From 'Sadegh's Shop' to Emerging Hypermarkets

When was the last time you went to a shop to buy something and the seller knew you? Did they know who you are, which neighborhood you live in, or what you usually buy?

Maybe these questions don't seem so important at first glance, but they can lead us to a bigger question: Are the spaces we shop in every day just a place to get goods or are they also a part of our social life? This search is an attempt to follow the same question; From Dekan Sadegh in our neighborhood in Rasht to today's hypermarkets. I hope you will be bored and read.

For me, thinking about changing shopping spaces starts with a simple memory; The memory of "Dekan Sadegh" in our neighborhood in Rasht. One night, when I was a teenager, around one or two in the morning, a baby was restless in the house and we couldn't find the pacifier. My mother asked me to go and buy a pacifier from Sadek Dekan. The shop was closed and Sadiq was at home. I quietly knocked on the door of his house. From behind the door, he told me to go to the front of his shop to give me the pacifier. He went to the store from his yard and gave me the pacifier without complaining about my midnight visit. To be honest, every time the lamp of Sadegh's shop was turned on at that hour of the night, I felt relieved and I thought to myself that there is still someone who can be reached at such an unusual time and not return empty-handed.

When I think about that memory today, the pacifier itself is not so important to me; What attracts my attention the most is the relationship behind that simple event. Sadeq knew our family. He knew we had a little one at home and he knew the baby might be impatient for a pacifier. Therefore, when we knocked on his door in the middle of the night, our situation was no stranger to him. Sadegh's house and shop were not only physically together; In everyday life, the border between them was very thin. The shop was not only his place of business; It was part of the social life of the neighborhood. If there was a problem, even in the middle of the night, we could knock on his door. Shopping in such an environment was not just an economic interaction; Buying happens within a network of recognition, trust, memory and relationship.

Of course, this acquaintance did not always bring comfort. I remember that my father sometimes used to buy from another store on the streets of the city on his way back home, and when he wanted to pass in front of Sadek's store, he was tormented. It was as if Sadeq preferred not to find out that he made his purchase from another place. My father was not alone; Some tried to hide their shopping bag so that the familiar owner of the neighborhood store would not see it. This behavior, although it seems simple and even funny at first glance, shows another aspect of the close relationship between the business and the customer: the same familiarity and proper connection that could create trust and a sense of belonging, sometimes also brought confrontation and a kind of sense of obligation. In such an environment, shopping was not just a free choice of products and stores; Sometimes, considering relationships and worrying about other people's opinion was also mentioned.

Now let's move away from the honest shops and go to the hypermarkets; Big stores that pop up in our cities one after another these days and become a part of the daily shopping experience. Unlike Dekan Sadegh, in department stores, the experience of anonymity and anonymity becomes more pronounced and the relationship between people is often reduced to a minimum. We are among many people, but often we don't know who they are, and they don't know anything about us. In the corridors, we look at the shelves and look for what we need. Employees may be more involved in picking goods, controlling inventory, or performing specific tasks than interacting with customers. In such an atmosphere, the presence of others does not necessarily mean a relationship with them.

This situation can be understood along the lines of German sociologist Georg Simmel's analysis of life in the metropolis. Simmel shows that living in a big city is accompanied by an increase in the number of contacts and at the same time an increase in social distance and anonymity. The urban man comes into contact with a large number of people every day, but he is not supposed to enter into a relationship with all of them. This distance allows him to lead a part of his life without revealing, without being recognized and without extensive social obligations. Therefore, anonymity is not only a sign of alienation; It can also be considered a form of freedom (Simmel, 1903).

Another sociologist named Irving Goffman looks at this situation from a different angle. In public spaces, people follow a set of unwritten rules so that they can live together. One of these rules is what Goffman calls "civil indifference": we notice the presence of others, but we don't stare, we don't invade their privacy, and we don't ask them for explanations. In a department store, many people move together, but everyone remains largely in their own privacy. This type of co-presence without direct relationship is one of the important features of modern life (Goffman, 1963).

