article notes

Commercialised nostalgia Staging consumer experiences in small

businesses Kathy Hamilton and Beverly A. Wagner

Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to develop a framework linking the concept of nostalgia and experiential consumption, articulating the transformation of a mundane activity to a special experience, using the context of the small business and afternoon tea. Design/methodology/approach – The methodology is based on a grounded theory approach and draws on multiple methods of data collection including participant observation, in-depth interviews with afternoon tea room managers, researcher introspection and consumer interviews. Findings – By employing nostalgia cues through product, ritual and aesthetics, an idealised home can be constructed emphasising belonging and sharing. The small business owner can be effective in transforming an ordinary activity to an experiential event. Contemporary tea rooms do not replicate tradition; they use it as a cultural resource to construct something novel. Research limitations/implications – This paper demonstrates how the careful configuration of the retail space can be a key success factor, not only for marketers in large flagship brand stores, but also for smaller, independent and local businesses. The essential interplay between product, ritual and aesthetics creates positive moods of belonging and sharing and may increase satisfaction. Practical implications – Understanding the emotional value of everyday experiences is a point of differentiation in a crowded marketplace and may directly influence consumer loyalty. Staging experiences is a key competitive strategy. Originality/value – This paper is one of the few to empirically assess links between the nostalgia paradigm and experiential consumption. Existing research has emphasised large retail spaces; in contrast, the authors demonstrate how consumer experiences can be staged in smaller, independent and local businesses.

Keywords Small business, Nostalgia, Retail, Home, Afternoon tea, Consumer experience

Paper type Research paper

Introduction In this paper, we address the following research question: How do small businesses stage consumer experiences through nostalgic references? Various authors have highlighted the hedonistic, playful, enchanting, aesthetic and emotional side of consumption (Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982; Featherstone, 1990; Ritzer, 2005). However, much of the research interest has focused on grand cathedrals of consumption (Ritzer, 2005), emphasising large retail spaces that encompass spectacular themes, advanced technological media and architectural sophistication; cost millions to build; attract millions of visitors per year; and are often associated with a global brand such as Nike or Coca-Cola (Hollenbeck et al., 2008; Kozinets et al., 2004; Peñaloza, 1998). In

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0309-0566.htm

Commercialised nostalgia

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Received 30 May 2012 Revised 6 February 2013

Accepted 27 May 2013

European Journal of Marketing Vol. 48 No. 5/6, 2014

pp. 813-832 © Emerald Group Publishing Limited

0309-0566 DOI 10.1108/EJM-05-2012-0325

contrast, drawing on a grounded theory approach, our contribution is to demonstrate how careful configuration of the retail space can be a key success factor, not only in large flagship brand stores, but also for smaller, independent and local businesses. By focusing on the small business context, this paper discusses how “a theatrical approach can perform the task of making the familiar become unfamiliar” (Anderson, 2005, pp. 587-588). Using the context of afternoon tea consumption in the United Kingdom, we illustrate how small businesses can transform an in-home everyday activity to an out-of-home consumption experience.

Staging consumer experiences and retail theatre Deighton (1992, p. 362) suggests that “marketing reveals itself as an intrinsically dramatistic discipline”. A vocabulary of performance describes marketers who script and provide the props and stage for consumers to enact various roles, culminating in a kind of retail theatre. This becomes significant in an experience economy where both goods and services are increasingly commoditised (Pine and Gilmore, 1998). Pine and Gilmore (1998) suggest that staging experiences should be a key competitive strategy for all companies so that experience design is as much a business art as product and process design. They identify five principles to guide practitioners:

(1) theme the experience; (2) harmonise impressions with positive cues; (3) eliminate negative cues; (4) include memorabilia to make the experience tangible; and (5) engage all five senses.

Such principles are aimed at creating an experience or even entertainment for the consumer (Verhoef et al., 2009; Baron et al., 2001) and, if successful, can have a positive influence on consumer behaviour as well as economic value for the firm (Michon, Chebat and Turley, 2002 cited in Ulrich and Bourrain, 2008).

