Ahh, transparency. The idea of having a set of values and standing directly behind them. The Trader Joe’s story seems to be still developing, but certainly the sense of fun and the lower price points for some items (loss leaders) is selling their brand to white collar shoppers.
The Eco-Myth of Trader Joe’s – Emerging Ideas – Utne Reader.
I often check these reports to keep up on the news from the supermarket side. Often fascinating and sometimes about farmers markets, like this one:
I really like the way they post the data they collect:
NOFAVT
Simple, clear and accessible. I think if more markets thought of evaluation as a daily exercise we might not get so freaked out by grant reports or annual meetings. For example, one of the simple ways that our Executive Director does it is to ask the market staff (as they watch people coming and going) “Who’s not here?”
That could mean today or at all or right then, but whatever it translates to, it starts the part of the brain that scans and analyzes so that it is on alert during market times. Then to decide on whom to focus the communication to get them there….
One of marketumbrella.org’s favorite authors Rebecca Solnit adds another piece to her growing oeuvre about human-scaled endeavors, hope and social contracts:
Iceberg Economies and Shadow Selves: Further Adventures in the Territories of Hope.
This article from 1996 gave me some of my earliest knowledge of the retail anthropology idea and began my exploration of it, using it in the next few retail stores I managed and/or helped to design. I had already found Jane Jacobs and William Whyte by this date, whose groundbreaking studies on public spaces led to Paco’s work in the retail sector. Whyte’s work of course is also the basis for Projects for Public Spaces excellent design and analysis that continues still, and includes their Public Market work. Gladwell (the author of the piece) became known for his “The Tipping Point” book and other research of crowd behavior.
gladwell
Part of the quite fascinating research into shopping behavior. Does it help a market? It could help a market vendor….
I spent 9.5 years working at marketumbrella.org in New Orleans LA. We founded and run the Crescent City Farmers Market and also founded the White Boot Brigade and “Festivus, The Holiday Market For the Rest Of Us”.
I love just about everything to do with public markets. I worked to start the marketshare project at marketumbrella.org, which works to:
To professionalize the field of mission-driven public markets by providing resources, tools and technical assistance for market organizations. We do this by:
a) borrowing ideas from other sectors and adapting them for public markets use.
b) encouraging and analyzing innovation and evaluation in public markets
c) creating peer networks and shared information streams to build the movement up from the grassroots level.
I will continue some of this work on a national level, at times hopefully working with leaders such as marketumbrella.org, Farmers Market Coalition and others.
I have started this blog to share with others in real-time with informal posts. Many organizations such as marketumbrella.org and Farmers Market Coaliton and Projects for Public Spaces have excellent websites to see the tools and resources that they want to share, so look on their sites for more practical stuff.
For this blog, do me know if there is anything that would be useful to know that I can research or that you want me to start a topic on.
Dar Wolnik
Helping Farmers Markets Grow 