Farmers Markets as Retail Spaces

Abstract

Farmers' markets have long been popular sites of small retail trade and local cultural exchange in Europe, and have experienced recent rapid growth and diffusion in many parts of the world, including Australasia. This paper reports results from a study of farmers' markets in New Zealand, which takes particular interest in the motives for participation of both stallholders and customers, and their perceptions of the functioning of markets as representational and co-created sites of local food production, retail and consumption. It finds that product quality is the key motivator, with price not a significant barrier to purchase or visits. The 'retail environment' has only a modest influence on customer choices, with stallholders valuing interaction with customers more than the reverse.

Keywords: food retailing, food markets, co-creation, New Zealand