Various researchers have developed this line of inquiry by focusing on large spectacular themed environments. Peñaloza (1998) investigated the staging of consumer experience in Niketown, where visitors are engaged in innovative displays and immersed in the story of the brand. Brown (2001, p. 135) suggests that Niketown is the “mother ship” monument to retromarketing with its mix of “merchandise and memorabilia”. Kozinets et al. (2004, p. 660) focused on ESPN Zone Chicago, which they describe as one of the most “elaborate themed retail environments ever designed” in the form of a 35,000-foot entertainment and dining complex that provides a stage for consumers to perform their own sports-related fantasies. Maclaran and Brown (2005, p. 319) focused on the utopian marketplace of a festival shopping mall that offers a “retreat for shoppers from the overtly mass-marketed nature of mainstream shopping”. Many studies in this research stream emphasise that the physical environment is important not only from a material sense but also a social sense (Aubert-Gamet and Cova, 1998). For example, drawing on the case of American Girl Place, Borghini and colleagues (2009, p. 124) describe an outlet that emplaces the brand in an experiential world intertwining commerciality and domesticity as it facilitates intergenerational bonding among female family members and creates family identity.

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Critical reflection on these studies leads us to the proposition that staging an experience involves transforming something ordinary into something memorable. For example, watching a baseball game or purchasing sports clothes or a child’s doll becomes a process of playful engagement with the retail environment. Early use of the drama metaphor tended to view customers as an audience who were passively scripted and staged by marketers (Goodwin, 1996). However, more recently, researchers have highlighted the performative element of consumer behaviour (Deighton, 1992; Giesler, 2008) and the potential for co-creative practices (Kozinets et al., 2002, 2004). Thus, retail theatre encourages subtle interaction between service provider and user; visual cues and artefacts allow the consumer to play out symbolic narratives as part of the retail experience (Healy et al., 2007). In this paper, we suggest that nostalgic references facilitate symbolic narratives and the following section discusses nostalgia and its effect on consumer behaviour.

Nostalgia The concept of nostalgia has its origins in medicine where it was a pathological condition associated with homesickness (Kessous and Roux, 2008). Its meaning has now been extended to reflect nostalgia as a sociological phenomenon (Davis, 1979) and a contemporary obsession with the simulacra of the past (Hines, 2007). Lowenthal (1985) states that nostalgia is a universal catchword for looking back, an emotional state in which people yearn for the idealised past. Although various definitions of nostalgia exist, a common theme is the positive emotions associated with objects, places, people, experiences and ideas from the past (Hirsch, 1992; Holbrook, 1993; Holak and Havlena, 1998; Holbrook and Schindler, 2003). For example, Holbrook (1993, p. 245) defines nostalgia as “a longing for the past, yearning for yesterday, or a fondness for possessions and activities associated with the days of yore”.

Hirsch (1992, p. 390) suggests that nostalgia is an “idealized emotional state” that is manifested as individuals attempt to recreate a past era by reproducing activities and using symbolic representations of the past. Consistent in the literature is that the nostalgic experience filters the past and recall is selective through rose-coloured glasses, indeed some of the memories are fantasy-like representing a utopian version of yesteryear (Stern, 1992). Generally the negative content is screened out and is often sentimentalised to create positive emotions (Holbrook, 1993; Holak and Havlena, 1992). However, even though the emotion is predominantly positive, it may also be tinged with sadness (Holak and Havlena, 1992). Researchers have highlighted the bittersweet nature of nostalgia, indicating both positive and negative emotions; positive emotions evoked by fond memories and negative emotions due to the realisation that one can never return to this period (Davis, 1979).

There are both cognitive and affective dimensions to nostalgia (Werman, 1977). The cognitive focuses on memories of the past and the affective, the emotions that these memories evoke. Drawing on social identity theory, Sierra and McQuitty (2007) suggest that both emotional and cognitive responses to the past are based on group membership from that period and have the capacity to influence consumer behaviour. They confirm a dual-process model of nostalgic decision-making where both cognitive (e.g. attitudes to the past) and emotional (e.g. yearning for the past) simultaneously affect consumer behaviour.

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Davis (1979) highlights three nostalgic orders or levels of experience. First-order or simple nostalgia pertains to beliefs that things were better in the past. Second-order or reflexive nostalgia entails a thorough analysis of the past and a reflection on the accuracy of interpretation. Third-order or interpreted nostalgia means that individuals compare the nature and meaning of nostalgic feelings with present circumstances to enhance their life situation. Second-order nostalgia attempts to analyse the past critically, while third-order nostalgia analyses the nostalgic response itself.

