Atmosphere of grocers are a large determining factor of where we shop. Out of three places I visited I preferred the atmosphere of the Eastern Market in Detroit the most. The Eastern Market is a large farmer’s market in Detroit consisting of six different sheds that sell local produce. When I picture who shops at a farmer’s market the words fit, young, and family come to mind. While I did see some that fit this description, people were diverse in age, race, and socioeconomic class. Age and race is apparent but class is trickier to observe. Often I would look at people’s clothes and handbags to determine this. It seemed that most people were upper middle class. Which considering the area, made me think people traveled from the metro area to the market.
The Eastern Market is charged with culture. Its location in Downtown Detroit offers historical character, street performers, and murals. Compared to grocery shopping I would say that attending the Eastern Market is more of an experience. I noticed a lot of conversation, not so much between shoppers, but between the shoppers and the vendors. Some of the vendors were farmers that were selling their own food. When buying food, vendors seemed interested in starting conversations. Shopping there felt good. It felt like I was supporting local hardworking people.
The cost of produced seemed similar to that of both Meijer and Whole Foods. Something’s were a touch pricier, but by cents. People can buy produce with cash or their bridge card. A bridge card is a form of government food assistance. What’s really cool about the Eastern Market is that when you use your bridge card, they double your dollars. I had read about incentives that get people on food stamps to buy healthier food in Should Food Stamps Buy Soda? Some feel that instead of putting restrictions on what can be bought with food stamps, we should give incentives to recipients to buy more produce. It is nice to know that incentive programs like double up bucks are being implemented in my community, and making produce even more accessible.
The atmosphere of Meijer was unlike that of the Eastern Market. Mainly because there was no connection between the food you were buying and it were it came from. I didn’t have interactions with an employee or any other shoppers. Meijer felt like a giant freezer. Their color palate of blue and white in addition with the high ceilings only added to this feeling. The Meijer I went to is located in East Lansing, a college town. Around 7pm on a Wednesday the place was filled with mostly with college kids and very few families.
The combination of the cold and everyone keeping to themselves may seem may not seem like an inviting or entertaining atmosphere. However, the atmosphere of Meijer isn’t its selling point to consumers. Meijer is cheap and convenient and for many (especially college students) that is more important than having an experience.
When walking down the isles I noticed all the sale stickers. Affordability is seemingly what drives consumers to shop here. But at what price does this affordability come at? Processed food is typical cheaper than healthy food. This is made possible because corn, which makes makes up most of the processed food we eat, is heavily subsidized by the government. We we read about this phenomenon in Michael Pollan’s, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Walking down the isle looking at boxes after boxes of processed food, I kept thinking to myself that’s corn and that’s corn too. Its crazy how corn subsidies have shaped our modern supermarkets and diets. It makes me wonder that if they’d never been implemented our supermarkets would look more like farmer’s markets.
Whole Foods has a warm color pallet and this made it feel a touch homier than Meijer. At 8 pm on a Wednesday this grocery store was almost empty. There was probably only about 10 shoppers. None of them fit the consumer identity I predicted. Whole Foods because of its image I predicted would attract young trendy people. However, the people I encountered where all older couples, or older people shopping by themselves. Shoppers kept to themselves, but employees did approach us and ask us if we needed help finding anything.
One thing I found interesting was that a lot of people had brought bags from home to take their groceries home in. I think this makes sense when you look at how Whole Foods markets itself. Unlike Meijer, people aren’t at Whole Foods for price. Whole Foods target market is people who are environmentally and health conscious. Because of this many of the food packages were labeled with things like fair-trade, non GMO, vegan, natural, local, and organic. Their main selling points are ethics and health. However, this doesn’t come cheap. Most of the products I came across were made by unique brands I couldn’t come across at Meijer, but also didn’t come at Meijer Prices.
Similar to shopping at the farmer’s market, I felt good about shopping there. I like the brand and what they stand for. One thing that made me apprehensive though is remembering the very start of the year when we watched Food Inc in class. One thing stressed in the movie was the many ways food is marketed as healthy and fresh. It made me question if the food I was buying there was any better for me or if it was just marketed that way. I think its important that consumers realize that Whole Foods has some junk too. Just because its from Whole Foods doesn’t make it healthy. Just because its from Meijer doesn’t make unhealthy. Its all about choices and reading the labels.
