Selling the Rural in Urban Specialty Stores Establishing new liaisons between town and country through the sale of rural provenance food products in Portugal

Abstract

The aim of this contribution is to present a recently started research project that seeks to contribute to the understanding of the role of urban specialty stores selling rural provenance food products in fostering new or renewed rural-urban liaisons. Like in other European countries, there is growing evidence on the increasing number of this type of stores in Portuguese urban areas. This evidence – alongside with the growing interest of Portuguese and foreigner consumers on traditional (officially certified or not) rural food products from Portuguese rural areas – seems to unveil the potential contribution of specialty urban located stores in closing the long lasting gap between rural and urban areas in Portugal. At the same time, a potential contribution to foster agricultural activities through the valorisation of local productions, as well as to promote rural attractiveness can be foreseen. These aspects may also induce a larger economic diversification of rural areas and foster sustainable development of rural communities. Despite these potential contributions, little evidence has been produced on the central role that (urban) retailers may play in the process of valorisation of rural provenance products. In fact, scarce research has been conducted until now on the motivations of retailers, the type of products they sell, the provenance and promotion of products, as well as on the links they have with rural territories and small farmers. In commercializing traditional local foods, generally of higher quality and presenting unique characteristics specialty stores offer a 'piece of the countryside', a piece of specific 'terroirs', a piece of local (sometimes regional and/or national) cultural identity and a particular vision of the world and know-how. Consumers of such traditional and differentiated food products value their authenticity and this attribute is largely socially constructed, meaning that it is not only inherent to the products character, characteristics and places of origin, but also constructed through the perceptions of the producers, retailers, distributors and consumers themselves. Based on an exploratory analysis of selected cases, our aim is to illustrate and (mainly) debate the multi-level approach of the project and its contribution to produce innovative knowledge to improve food chains of production, commercialization and consumption unveiling new opportunities for rural development.
Keywords: rural provenance food products; rural-urban connections; specialty stores; selling rural provenance food products in urban stores.

Full text

Selling the Rural in Urban Specialty
Stores
Establishing new liaisons between town and country through the sale of
rural provenance food products in Portugal
Elisabete Figueiredo
Department of Social, Political and Territorial Sciences
University of Aveiro, Portugal –elisa@ua.pt
STRINGS - Selling The Rural IN (urban) Gourmet Stores
–establishing new liaisons between town and country
through the sale and consumption of rural products

Aims
The aim of this contribution is to present a recently started research project
that seeks to contribute to the understanding of the role of urban specialty
stores selling rural provenance food products in fostering new or renewed
rural-urban liaisons, based on the
growing evidence on the increasing number of this type of stores in Portuguese
urban areas.
growing interest of Portuguese and foreigner consumers on traditional (officially
certified or not) rural food products from Portuguese rural areas
Seems to unveil the potential contribution of specialty urban located stores in
closing the long lasting gap between rural and urban areas in Portugal
Potentially contributing to foster agricultural activities through the valorisation of
local productions
And potentially contributing to promote rural attractiveness

Context
Little evidence has been produced on the specific role of
urban retailers in the process of valorisation of rural terroir
foods;
In fact, many studies on these topics tend to focus
on rural territories
on consumer motivations and practices,
neglecting the role that urban gourmet stores can play in
the dissemination and promotion of terroir/ local/ regional/
rural provenance food products (although these may be contested
notions)

The STRINGS project
Collection and Analysis of
Promotional Materials related
to Products Sold in Specialty
Stores
Second Stage
Task 3
Selection of Interviewees,
Interview framework, Data
Collection and Analysis
Task 4
Task 5
Exploratory Analysis of
Specialty Stores' Consumers
and their Consumption
Practices
Third Stage
Task 6
Selection of Case Studies and
Detailed Analysis of
Production-Distribution-
Commercialization-
Consumption Circuits
Fourth Stage
Global Integration of Results
Task 7
First Stage
Task 1
Literature Review and
Refinement of the Conceptual
Framework
Task 2
Collection and Preliminary
Typification of Specialty
Stores
Dissemination of Results
Task 8

The Stores
Source
Aveiro
Lisbon
Porto
Grand
Total
Compiled
lists 3 45 11 59
SABI 1 54 20 75
Search terms
336 48 97
Grand Total
17 135 79 231
Aveiro
Lisboa
Porto
Grand Total
Diet shop
1
1
Bakery/grocery
1
1
Honey shop
1
1
Market
1
1
2
Gift shop
1
1
1
3
Restaurant/Gourmet shop
2
1
3
Coffee and teas
3
3
Gourmet meat market
3
3
Grain, beans, dry fruits and seeds
5
5
Cheese shop
3
2
5
Fruit shop
1
4
1
6
Olives and Olive Oil
4
2
6
Organic/Biological products shop
2
6
6
14
Meat market
12
3
15
Delicatessen
14
4
18
Regional products shop
1
12
6
19
Gourmet shop
4
11
13
28
Grocery
3
20
17
40
Wine shop
3
28
15
46
Grand Total
16
131
72
219

The Stores’ typology
1st questionnaire
Specialty stores' designation (e.g. 'typical', 'traditional', 'gourmet, 'local')
Type of enterprise (e.g. family business, chain store)
Number of employees
Year of foundation
Type of products sold (e.g. geographical indications, non certified local, regional or national)
Diversity of products sold
Most sold products
Use of intermediaries or directly bought from producers
Other serv ices and activities offered to consumers (e.g. products' tasting, restaurant, cafeteria,
cookery courses, and bookshop)
Average number of customers
Type of most frequent customers (e.g. age, nationality, gender)
Main geographical origin of the products sold
Geographical origin of the stores’ owners/shopkeepers

Muito Obrigada
Tusen Takk
Thank you very much!
STRINGS - Selling The Rural IN (urban) Gourmet Stores –establishing new
liaisons between town and country through the sale and consumption of
rural products (PTDC/GES-OUT/29281/2017)
https://www.stringsproject.pt/
https://www.facebook.com/strings.selling.the.rural/