Likewise, Baker and Kennedy (1994) identify three types of nostalgia, namely, real, simulated and collective. Real nostalgia is personally experienced past, for example, memories evoked from a particular song. Research has shown that by stimulating the consumer’s memory, they can be made to feel the emotions they felt when they had the original experience (Braun-LaTour and LaTour, 2005). Simulated nostalgia is indirect and can be experienced through the eyes and stories of others. Collective nostalgia relates to the past which represents a culture, a generation or a nation.

Warm memories that evoke nostalgic emotions are exploitable assets in today’s marketplace. In this respect, consumers are increasingly presented as “yearning for yesterday” (Davis, 1979) and the “remembrance of times past is a burgeoning business in almost every country” (Lowenthal, 1985, p. 6). Marketers are striving for the “commodified authentic”, a “sustained contradiction” that allows consumers to connect “to a range of values roughly aligned with authenticity and yet also to be fully modern” (Outka, 2009, p. 4). The following section outlines the context of our study as an example of this “sustained contradiction”.

Research context: afternoon tea consumption in the UK

If you are cold, tea will warm you. If you are heated, it will cool you. If you are depressed, it will cheer you. If you are excited, it will calm you (Gladston, 1865).

The UK has a long-standing reputation for being a nation of tea drinkers, and tea remains the most popular drink with a daily consumption of more than 165 million cups (United Kingdom Tea Council). Cultural and social etiquettes, customs and traditions surrounding the preparation and consumption of tea are numerous. Within this paper we consider the distinction between private (in-home) and public (out-of-home) tea consumption. Within the home, tea consumption becomes part of one’s daily routine (tea can be drunk at any time of the day) and features at social occasions as a way of demonstrating hospitality to visitors. In relation to public tea drinking, the most recent trend is the popularity of afternoon tea. Afternoon tea is a meal in itself that follows a ritualised script: food is served on a tiered cake stand, the bottom tier consists of sandwiches, the middle tier is scones, normally with cream and jam and the top tier is a variety of cakes. The food is accompanied with vast amounts of specialised tea (Plate 1).

Afternoon tea attracts a broad customer base and is regarded as an affordable treat. The following comment from Gill Hesketh, head of marketing at Clipper’s Teas (cited in Boughton, 2009, p. 38), highlights its experiential dimension:

Afternoon tea is about taking an everyday happening and making it a special treat. It’s about serving a delicious combination of sweet and savoury with a superb tea, and about providing your customer with an extraordinary experience of taste and style. Afternoon tea is not about a snatched cuppa with a scone.

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Clearly, afternoon tea is about transforming something that is consumed daily within the home from an ordinary experience to something special.

Afternoon tea is regarded as a nostalgic activity; it developed as a social event in the late 1830s and early 1840s (Pettigrew, 2001) but has been rediscovered and even

Plate 1.

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reinvented by contemporary consumers. By combining elements of old and new in the form of commercialised nostalgia, tearooms may be regarded as an example of retroscape (Brown, 2001). Existing research on retroscapes has centred on large-scale immersive environments. As Brown (2001, p. 146) suggests, retroscape developers are “trapped on an extremely expensive treadmill of competitive conspicuousness […] where thematic signifiers are evoked, evaluated, evaded and evicted in rapid succession, only to be eclipsed by even more extravagant encapsulations”. Our focus illustrates that “competitive conspicuousness” is equally important to the small business. In particular, we reveal how tea room managers successfully employ nostalgic representations of the idealised home to enhance the consumer experience.

As McCracken (2005, p. 32) suggests, the homey space can be “embracing” in terms of a “descending pattern of enclosure” where the occupant is “protected from the outside world by an intricate series of baffles and mediants”. In this way, McCracken (2005) argues that the homey space has the same symbolic and psychological value as a parental embrace, offering protection from both real and imagined dangers. This strategy results in the transformation of afternoon tea from an ordinary in-home activity to an out-of-home consumption experience.

Methodology Our methodology was based on a grounded theory approach (Glaser, 1978, 1992) and our interpretation was guided by the data (Goulding, 2005). The focus on the transformation of afternoon tea from an in-home everyday activity to an out-of-home consumption experience through nostalgic references in the marketplace offering emerged inductively via the data collection and interpretation process.

