There’s an increasing flurry in the number of markets recently - or is that a ‘medley of markets’. I’ve set up my stall at about half-a -dozen over the past two years - a novice beside local veteran stall-holders who have been setting up stalls and selling their wares for a decades. I’m very much an apprentice salesperson in the lineage of traders throughout history.
Sunshine helps at an outside Market. Here’s the hugely successful Whanganui Traders Market which offers a wide variety of home-made or locally-grown delights. Set on the banks of the Whanganui River, each Saturday morning, it attracts a lively crowd of those who come to buy weekly organic groceries, favourite coffee and home-baked delicacies or to browse among the endless stalls of books, plants and crafty temptations.
At the recent Artizan Makete, in Palmerston North, I was sitting at my stall of children’s books, greeting cards and children’s t-shirts, thinking about how a “Market” is different to shopping in the local supermarket or mall. One difference is that, generally speaking, people who come to a Market are scanning in a casual and leisurely way. They move slowly as they pass, scanning the stalls -sometimes pausing when a trinket or object catches their eye. But, unless they are coming specifically to buy from a regular stall, they are generally enjoying the pleasure of browsing. As a stall-holder I’ve learned to be ready to engage with the browser - or not. If they catch my eye, I’ll smile and say hi. And take my lead from their behaviour to see if they want to talk more, or move on. Some browsers don’t make eye contact - so I don’t push it!
I’ve come to realise that being at the Market is as much about the experience of relating to each other as it is the buying or selling. When somebody asked me recently how many books I’d sold, I found myself reflecting that the number of sales I’d had wasn’t the main criteria for a successful day. Selling goods is only part of the experience. To engage with the browser and with the other stall-holders is as important as making a sale. And - perhaps unlike in other shopping experiences - there isn’t the same competition between the stall-holders. There is likely to be a joint delight when someone makes a sale. Indeed, often, stall-holders buy from each other’s stalls,
We have been. exchanging our wares since very early times. Historically, we depended on each other to supply that which we couldn’t individually grow, make or breed - garden produce, crops, birds, animals, clothing, building materials… the inter-dependence of our trading was implicit. We weren’t competing with each other - those who had were providing for those who had not. I’m guessing there was a great deal of trust involved in the transaction. Trust that the goods were genuine, healthy, strong and durable. There was value placed on a product that was “built to last”. Conversely, the growth of mass-produced goods, which were built for a “quick turnover’ and to be replaced regularly, and often manufactured in other countries, produced a new style of trading. There was no personal relationship between the maker and the buyer. The trading experience became less important than the object of the trade and how much you could save in the purchase. Goods became “comsumables” - not the product of a satisfactory trade between the maker and the buyer. The move to ‘online trader’ accentuated the lack of personal exchange. The maker and buyer relationship was even more removed from the experience. Only recently has there been an awareness of and concern about the shocking conditions in some of the factories where people work to produce our commodities and the scant remuneration they receive. The idea of an equal exchange, of a rewarding relationship, of a respectful acknowledgement of each needing the other is non-existent. We have come so far from the traditional human activity of buying and selling.