Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
prices around the store increase as it is such a desirable place to shop. This
influence was reported by the BBC News in the UK.
7
Research by Savills, the
estate agents (
www.savills.co.uk)
, indicates that house prices in areas where
there is a Waitrose store are typically 25% higher than the UK average. In
London, there is a 50% premium in Waitrose postcodes.
The Daily Mail Online
8
newspaper in the UK reported: 'It's Christmas
glee for Waitrose, but Sainsbury's suffer - shoppers flood to upmarket chain to
buy Heston endorsed products.' The article went on to explain that TV celeb-
rity chef Heston Blumenthal endorsed a range of products in store and sales
in the lead up to Christmas 2013 increased by 4.1% against a Sainsbury's
growth of 0.2%. This meant that
22,000
products a minute were sold by
Waitrose on
23
December 2013, highlighting the influence celebrity chefs
have on food retailing and food tourism in the UK.
In Austin, Texas, the Wholefoods store at The Domain fits into our
definition of food tourism. It has an outdoor beer and bratwurst bar, is a
venue for live music, has a Texas Ramen bar (sushi-style individual dishes),
11
different seating areas, an indoor oyster bar, a community meeting place
and has local artists' paintings and artwork displayed around the store.
It is increasingly clear that the gap between tourism and retailing as
we understood it is blending and that food tourism could now include the
weekly food shop.
Farmers are also joining in on the new developments. In Chicago,
Illinois, located next to Dunkin Donuts on North Clark Street, you will find
the Farmer's Fridge: a vending machine developed by Luke Saunders sell-
ing healthy organic food from the farm in recyclable jars (
www.farmers-
fridge.com
)
.
These developments are all based around food attracting visitors to a
certain area. Whether they should be included in a book on food tourism we
are sure will cause debate. The authors' approach has been to set the net wide
Fig. 1.1.
'Never Shop on an Empty Stomach' in Bath Spa, UK.