Research on small business is increasingly conducted from an interpretive perspective (Cope, 2005). In line with previous culturally oriented research on consumer experience (Haytko and Baker, 2004; Borghini et al., 2009; Hollenbeck et al., 2008), we draw on multiple methods of data collection over a two-year period. This included participant observation in tea rooms, in-depth interviews with afternoon tea room managers, researcher introspection and consumer email interviews. This was supplemented by information collected from newspaper articles and websites. This mix of data sources and methods encourages a holistic and in-depth understanding of the afternoon tea phenomenon and ensures robustness of data collection and validity of research findings (Sayre, 2001).

Participant observation was based in 14 afternoon tea venues in two UK cities. This was driven by the rationale that immersion in the research context allows researchers to “experience what is being expressed, listen to what is being said and witness what is being done” (Healy et al., 2007, p. 756). In an unobtrusive way, researchers can “gain an insider’s look into the living and authentic ‘world’ of their subjects” (Healy et al., 2007, p. 757). Establishments were selected purposefully to capture a variety of afternoon tea venues; some had historical significance while others were newly established, some were licensed and others served afternoon tea associated with particular themes (such as ice-cream or chocolate). Some venues were visited on multiple occasions. During visits we engaged in informal conversations with waiting staff. Following each visit, both researchers compiled extensive field notes covering a range of topics including the selection of food and drink, the presentation of food and drink, the décor, behaviour of

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staff and other customers and the ambiance. Photographs supplemented these notes and provided visual documentation (Peñaloza, 1998).

Additionally, both researchers completed introspective reflections after each visit; a useful approach for studying hedonic consumption experiences (Gould, 1991; Brown, 1998; Holbrook, 1995). Researcher introspection can be described as “an examination of one’s own individual mental experiences […] private self-reflection on joys and sorrows related to consumption” (Holbrook, 1995, p. 201). It has been argued that researchers have difficulty accessing behaviours of others due to problems of “cognizance” (Caru and Cova, 2008, p. 168). In other words, given the personal nature of experience, researchers can gain more in-depth understanding through themselves than via other informants. At this stage, there was no discussion or trading of thoughts until individual accounts were complete. An on-going submersion in the personal experience meant that introspection often evolved over a period of several days, as continual reflection on the experience created a closer relationship between data and researcher.

The second phase of data collection involved interviews with the tea room owner-managers. We used the Member’s Directory of the Tea Guild to identify potential participants. The Tea Guild was founded by the UK Tea Council in 1985 and is described as “a prestigious and unique organisation that represents and encourages those outlets who are dedicated to both brewing and serving tea to the high standards desired by the United Kingdom Tea Council” (www.tea.co.uk/teaguild). Initial contact was via email when we described the nature of our research and asked the tea room managers to answer several broad questions on their afternoon tea offering, its popularity and customer base. We obtained 12 email responses from this request and ten of these participated in follow-up interviews. Given that the sample was geographically spread across the UK, interviews were conducted via telephone and arranged at a convenient time for the respondent. Our respondents were based in both urban and rural tea rooms and had varying levels of experience; for some it was a relatively new venture to capitalise on the growing popularity of afternoon tea and others had long-standing family businesses. The discussion guide was informed by phase 1 of the research and covered topics such as business background, tea room aesthetics, customers, promotional strategies, pricing, product and menu information and staffing. Some respondents emailed us photographs after the interview to supplement their oral descriptions. Telephone interviews lasted between 45 and 90 minutes and were audio-recorded and transcribed.

We also collected additional data to support the customer perspective. One of the tea room managers runs a “Tea Club” and helped us to negotiate access. This theoretical approach to sampling (Glaser and Strauss, 1967) allowed us to access those who had significant experience of afternoon tea, resulting in deeper insight. Ten tea club members responded, via email, to four open-ended questions about their experiences of taking afternoon tea.

To understand the phenomenon as a whole, analysis and interpretation required on-going scrutiny of the data collected. We followed an iterative approach to interpretation because the overlapping of data collection and analysis is considered to improve both the quality of the data collected and the quality of the analysis (Patton, 2002). The process of analysis was thematic (Spiggle, 1994) and followed a constant comparative method (Glaser and Strauss, 1967). Each of the authors separately analysed the data and then combined and refined their analyses. Initially analysis was at a

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descriptive level, moving towards theoretical explanation as time passed. We moved between the data and the literature as analysis evolved, comparing our work with existing material to gain deeper insight. This back and forth movement between the literature and the data highlighted the broad scope of the afternoon tea experience. Collectively the multiple concepts we discuss contribute towards the transformation from an in-home ordinary event to an out-of-home consumption experience.

