embedded neon

In my hungry fatigue, and shopping for images, I went into

the neon fruit supermarket.

-Allen Ginsberg"A Supermarket in California"

1955

Embedded Neon:Imaging Authenticity in a Local Supermarket

Wheatsville Co-opAustin, Texas

Amenity ApplewhiteGRG 374 Spring 2007

Embedded Neon:Imaging Authenticity in a Local SupermarketHistory of Wheatsville Co-op

A Community Grocery StoreExisting Research on Shopping & Food Travel

Rise of Alternative Tourism and Effects of Globalization

Spatial Embeddedness & Its Textual Images SituationalEcologicalEconomicCultural

Authenticity & Tourism Is Wheatsville a tourist desination? Will it be one in the future?

1976: Lamar Opening

History of Wheatsville Co-opA Community Grocery Store

1977-79: Determination


1980: Renovation on Guadalupe


1980: Relocation & Renovation


1981: Opening at new location


Early 90s: Things look bright!


Today: “Best Human-Scale Place to Buy Food”*


* Austin Chronicle Reader’s Poll

The Statistics

Shopping & Food in Travel: Complementary Travel Elements to Major Tourist Activities

TEXAS’ TOP TEN ACTIVITIES FOR OUT OF STATE TOURISTS

Activity % ParticipationDining 29%Shopping 28Sightseeing 26General entertainment 20Visiting historic site9Visiting national/state park 8Visiting theme/amusement park 8Watching sporting event 7Visiting art or museum exhibit 7Participating in nightlife 7

Source: Office of the Governor 2007

MOST POPULAR ATTRACTIONS OUT OF STATE TOURISTS IN 2005

Rank Attraction

1 Alamo 2 (River Walk) Paseo del Rio 3 San Marcos Outlet Malls 4 SeaWorld of Texas 5 Six Flags Over Texas 6 State Capitol 7 South Padre Island 8 Padre Island Nat. Seashore 9 Moody Gardens 10 Houston Space Center

Source: Office of the Governor 2007

Gastronomic tourismAs markers of people and place, regional specialties and food products become vehicles for a closer understanding of culture (López 2006, 166).

Shopping tourismFar from the utilitarian provision of necessary products while traveling, shopping has become a major travel activity, even the motivation for travel itself (Tosun 2007, 87).

Alternative tourism paradigmRenewed interest in culture creates trends that assign symbolic and monetary values to cultural elements (López 2006, 166). Travelers seeking participatory touristic experiences can “consume” culture both literally and figuratively.

Gastronomic & Shopping Tourism: The New Alternative Tourism Paradigm

Commodity fetishism• Modern consumer culture saturated with commodity signals.

• Retail trends encourage shopping as a means to “collect signs and images of many cultures (Lash and Urry1994, 272).”

“MacDonaldization” backlash• Increased standardization and homogeneity/U.S. Imperialism generates longing for the unique and authentic (López 2006, 168). • Globalization a “contested process” (Murdoch 110).

Effects of Globalization: Generation of the Alternative Tourism Paradigm

The Rising Appeal of Embeddedness: An Alternative Geography of Food

Factors generating ‘placeless’ food • Agricultural industrialization.• Intensified processing & broadened distribution.• Increased liberalization in international trade (Parrott et al. 2002, 241).• Rising concerns about food safety and nutrition (Murdoch

et al. 2000, 107) increase anxiety over placelessness

Counter-movement seeking embeddedness • Consumers increasingly seek local and traditional culinary alternatives, newly appreciated for their perceived authenticity.

Multifaceted Embedding of Place

• Place is a socio-cultural construction, continuously negotiated and defined (Sonnino 2007, 70).

• Embeddedness involves multiple simultaneous spatial processes:

Temporal Co-op History Locational Site/SituationEcological Local agriculture, environmental stewardshipEconomic Local business & financeCultural Austin culture

Locational Embeddedness: “The Drag” Austin’s counterpart to other historic urban shopping

districts• Times Square, New York • Little Italy, Boston• China Town, San Francisco • Old Town, Albuquerque

Home to iconic Austin businesses111 years University Co-op81 years Dirty Martin’s20+ years Tom’s Tabooley, Antone’s Records, Mangia

Pizza, Amy’s Ice Cream, Milto’s Pizza Recent icons: Vulcan Video, I Luv Video/SpiderhouseRIP Little City, Half-Price Books, Les Amis

Shopping enclaves retain touristic authenticity by maintaining local customers (Snepenger et al. 2003).