Eastern Market offers an experience and support for local farmers. Meijer offers convenience and low prices. Whole Foods offers unique health and environmentally friendly food. These three grocers recognize their strengths and market to consumers accordingly. Ultimately structural and attitudinal barriers are going to determine where consumers choose to shop. Things like distance and cost play a major role, but so does culture and beliefs.
The Eastern Market is charged with culture. Its location in Downtown Detroit offers historical character, street performers, and murals. Compared to grocery shopping I would say that attending the Eastern Market is more of an experience. I noticed a lot of conversation, not so much between shoppers, but between the shoppers and the vendors. Some of the vendors were farmers that were selling their own food. When buying food, vendors seemed interested in starting conversations. Shopping there felt good. It felt like I was supporting local hardworking people.
The cost of produced seemed similar to that of both Meijer and Whole Foods. Something’s were a touch pricier, but by cents. People can buy produce with cash or their bridge card. A bridge card is a form of government food assistance. What’s really cool about the Eastern Market is that when you use your bridge card, they double your dollars. I had read about incentives that get people on food stamps to buy healthier food in Should Food Stamps Buy Soda? Some feel that instead of putting restrictions on what can be bought with food stamps, we should give incentives to recipients to buy more produce. It is nice to know that incentive programs like double up bucks are being implemented in my community, and making produce even more accessible.
The atmosphere of Meijer was unlike that of the Eastern Market. Mainly because there was no connection between the food you were buying and it were it came from. I didn’t have interactions with an employee or any other shoppers. Meijer felt like a giant freezer. Their color palate of blue and white in addition with the high ceilings only added to this feeling. The Meijer I went to is located in East Lansing, a college town. Around 7pm on a Wednesday the place was filled with mostly with college kids and very few families.
The combination of the cold and everyone keeping to themselves may seem may not seem like an inviting or entertaining atmosphere. However, the atmosphere of Meijer isn’t its selling point to consumers. Meijer is cheap and convenient and for many (especially college students) that is more important than having an experience.
When walking down the isles I noticed all the sale stickers. Affordability is seemingly what drives consumers to shop here. But at what price does this affordability come at? Processed food is typical cheaper than healthy food. This is made possible because corn, which makes makes up most of the processed food we eat, is heavily subsidized by the government. We we read about this phenomenon in Michael Pollan’s, The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Walking down the isle looking at boxes after boxes of processed food, I kept thinking to myself that’s corn and that’s corn too. Its crazy how corn subsidies have shaped our modern supermarkets and diets. It makes me wonder that if they’d never been implemented our supermarkets would look more like farmer’s markets.
Whole Foods has a warm color pallet and this made it feel a touch homier than Meijer. At 8 pm on a Wednesday this grocery store was almost empty. There was probably only about 10 shoppers. None of them fit the consumer identity I predicted. Whole Foods because of its image I predicted would attract young trendy people. However, the people I encountered where all older couples, or older people shopping by themselves. Shoppers kept to themselves, but employees did approach us and ask us if we needed help finding anything.
One thing I found interesting was that a lot of people had brought bags from home to take their groceries home in. I think this makes sense when you look at how Whole Foods markets itself. Unlike Meijer, people aren’t at Whole Foods for price. Whole Foods target market is people who are environmentally and health conscious. Because of this many of the food packages were labeled with things like fair-trade, non GMO, vegan, natural, local, and organic. Their main selling points are ethics and health. However, this doesn’t come cheap. Most of the products I came across were made by unique brands I couldn’t come across at Meijer, but also didn’t come at Meijer Prices.
Similar to shopping at the farmer’s market, I felt good about shopping there. I like the brand and what they stand for. One thing that made me apprehensive though is remembering the very start of the year when we watched Food Inc in class. One thing stressed in the movie was the many ways food is marketed as healthy and fresh. It made me question if the food I was buying there was any better for me or if it was just marketed that way. I think its important that consumers realize that Whole Foods has some junk too. Just because its from Whole Foods doesn’t make it healthy. Just because its from Meijer doesn’t make unhealthy. Its all about choices and reading the labels.
Eastern Market offers an experience and support for local farmers. Meijer offers convenience and low prices. Whole Foods offers unique health and environmentally friendly food. These three grocers recognize their strengths and market to consumers accordingly. Ultimately structural and attitudinal barriers are going to determine where consumers choose to shop. Things like distance and cost play a major role, but so does culture and beliefs.