Findings: construction of the idealised home An exquisite pleasure had invaded my senses […] Whence could it have come to me, this all-powerful joy? I was conscious that it was connected with the taste of tea and cake, but that it infinitely transcended those savors (Proust, 1981).

There is something quite magic about this. I am not trying to be twee-it is about time out and relaxing (Robert).

The afternoon tea experience is decadent with memories of a time gone by, it is log fires, and cold winter days, or long summer afternoon sipping champagne in the garden, of taking tea and catching up, its friends getting together, taking time out, its romantic (Beth).

Tea room managers unanimously agree that afternoon tea is increasing in popularity and they report improved trade and “phenomenal success”. All of our respondents employ positive, poetic vocabulary to describe the experience. For tea room managers, it is “calming, good for the body and soul”; “comforting, quiet and polite”; “leisurely and elegant”; “quaint”; and “a genteel civilised experience”. For consumers, it is “relaxing”, “bliss”, “a joy”, “pleasure”, “refreshing” and “luxury break”. We present the findings in relation to four key subthemes: product, ritual, aesthetics and belonging. The overarching theme that filters through each of these discussions is the way in which afternoon tea provides an illusion of the ideal home, a nostalgic representation that transforms afternoon tea from a mundane in-home activity to a memorable out-of-home consumption experience.

Product Tea room managers emphasise a production process that focuses on freshness, high-quality ingredients (often local suppliers) and preparation on the premises. Although labour-intensive and more costly, many proprietors believe this is crucial to the appeal of afternoon tea:

We strive to ensure very high standards of quality by sourcing from very good suppliers-and our products are made from scratch in our kitchen […] Every morning I am baking bread and making teacakes, scones and cakes. We do a variety of sandwiches and cut them into shape and 4/5 different cakes, such as rich fruit cake, lemon drizzle cake, chocolate cake etc. It makes a real difference. For example many places use scone mix to make scones and the results speak for themselves. In our kitchen we take the time and effort to make scones using organic flour and fresh butter, making them in the traditional, but labour intensive way of rubbing butter into the flour and then adding fresh milk and so on. The result is a scone that has a great buttery taste and when you eat it and it doesn’t stick to the roof of your mouth. We know that people are impressed because of the comments left behind in our visitors’ book (Steve).

This emphasis on fresh preparation is central to the idealised home. Time poverty has altered the socio-spatial relations surrounding food consumption and we have

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witnessed an increase in convenience and fast foods (Brewis and Jack, 2005). For many households, finding time to prepare homemade food has become increasingly challenging, creating a sense of nostalgia for an earlier era where traditional cooking and fresh ingredients were commonplace. Tearooms have responded by providing products reminiscent of this image of the idealised home. The time invested in acquiring competencies associated with afternoon tea provision is undertaken by the tearoom staff, liberating consumers from the labour associated with fresh food preparation.

For respondents, the emphasis on freshly prepared food also provided a point of differentiation with coffee culture.

The reason that I decided to go down the route of a tearoom was because we seem to be saturated with coffee shops, with Starbucks and Costa and they’re all very similar, they all offer primarily coffee and if they do have tea it’s generally a tea-bag dumped in a cup. It’s not done very well […] And the food is brought in, it’s pre-packed in a factory and it’s brought in. It’s not made on the premises and it’s not particularly fresh, not in the way that we prepare food. Our profit margins are less so it’s probably not as attractive a proposition to do as a chain but I think customers are looking for more individual service and for products that are homemade and a friendly approach. Whereas coffee shops are chains aren’t they? You go in a coffee shop in one town and it’s the same as the next town and everything’s identical. There’s no individuality and it’s not particularly authentic […] and it’s not very interesting really (Sarah).

The wording of the menu in one tearoom draws attention to the personalised service “If there’s anything that we’ve not covered and you would like it then don’t be afraid, just let us know”. Here our owner-manager respondents point towards a dichotomy between mass-processed food representative of coffee culture (in their view, inauthentic) and freshly prepared food (in their view, authentic) offered by tearooms. Many tea room managers agree that the personalisation available in tearooms has recaptured the British public’s imagination, given the growing dissatisfaction with mass production and the homogeneous nature of much of our marketplace offerings. Although afternoon tea involves the transformation of a previously private activity into a commercial experience, over-commercialisation is avoided and tea rooms “are made as individual as they can be”.