"It's an important civic place. It's a real repository of our identity as a town, as a city and certainly as a university community.” - Lawrence Speck (KLRU-TV 2005)

Ecological Embeddedness: Local Concern Exclusive grocery vendor for local productsProduce, dairy, meat, prepared foods, candles, soap

Environmental benefits of local sourcing • Supports local farmers and sustainable farming practices • Reduces fuel consumption, pollution, and traffic

Additional environmental stewardship• Discounts for bulk purchases and container reuse• On-site recycling: packaging, food, even clothing

• Bicycle transportation• Support of local environmental organizations

Ecological Embeddedness: Textual Representations “The mission of Wheatsville Co-op is to serve a broad

range of people by providing them goods and services, using efficient methods that avoid manipulation of the consumers and minimize exploitation of the producers or damage to the environment (Wheatsville Co-op 2007).”

Economic Embeddedness: Austin Money Built with local finances1976 ZZ Top concert fundraiser: $5,000 raised2006 renovation funds from members: $750,000 raised

Profits return to Austin community• Patronage rebates checks

Written to 1,500 members in 2006• Donations to local charities

Over $11,000 in 2006; 4.6% of net income!

Member of Austin Independent Business Alliance • Guadalupe IBIZ district events • Promotes patronage of local businesses beyond the Co-op

Source: Wheatsville 2006 Annual Report

Economic Embeddedness: Textual Representations “…my investment in Wheatsville is only backed by some big vegan guy. But if I invested in T-Bills then the U.S. government would use that money to kill a lot of people….Wheatsville kills far fewer people than that.” –Bluejay, Wheatsville Cultivator

Source: Wheatsville Breeze February 2006

Cultural Embeddedness: Austin Weird Co-op products and politics shaped by members• Emphatically non-doctrinaire, inclusive & democratic• Members vote on banned products, charity donations• Anyone can join, non-members welcome

“Austin-weird” aesthetic represented in inventory, people & co-op events• Eccentric products• Prepared foods combine Southern cooking, Tex-Mex, and international cuisines• Diverse staff and customers• Seasonal festivals and monthly Third Thursday events involve local artists and musicians

Cultural Embeddedness: Textual Representations “…Wheatsville is so much more than a store -- it's also a community center, live music venue, and frequent fairground.” – Austin Chronicle

Source: Austin Chronicle 2003

Cultural Embeddedness: Textual Representations

Source: Goldstein 2006

“… where the hemp meets the hot sauce.” – Fearless Critic

Evaluating Embeddedness: Evident in the Co-op

Spatial embeddedness Temporal History of community-built groceryLocational “The Drag” corridorEcological Sustainable relationship with local farmersEconomic AIBA Guadalupe IBIZ District, UFCUCultural “…where the hemp meets the hot sauce!”

A myriad of texts reinforce imagery of embeddedness for Wheatsville and make a strong case for authenticity. In light of the new Alternative Tourism Paradigm, Wheatsville should be considered an excellent Austin tourist destination.

Aust-thentic as it gets!

“Take yourself on down to the place that screams "old Austin" from atop its neon corner sign and Arleen Polite mural, the place that still says "Hello" when you walk in and "Have a great day!" without a hint of irony or sarcasm on your way out, the place that will load up Oreos™, Mexican Cokes, spirulina, and groats (again, no hint of irony!) and give you a member discount to boot, all in one recyclable bag.”

Source: Austin Chronicle 2003

Will the neon be retained in renovation?

The Future of Embeddedness

BEHIND THE SCENES BONUS MATERIAL:

Em-dreadedness?

BEHIND THE SCENES BONUS MATERIAL: The back-store & a 4lb Frito Pie!

