What sort of markets do we want, and who are they for?

Dr Sara Gonzalez, Department of Geography, University of Leeds

s.gonzalez@leeds.ac.uk

Integrating interests: future-proofing city centre retail economies? 31 March 2014 and 1 April 2014 | The Showroom, Sheffield

Main points

• Markets as a “case study” of wider changes in our cities

• Which markets are we talking about? • The twin narrative of decline and revival. • Retail “gentrification”. Markets: the new frontier? • Who loses from gentrification of our Markets? • Case study: Leeds Kirkgate Market • Resistance and contestation • What Markets do we want?

• Thoughts presented here come from a long term action-research project with campaign group Friends of Leeds Kirkgate Market, which campaigns for more investment, lower rents, more involvements of traders and citizens in decision making and protection of the lower income customer base. Kirkgate Market about to enter a phase of major redevelopment.

• “Data” comes from: numerous conversations with traders and customers in the Market, involvement in council policy making processes, access to information through FOI, links to other campaign groups across UK, observation of situation of Markets in other countries.

• Some of this work published in Gonzalez and Waley (2003) Traditional retail Markets, the new gentrification frontier, Antipode, 45, pp.965-983.

Which markets are we talking about?

• Mainly referring to traditional markets (indoor or outdoor) located in cities selling anything from household goods to fresh food, fabrics, flowers, etc.

• Strong tradition of Market Halls in northern England and street markets in London.

• Not referring to market towns and so called “specialist markets” (farmers, Christmas, continental, etc.)

• The traditional British Market Hall although originally mostly built to meet the demands of the rising bourgeois consumer culture in the 19th c., by the 1950s and 60s were more likely to be and perceived as working class spaces

Data from 2005 Rhodes report • Over 1,150 retail markets operated in the UK – but

more now due to rise of “other” Markets • Over 150,000 stalls available each week • The average stall occupancy rates are at 75% and falling • Over 46,000 market traders work across the UK • The market industry offers employment to more than

96,000 people • Over 435 million shopping visits per year • Over £1.1 billion spent at market stalls each year in the

UK – but this figure revised to £3b including other types of Markets

The “twin” narrative of decline and revival • Recent government and industry reports testify to

a declining trend in the traditional market: – increasing competition from supermarkets and

discounts – misguided town planning decisions – higher expectations from shoppers – neglect of markets by local authorities – slowness of market industry to adapt to change and

lack of new traders • Less visits and less spending although parallel

trend of some markets doing better than high street in times of recession.

• But some markets are thriving, particularly farmers and specialist markets (continental, Christmas…): – the revival of “proximity shopping”, – middle class “foodism” – renewed policy focus on the high street

and concern about “clone towns” middle class search for authenticity

– urban managers’ emphasis on tourism and heritage as economic development strategies.

The “twin” narrative of decline and revival

• These markets attract a wealthier clientele who don’t go to markets to do their household main shopping but as part of a “shopping experience”

These trends are putting the “traditional” Market under several concomitant pressures to:

– Attract a wealthier clientele – Sell more niche (expensive) products – “Realise” their “strategic” real estate value by

moving to a less central location – Introduce “supermarket” techniques (fixed prices,

uniform stalls, sterile environment) – Turn markets in to shopping centres or bring

supermarkets into the Market space

Our analysis is that these changes are not just to do with “natural” “market forces” but linked to a wider process of neoliberalisation of our cities manifested in 3 facets:

– Urban restructuring processes which lead to state and market disinvesting in certain areas and services

– Displacement of customers and traders many from vulnerable / low income groups from central urban areas

– Promotion of markets as a consumer experience, fetishization of food and sanitization of the market atmosphere.

Retail gentrification: Markets the new frontier?

• Many markets throughout the UK are being pushed into the gentrification frontier

• So far this is more visible in London where there are campaigns to protect and save markets but elsewhere in the country.

• The process is happening in diverse ways according to the variety of types of markets and urban enviornments

Commercial gentrification: definitions • Gentrification does not only refer to housing but more

generally to the “generalised middle –class restructuring of space” (Shaw, 2008: 2) or a “vehicle for transforming whole areas into new landscape complexes that pioneer a comprehensive class-inflected urban remake” (Smith, 2002: 443)

• We could define commercial gentrification as: – The process whereby the commerce that serves (amongst

others) a population of low incomes is transformed/replaced into/by a commerce targeted at a middle/high class.

– The increase in commercial rents that pushes traders to increase price of their products, change products or change location

Different types of commercial gentrification

• Commercial gentrification as an extension of residential gentrification

• A change from local/everyday commerce directed at the support of social reproduction to a commerce directed at tourism, high-end consumers or as an attraction to residents from other cities.

