Abstract
By investigating the occurrence of place innovative synergies between retail and tourism in a small-sized Swedish city, this article advances knowledge on how city center attractiveness can be enforced in a rural context with competing online shopping and suburban/out-of-town shopping centers. Previous studies of city center attractiveness, place innovation, and social innovation help distinguish innovative intertwinement of correlated trends of experiencing retail and retailing experiences, augmenting customer experiences through place-based characteristics. Interviews, workshops, and participatory observations with entrepreneurs, business promoters, and municipality representatives reveal three dimensions of place innovative synergies in city center attractiveness: 1) innovative variance in city center retail and tourism, 2) innovative interwovenness between the city center identity and its configuration, content, and communication, and 3) innovative interaction between retailers and tourism entrepreneurs in city center events. A key question is whether synergies in temporal events and everyday commerce are sufficiently combined, in order to engender encompassing renewal.
Highlights
Innovative renewal of cities, destinations, regions and other types of places has been increasingly highlighted in research and practice over the last decade, as a means to ensure the attractiveness of these places in the perceived competition for residents, tourists, entrepreneurs, investments, and events (Arefi, 2014; Brandsen, Cattacin, Evers, & Zimmer, 2016; Moulaert & Van den Broeck, 2018; Nyseth & Viken, 2009; Syssner, 2010)
According to a tourism communication guide produced by the local destination management organization, Piteå is to be promoted by the concept “Arctic Lifestyle” that is endorsed by the regional tourism destination Swedish Lapland (Destination Piteå, 2016a)
For example, discerned in the extent to which Piteå’s conveyed identity as cozy and homely, with characterizing maritime and wooden heritage is exploited in tourism and retail
Summary
Innovative renewal of cities, destinations, regions and other types of places has been increasingly highlighted in research and practice over the last decade, as a means to ensure the attractiveness of these places in the perceived competition for residents, tourists, entrepreneurs, investments, and events (Arefi, 2014; Brandsen, Cattacin, Evers, & Zimmer, 2016; Moulaert & Van den Broeck, 2018; Nyseth & Viken, 2009; Syssner, 2010). A solution for maintained city center attractiveness is perceived in augmented customer experiences, adding place-based values of local stores to the exchange of payment and products (Coca-Stefaniak & Carroll, 2015; Johnson, Kim, Mee Mun, & Lee, 2015; Morandi, 2011). In this article, this is conceptualized as ‘experiencing retail’, which is related to the corresponding trend of ‘retailing experiences’ in the tourism industry, where unique customer experiences are tailored based on the specific character of the place where they are consumed (Pine & Gilmore, 1999; Sundbo & Sørensen, 2013)
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