’s marketing department that came up with the campaign they should definitely get a bonus). 

Buenoooo…que nosotras lo hemos oído pero no lo hemos comprobado!! Ahora…parece que sí…que en Mercadona de 7 a 8…. 😉 https://t.co/MLiRfX5vrD

— Vivy Lin 🌊 (@YoSoyVivyLin) August 22, 2024

Everybody in Spain is talking about it. The idea is that if you turn up at a Mercadona between 7pm and 8pm, that’s la hora de ligar (the time to flirt), and there’s a secret language of love as well. 

Putting a pineapple upside down in your shopping trolley means that you’re ‘available’ and ‘interested’. 

Then you have to head to the wine aisle, and if you spot someone you like, you have to bump your trolley against theirs. 

That’s what singletons 40 and up should do if interested in amor de Hacendado (love of Hacendado, Mercadona’s home brand).

For those aged 19 to 25, the frozen goods section is the place to meet prospective lovers.

In your thirties or mid-twenties? The fresh fish section, of course. 

It all may seem a bit silly, but we wouldn’t be surprised if pineapple sales go up exponentially in Spain and Mercadona’s turnover spikes as a result.

In fact, there are already videos circulating online of packed Mercadona supermarkets when the clock strikes seven. 

In completely different news but perhaps just as surreal, locals from the Galician village of O Hío in northwest Spain decided recently that the best way to protest against the volume of summer tourists they receive was by blocking zebra crossings. 

The idea involved choosing crossings where pedestrians always have right of way (no traffic lights), so several dozen locals simply walked up and down them for 37 minutes, causing a total traffic gridlock.

Cruzar sin fin un paso de peatones como protesta: vecinos de O Hío (Pontevedra) se movilizan contra el turismo incívico https://t.co/yreU7jdSel pic.twitter.com/PNv7uvoFMg

— elDiario.es (@eldiarioes) August 26, 2024

“Traffic problems are already common, but this year they have tripled at least. It’s an avalanche of cars that not only pollutes but also affects everyone’s lives because they park wherever they want,” O Hío resident Mercedes Villar told local daily La Voz de Galicia.

“We have the right to live too”.

People from this small coastal village in Pontevedra province say they’re not against tourists, but that authorities have to find a way for holidaymakers and residents to “coexist”.

Locals’ driveways are being blocked, yellow lines are ignored and traffic accidents are more common.

“The protest was meant to raise awareness and sound the alarm,” another villager told La Voz.

“We want people to be civil and understanding and if they see that there is no parking space, to leave, as we all have to do in any city”. 

2024 is proving to be the year of Spain’s rebellion against mass tourism and the effect it’s having on property prices, rents and standard of living for residents. 

From Cantabria in the north to Málaga in the south, more and more places in Spain are asking for local, regional and national governments to fix a tourism model that no longer works for them.