Abstract:

Traditional retail businesses such as the grocery, which are a part of street and neighborhood life, have begun to lose their old social and economic position, with the capitalist market relations that affect the whole of daily life. On the one hand, the transformation of consumption relations, on the other hand, the increasing competition and monopolization trend on a global scale has become a threat to the existence of traditional retail businesses. Traditional retail businesses have started to develop various strategies in order to maintain their presence against large businesses in the organized retail sector. While the most common form of struggle is to develop non-economic social relations, in some cities this struggle is taken one step further and becomes a collective one. Similar to the methods and tools of chain markets, businesses aiming to provide advantageous products to their members have been opened by some grocery trade associations. In order to ensure the existence of the traditional retail sector within the capitalist market conditions, a campaign was started by the trade association in Tokat. This local social movement, which was carried out with the slogan “Hero Tradesman against Supermarket”, was examined within the scope of the transformation of the traditional retail structure.

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