Retail gentrification. Staged spaces and the gourmet market model

Abstract

Retail gentrification is understood as a process in which commercial activity is transformed to meet the needs of a sector of the population with higher incomes resulting in the displacement of merchants and products, seen from the implementation of the model of the gourmet market. This process, which is seen in the interest of copying the commercial formats of successful cases from gourmet markets such as the San Miguel Market in Madrid or the Borough Market in London, is linked to an offer aimed at satisfying consumption demands produced by a sector of the population that although not being equivalent concepts, different authors identify as cultural omnivores or creative class, coinciding in that these groups have a high cultural and economic capital. In the present work it is discussed how in Mexico City in the absence of the transformation of public markets into gourmet markets and with the inauguration of the Roma Market in 2014, the staging of commercial spaces labeled as gourmet markets has intensified and they are inserted in neighborhoods where they seek to generate development and links with the community, but because of their prices and the characteristics of the products they offer, they are beyond the reach of the local population.