• From trading a lower profit (high volume / low value) to trading high value added produce.

• When shopping becomes a “consumption experience”, part of a lifestyle.

• Retail-led regeneration processes. • From independent/local/family owned commerce to

multinational/chains/corporate retailers.

Commercial gentrification can lead to displacement

• Displacement of traders • Displacement of produce • Displacement of consumers • Displacement of a kind of social relation and a

community

Who loses from this gentrification process?

• Markets are not only places for shopping but real public spaces open for all and more than often in central location in cities.

• All policy, academic and industry research confirms that markets are crucial for the poorest in society providing affordable food and household goods as well as cheap business start-ups (GLA, 2008; House of Commons, 2009; Ipsos Mori, 2007; Regeneris Consulting, 2010, NEF, 2005).

Evidence of the socio-demographic background of traditional market shoppers

• All Party Parliamentary High Street Britain 2015 report: “street markets and covered markets often serve low income ethnic groups – among the very people most in need of fresh foods but their contribution is not always measured.” (NEF, 2005:11)

• A survey of customers of London markets shows that those more regular shoppers of traditional markets care about the low prices (Ipsos MORI, 2007)

• A spatial analysis of Markets in London shows a correlation between the most deprived parts of the capital in inner city areas and East London and concentrations of street Markets (Regeneris Consulting, 2010).

• An analysis of postcodes from a petition signed in Leeds Kirkgate Market shows that customers disproportionally come from poorer neighbourhoods

Regeneris Consulting (2010) London’s retail street markets, London: London Development Agency

Spatial analysis of postcodes from a petition launched by Friends of Leeds Kirkgate Market signed by customers

Evidence of the “social function” of Markets specially from those more vulnerable

• Watson and Studdert (2006) stress the role of Markets as places for social interaction for those more vulnerable groups of people: older women, women with children, people with physical disabilities.

“they operated as sites of social inclusion, in the sense that for many of the customers, particularly those more marginalised in the city, passing the time of day in the market and chatting with a trader or another shopper might be the only chance they had to talk with someone all day” (Watson and Studdert, 2006: 29)

Evidence of the ethnic composition of traders and customers of traditional markets

• The Rhodes survey from 2005 provides some data on the ethnicity of traders and it reports that from their survey 79% are white British European, 17% Asian, 2% afro Caribbean and 2% other.

• In London, a much larger proportion of traders are non white (42%) than the population in general (29%) (Regeneris Consulting, 2010

• In London Markets, customers were are disproportionally from Black, Black british or Asian communities (Regeneris Consulting, 2010)

Kirkgate Market: between decline and renewal

Some facts on Kirkgate Market • It employs around 2,000 people directly but many more indirectly and

informally • It is one of the biggest Markets in Europe • It has an indoor and outdoor areas and traders sell everything from fruit and

vegetables, meat, fish, mobile phones, clothing, home ware, drapery or stationary.

• It is visited weekly by over 170,000 people although footfall is declining • It is owned and managed by Leeds City Council for which it makes an annual

profit of between £1-£2m. • It has the highest rents in the North and amongst the highest in England • Many people that rely on the Market come from the poorest

neighbourhoods in Leeds • It is one of the few independent public spaces in the city • Now on the verge of a major redevelopment project

Kirkgate Market at the regeneration frontier

Kirkgate Market – towards gentrification?

“We have stepped up our game and tried to engage with new customers. If we are going to be taken seriously as a retail presence in the centre of Leeds, we have to be accessible to our audience, whether that means targeting a younger, student audience or the middle class” (Market manager, Leeds Kirkgate Market, Yorkshire Evening Post, 4th February, 2014)

“Customers expectations are rising, the traditional market shopper is literally dying out and many tenants are not changing with the times to attract younger often more demanding customers” (Response to Deputation, June, 2010, 169

“The question has to be asked whether Kirkgate Market is actually the best place for people on low incomes to shop. Would low income families be better served through the discount and value sector ? (“Towards a strategy for Kirkgate Market”, Dec 2010 page 22)

Misunderstanding of the problem of gentrification

"The feasibility consultation established that traders and stakeholders were concerned that the design would mirror that of the Victoria Quarter on the opposite side of George Street and therefore gentrify the market resulting in the ‘heart and soul’ of the market being lost. However, the design team has mitigated this negative impact by being sympathetic to the current design and feel of the Market" (Equality, Diversity, Cohesion and Integration Screening, Kirkgate Market Improvement and Refurbishment, Appendix 2 for Executive Board meeting, 2nd April 2014)

Council’s emerging future plans (under consideration )

• Reconfiguration the stalls reducing their number • Turn the 1976 hall into an indoor daily market

where stalls “can be let at a premium” (Investment Case paragraph 5.10)

• Market section facing “Victoria Gate” future shopping mall will be completely remodelled and turned into a “quality shopping street”

• Reconfiguration of the outdoor market • Re-selection process for traders • New contracts for traders

Traders reactions to these plans • Chair of the Leeds branch of the NMTF: [these

plans] “would turn the market into an expensive food hall and traders would have to pass rising costs on to customers […] alienating poorer customers” (BBC 2012).

