Senior Sergeant Anthony Bond, of Dunedin, said police were called to Woolworths Dunedin Central in Cumberland St at 6.30pm on Thursday after two men stole alcohol and threatened a staff member with a knife.
One of the men, Zane Clarke, 19, allegedly stole alcohol from the store while intoxicated.
The pair left the store and were outside when a staff member approached them and asked whether they had "any plans to pay for the beers they had taken".
Clarke then allegedly pulled out a knife from his pocket, rubbed it up and down his arm while telling the staff member to "f... off".
The staff member went back inside and called police, who located the pair still hanging around the supermarket carpark.
Both were arrested.
Clarke appeared in the Dunedin District Court yesterday charged with possession of an offensive weapon and behaving threateningly.
According to court documents, Clarke, who is on electronically monitored bail, said he never intended to use the knife in a threatening way. He "just got given the knife at the wrong time".
He told police he intended to use the knife to cut off his electronic monitoring ankle bracelet.
Three years ago, the same supermarket was the scene of a frenzied knife attack in which four people were stabbed.
Dunedin man Luke Lambert pleaded guilty to four counts of attempted murder and was jailed for 13 years.