Proprietors also emphasise the choice of tea blends they offer and many documented their extensive range from around the world:

We have 20 teas on our menu and I could quite easily have 400. Our teas have been specially tasted and tested so we have the best in each category. Our Darjeeling is the best Darjeeling of that particular vintage of that year. My supplier is always sending me new teas and improved teas and the tea is a massive part of the tearoom. This goes back to the quality. It has to, all our teas are authentic, the best that you can get. It has not been processed and made to last longer, it is exactly as it is (Beth).

We offer about 50 different types of loose tea, some are quite unusual such as real fruit teas and also display teas. These are expensive and are actual flower buds, hand sown and as they infuse the flower opens up […] This is our top end tea range and its very visually appealing and also very good tea. We serve it in double walled glass teapots […]. They are really impressive (Steve).

This choice far extends the range of teas that the average consumers would have available in their homes. It represents a move away from simple commodification to a

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level of luxury that would not necessarily be associated with tea drinking. Talk of vintage blends, freshness (“not been processed” “actual flower buds”) and visual presentation reinforces the transformation of afternoon tea from a quick drink to a consumption experience.

Ritual Afternoon tea has a ritualistic element and respondents describe it as “steeped in tradition” and a “throw back” creating “memories of a time gone by”.

There is a ritual in it without a doubt. This stems from the history, ladies in waiting, in the gentry and Royal family, would have this ritual of Afternoon Tea[1]. It is just something that is in us all. Somewhere in our lives, we would have sat with our grandmother. There is very much a ritual in it, even though we don’t realise there is a ritual. There is a comfortable, comforting, homely, secure thing with it all (Alison).

Meaning is assigned to the experience based upon historical knowledge (Chronis, 2005) and consumers engage with these connections with the past that contribute to both personal and national identity (McDonald, 2011). For example, the ritual of taking afternoon tea may be linked to the concept of gentrification due to its historical links to Royalty, but at the same time, it may form part of personal history and be “homely” and “comfortable”. In other words, afternoon tea can be both real and simulated (Baker and Kennedy, 1994).

Alongside food quality, the presentation approach to afternoon tea is also important (Plate 1). Tea room managers make efforts to ensure stylistic and visually appealing presentation that stands out from other items on their menu, for example, one respondent describes it as “a little bit of theatre” that engages the senses (Pine and Gilmore, 1998).

The impact of afternoon tea is quite distinctive, people are really impressed and they often take photographs. Customers get very excited with the presentation of the food. Afternoon tea is an opportunity to show off the higher end of food, through the quality and the presentation. It is very pleasing to the eye (Steve).

Tea room managers use various props to enhance the experience, for example, loose leaf tea “served in silver teapots and food delivered on beautiful silver cake stands”, “covering the table with a cloth and flowers” or investing in expensive china because “you want to have it served in the nicest possible way.”

If you talk to anybody who had won an award for excellence [from the Tea Guild], they will all be using china, bone china at that. It will all be white and it will be done in conjunction with what the tea council are looking for in their judging criteria and so one would not have packaged sugar but in a proper nice dispenser. We use Royal Dolton, Royal Dolton Stratford which is the same crockery that they used on Concord so really good. It costs a lot of money to do it, I’ll tell you. Once you’ve done it, it is worth it, you see people coming in and saying “that’s lovely”, that’s what chuffs me about it (Stuart).

The presentation is central to the ritual and, in turn, there are certain etiquettes such as high-quality china and accompanying tableware. Although expensive, just like the tea itself, these “props” (Rook, 1985) are essential for the construction of the ideal as the aesthetic appeal of the food transforms afternoon tea beyond the everyday to the experience level.