• A representative of the outdoor traders: “Everything that the outdoor market is about would disappear. What we have always done, what we are here for is to feed and clothe those who have the least in this city” (interview with FOLKM, 2013)

Contestation and resistance • In the UK there have been many campaigns against the

demolitions, relocation, regeneration of markets and hike in rents.

• They are generally relatively small campaigns, local and quite traditional with petitions and traditional media coverage

• There are some established groups: Friends of Queens Market, Friends of Brixton Market, Wards Corner Coalition, Friends of Bullring

• Campaigns are mainly integrated by traders and citizens united against private companies, regeneration projects and local authorities.

• Was born publically in April 2010 • It is made up of a regular group

of citizens with hundreds of followers and “friends” many traders.

• Not related to any political party • It has had a relative significance

in shaping the debate about Kirkgate Market in the last 4 years

• Dissemination of information about plans for the Market (often publishing previously “private” documents)

• Leaflets and information sheets for traders and citizens • Public meetings • Objection to the Victoria Quarter planning application • Participation in LCC’s formal governance processes:

scrutiny inquiries, “community deputations”.

Stunt highlighting “mad market maths”

Queens Market 2003: traders and customers learnt from a newspaper advert that their Market was up for sale plans with a private developer who planned an ASDA supermarket 2009 The same developers apply again to build a residential tower block and the demolitions and “reconstruction” of the Market. 2003-2009: campaign by traders and residents against developments that threaten their market 2009 Mayor of London asks Newham local authority to reject planning permission But the threat continues

• Located in Newham , one of London’s poorest borough.

• High ethnic diversity • A report by New Economics Foundation called

this market “The world on a plate”

Friends of Queens Market

Brixton Market

• Located in one of London’s most rapidly gentrifying neighbourhoods • Brixton Market traditionally the meeting point of the Caribbean community (food

stalls, kitchenware, clothes, etc.) but in “decline” in the last decade • In 2009 its private owner started a project to offer free stalls for free months to

artists. • Now the Market leased out to French company Groupe Geraud.

Friends of Brixton Market • They campaigned to avoid the demolition of the

arcades by applying to list the Market as heritage (not on the ground of architecture but cultural heritage)

• Collaborated with the council and private landlord to promote the market (stalls for artists)

• Worked with traders to create an association

But it could also be argued (and they accept this) that their actions contributed to the gentrification of the market by attracting artists and raiding the profile of the market as a listed building (higher rents)

Seven Sisters Market • Located in Tottenham (Seven

Sisters) home to a Latin American traders and customers community (mainly Colombian).

• Owned by Transport for London and leased to a private community

• Under threat since 2008 when Haringey City Council granted planning permission to the private developer Grainger PLC to demolish it

Wards Coalition Corner • There is a campaign since 2007

fighting against the demolition and/or remodelling of the Market in the context of a regeneration plan.

• The campaign has particularly been active in presenting alternative plans for the block to be regenerated

• They have been successful once at stopping the plans by alleging that the planning application did not consider equality and diversity issues

Why are traditional markets important? • Markets are not only places for shopping but real public spaces open

for all and more than often in central location in cities. • They are also crucial for the poorest in society providing affordable

food and household goods as well as cheap business start-ups • They are places for social interaction for those more vulnerable

groups of people: older women, women with children, people with physical disabilities.

• There is also evidence that traders in Markets are disproportionally from non white British backgrounds

• They contribute to the development of local sustainable communities by selling local produce, reducing food miles and packaging and plugging leaks in local economies.

So what Markets do we want? • Markets accessible for all – but specially for those in

lower incomes who if not protected can be displaced by the potential gentrification

• A “community hub”, not just a place for shopping recognising their social and economic function

• A public service which delivers profits to be reinvested in other services – Example: grants and vouchers for people affected by

benefit cuts to be spent in municipal Markets • Traders and residents involved in decision making • Not an “old municipal socialist” nostalgia but a resilient

vision in times of austerity