ReferencesAustin Chronicle. 2003. Old Sincerity. Austin Chronicle, July 4, Home section.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Guides/Location?oid=46398 (accessed April 24, 2007).Austin Chronicle. 2007. Wheatsville Co-op. Austin Chronicle.

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Guides/Location?oid=46398 (accessed April 24, 2007).Cook, Ian and Philip Crang. 1996. The World on a Plate: Culinary Culture, Displacement, and Geographical Knowledges. Journal

of Material Culture 1(2): 131-153Crider, Kitty. 2006. The people's grocery story. Austin American Statesman, May 10, Food & Drink section.

http://www.austin360.com/food_drink/content/food_drink/dining_at_home/stories/2006/05/10wheatsville.html

(accessed April 17, 2007). Dickerson, John, and Bill Meacham. 2006a. The Early Beginnings of Wheatsville 1976-1978. Wheatsville Breeze, March. Dickerson, John, and Bill Meacham. 2006b. The Early Beginnings of Wheatsville 1979-1981. Wheatsville Breeze, May. Du Rand, G.E. and E. Heath. 2006. Towards a Framework for Food Tourism as Destination Marketing. Current Issues in Tourism 9(3): 206-234Gallegos, Gabriel. Wheatsville Member Records. E-mail message to author, April 13, 2007. Hjalager, Ann-Mette, and Antonioli Corigliano. 2000. Food for Tourists –Determinants of an Image. International Journal of Tourism

Research 2: 281-293Goldstein, Robin, Rebecca Markovits, and Monika Powe Nelson. 2006. Fearless Critic Austin Restaurant Guide. New Haven: Off the

Map Press.KLRU-TV. 2005. What does the future hold for the historic shopping district next to the UT campus?

http://www.klru.org/austinnow/archives/UT_drag/ut_drag.asp (accessed April 24, 2007).Lash, Scott and John Urry. 1994. Economies of Time and Space. London: Sage. Lopez, Armesto Xosé and Martín Belén Gomez. 2006. Tourism and Quality Agro-Food Products: An Opportunity for the Spanish

Countryside. Tijdschrift voor Economische en Sociale Geografie 97(2): 166-177Murdoch, Jonathan, Terry Marsden, and Jo Banks. 2000. Quality, Nature, and Embeddedness: Some Theoretical Considerations

in the Context of the Food Sector. Economic Geography 76(2): 107-125Office of the Governor, Economic Development and Tourism. 2007. 2007 Travel Facts.

http://www.travel.state.tx.us/travelfacts.aspx pdf (accessed April 22, 2007).Parrott, Nicholas, Natasha Wilson, and Jonathan Murdoch. 2002. Spatializing Quality: Regional Protection and the Alternative

Geography of Food. European Urban and Regional Studies 9(3) 241-261Perkins, John. Wheatsville Finance Manager. E-mail message to author, April 12, 2007. Snepenger, David J, Leann Murphy, Ryan O'Connell, and Eric Gregg. 2003. Tourists and residents use of a shopping space.

Annals of Tourism Research 30(3) 567-580. Sonnino, Roberta. 2007. Embeddedness in action: Saffron and the making of the local in southern Tuscany. Agriculture and

Human Values 24(1): 61-74Squire, Shelagh. 1994. Gender and tourist experiences: assessing women's shared meanings for Beatrix Potter. Leisure Studies

13(3): 195-209Tosun, Cevat, S. Pinar Temizkan, Dallen J. Timothy, and Alan Fyall. 2007. Tourist Shopping Experiences and Satisfaction.

International Journal of Tourism Research. 9: 87-102Wheatsville Co-op. 2006a. Thanks Investors. Wheatsville Breeze, February. Wheatsville Co-op. 2006b. The Wheatsville 2005-2006 Annual Report. http://wheatsville.coop/2005-06AnnualReport.pdf

(accessed April 17, 2007). Wheatsville Co-op. 2007. Community Links. http://wheatsville.coop/partners.html (accessed April 17, 2007).

Special thanks to Aldia Bluewillow, Gabriel Gallegos, & John Perkins

embedded neon

Education