[Reader-list] [Urbanstudy] traders protest in Delhi and where sociolgical definations fail

[Patrice Riemens]

Sorry if I am widely of the mark/of topic, but this (very interesting)
discussion about the, in Delhi partially violent, disparition of small
shops made me think about the somewhat different evolution I have been
observing in Amsterdam (and by extension in quite a many European cities)
- in a very superficial and unprofessional way as 'permanent tourist' of
course...

For years now, supermarkets, hypermarkets and malls (there aren't many in
Europe yet, outside the UK) have been accused of killing the small ('pop
and mom') shop - rightly so. I have seen disapear almost all
'neighbourhood shopes' I used to know 30 years ago (but never patronised
very much). Yet these seem to have been replaced over the years by an
almost equal number of 'ethnic' shops (in Amsterdam, Turkish, Morrocan and
Surinamese ('Hindoestani') + a smattering of other 'exotic' nationalities
- which I do patronise), some of them really small businesses. Although
the attrition rate is high, quite a lot seem to survive, and some have
expanded quite a bit. I quite wonder what kind of business model they have
(beyond the usual 'they work longer hours and enslave their own kin' -
which in a sense was also the case with the 'autochtonous'  small
shopkeepers, now almost extinct)

I also wonder what their relationship is with the big firms supplying them
- and eying their clientele (Supermaketer Albert Heijn just launched a
'Halal' line of meat products, and their ads are explicit: "now you now no
longer need to go the extra mile to the Islamic butcher") This is very
apparent for instance in the cellular phone and associate gizmos branch
(mostly 'ethnic', save for a few big brands outlets).

In general I think the relationship between big commercial, corporation
owned trade outlets and small, more informal one is quite fluid, and so is
the custom. Excepted, of course, when marketing strategies and urban
planning are being enacted by way of the law and (dis)order machinary of
the State.

cheers from cold Amsterdam,
p+3D!