Now maybe it's better to ask ourselves if we really want all shopping spaces to be honest like the shop? Do we want the local shopkeeper to know what we are buying, who lives in our house, when we are sick or what is wrong with us? The answer is probably not always positive. The same relationship that can be very valuable in a difficult night, in other situations may turn into a struggle or a bitter feeling of wandering in our life. From this point of view, the transition from a small local shop to a large store should not be seen as just a story of loss of intimacy. Part of it is the possibility of increasing choice. In the traditional atmosphere, the relationship was largely in the structure of everyday life. If the neighborhood shop was close to the house and everyone knew each other, facing the seller and neighbors was a part of everyday life and could not be easily avoided. In the modern world, however, there is more choice: we can walk into a store where no one knows us, make a quick purchase, and walk out. If we want, we can choose a space where it is possible to talk and get to know each other more. what do i mean

An interesting example of this situation can be seen in the Netherlands. In 2019, the Jumbo chain store launched a fund called "Discussion Fund" in one of its branches; Checkout or queue where speed is not the only goal and the customer can talk to the cashier. This idea was later expanded and proposed with the aim of creating opportunities for dialogue and reducing loneliness. In Germany, a similar idea has been formed under the title of "dialogue box"; A checkout that the customer can consciously choose, even if the queue is slower.

I think the importance of these experiences is not only that stores want to become friendly again. More importantly, in the modern world, even facing a traditional relationship can be a choice. You don't have to talk to the seller. You can choose the express checkout line and be out of the store in minutes. But if one day you want to see someone, say a few words or make shopping a social experience, it is also possible to choose it. You enter the special queue for this purpose.

Here, one of the important differences between the old and modern space can be seen in the concept of "inevitable relationship" and "chosen relationship". In the neighborhood shop, relationship was part of the structure of life. You knew the seller and he knew you. This relationship could provide security, trust and a sense of belonging, but sometimes it also created social pressure. In the modern store, the relationship may be weaker, but one has more freedom to choose the degree of communication. It can remain anonymous or become known; can be silent or talk; He can make the purchase quickly or take his time.

For me, the memory of Dekan Sadegh is ultimately not just the nostalgia of an old shop. That memory is a reminder of a kind of social life in which shopping, trust, neighborhood and knowing each other were intertwined. But besides that, the memory of the shopping bag that maybe no one wants to see the owner of the neighborhood store is also a part of the same life. If we want to see the past only as a time of intimacy and today only as a time of alienation, we have ignored part of the reality of both periods.

I believe that the value of the new world lies precisely in this possibility of choice. We no longer necessarily have to be known all the time, just as we don't have to be anonymous all the time. We can shop in a modern environment and no one will recognize us; We can talk to the seller in a weekly market; We can choose the box or fast queue or the box designed for conversation. In the modern world, even facing tradition can be a choice. There is no obligation to choose and this, in my opinion, is one of the positive points of the new world.

From this point of view, the main issue in the design and experience of future commercial spaces is not to fully restore the atmosphere of "Dekan Sadek". Perhaps even such a return is neither possible nor desirable. The issue is how to maintain the possibility of pause, conversation, memory and relationship formation in modern spaces, along with speed, efficiency and privacy. If such a possibility exists, a person can choose from among the available possibilities; It can sometimes be just an anonymous consumer and sometimes part of a social experience.

Finally, maybe the distance between Dekan Sadegh and a hypermarket is not as much as it seems at first glance, the distance between "past" and "present"; Rather, the distance between two different ways of being in space. In one, the relationship is largely a given; In another, the relationship is more selective. Dekan Sadegh reminds us that place cannot be formed without relationships, and Hypermarket can be a reminder that anonymity is not necessarily a disadvantage either. The problem of urban life today is to find a balance between the two: a city that has both a place to be alone and a place to be known; It gives both the possibility to pass and the possibility to stay.