Permanências e rupturas no pequeno comércio: um estudo das mercearias e fruteiras do bairro Bom Fim, Porto Alegre/RS

Abstract

The present research work analyzed Grocery Stores and Fruit Stands in the Bom Fim neighborhood, in the city of Porto Alegre/RS, considering ruptures and continuities over time. The aim was to examine issues in the urban modeling process that lead to urban transformations in the commercial sector, and their potential effects on neighborhood commerce, under the logic of (re)production of space. There are places that maintain their traditionality and intense cultural and commercial activities, whose understanding of the cultural, functional, and symbolic values of this territory, in its dimensions, features, and identity(ies) present, keeps their memories and ages alive in the contemporary modernization of the geographical space. In this sense, the inquiries sought to understand the dimension of this urban phenomenon linked to the global and local estrangement perceived and felt among the involved actors. Through Urban Geography analyses, specifically in the case of Commerce and Consumption Geography, this Case Study, using a progressive-regressive analysis method, aimed to identify the reasons for the persistence (and the difficulties of maintenance) of small grocery and fruit businesses in the Bom Fim neighborhood and describe their importance for the social fabric and cultural identity of the neighborhood. In general, concerning the relevant aspects of this research moment, the data demonstrate that, for small grocery and fruit store owners, the importance of constantly devising effective strategies to persist is parallel to being a resident and belonging to Bom Fim. It is expected that the future of the community is conditioned by its ability to invent and reinvent itself dynamically.