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Another element of the ritual relates to the behaviour of staff who help make afternoon tea a gentrified experience. Emphasis is placed on “high service content” and “thoughtful customer care” and staff are trained to devote time and attention to customers. Tea room managers aim to provide a “perfect experience” by creating a retroscape with a spell-like quality where consumers can take time out to be “served at leisure” away from “a fast self-service orientated world”. Their attention to detail often extends to engaging customers in small talk, encouraging them to prolong the stay, tailoring the food selection to suit individual preferences and offering advice to help customers decide from the extensive choice of tea that may be beyond their normal repertoire:

We serve the tea at the table, we have a tea trolley, we talk to customers about the tea. All our team are trained up to know all about the different teas and they encourage customers to take something different instead of traditional breakfast tea. We ask them what they like and don’t like and then get them to try different teas. You need a passion for it, I love what I do and hopefully my staff share the same sort of passion, for giving the customers a really special, calming and happy experience (Beth).

The fact that afternoon tea is based on table service is also important, as this allows the work to remain out of sight. Consumers are removed from the production and are free from the effort that would be involved in recreating afternoon tea in their own homes.

Aesthetics In terms of physical environment, many tea room managers attempt a nostalgia aesthetic as their central theme. For some this involves obvious visual cues and for others, it is more subtle:

Very very classic reproductions, because again with the way my family has been involved in the trade, I’ve got reproductions of grandpa’s old packaging from the 1920s in there and all sorts of things up on the wall (James).

Last year there was a major refurbishment and the tea lounge was taken back to what it originally looked like in 1906. They used a lot of old photographs; they opened up an old cloakroom, found comfortable seating and couches (Caroline).

In these examples, managers promote the genuine historical significance of their tea rooms.

In contrast, another prominent strategy related to the staging of the home, for example, one participant observation site is a deliberately nostalgic anachronism of an English breakfast room. It is clear that the décor is an intentional effort to create a feeling of tradition and a past time, described in field notes as “like entering a Granny’s dining room”. There is deep pink wallpaper with a hunting motif, and the room is filled with wooden tables, each covered with a hand-embroidered table cloth and a bronze candlestick (Plate 2).

This home-like aesthetic is also evident in another participant observation site in a more opulent fashion. A wood fire burns in the grate of a grand fireplace, surrounded by carved wooden panels and a large gilded mirror centred above the mantelpiece. On the opposite wall, from floor to ceiling, is a wood and glass cabinet filled with bottles of vintage whisky. The room is crowded with brown leather chairs and settees, and the dim lighting is supported by candles on each table (Plate 3).

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This demonstrates that it is not only large spectacular themed environments that have aesthetic appeal (Kozinets et al., 2004; Diamond et al., 2009), but such strategies can be equally applicable on a smaller scale. While previous research has considered themed environments that globalise the brand (Hollenbeck et al., 2008), this study offers an alternative approach of more localised contextualisation. Indeed, smaller environments may be more appealing to “nostalgic hedonists” and their quest for uniqueness and pleasure (Guiot and Roux, 2010). Drawing on Outka (2009), we suggest that these carefully staged environments deliberately construct the security of the home so that the consumer becomes the beneficiary of the maternal homelike comfort, but does not have to produce and maintain the comfort. In line with Aubert-Gamet and Cova (1998), the aesthetic environment is important from a social perspective as will be discussed in the following section.

Belonging

[…] the chance to meet up with the people who you love and enjoy the simple pleasure of taking afternoon tea (Alison).

Exposure to nostalgic references can satisfy consumers’ need to belong (Holak and Havlena, 1998; Loveland et al., 2010). Afternoon tea is not just about the self, rather it is a social activity, a shared consumption ritual (Gainer, 1995). The experience provides space and time to talk; as the tea flows, so too does the conversation. Field notes reveal that part of this involves people watching, looking at faces, imagining lives and catching

Plate 2.

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snippets of conversation. By watching others we catch a part of local culture, benefit from free entertainment and see life.

Findings suggest that the afternoon tea experience unlocks a door to a flood of childhood memories for sharing, reinforcing the emotional component of nostalgia (Holak and Havlena, 1998). Introspections and consumer interviews disclose personal memories of family members who used to (or still do) make similar types of treats:

My grandmother was from Newfoundland and my grandfather came from Liverpool. My grandmother had a beautiful tea set and we used to make everything by hand ourselves and bake everything the day before. It was a real event. We would watch one of those great black and white movies too, it was grand (consumer interview).

In my head I have an enduring picture of my grandparent’s room and my grandfather drinking tea. The memory is so vivid bringing with it smells, colours and textures of that country home (researcher introspection).

Similar to Borghini et al. (2009), images of the home encourage new forms of reflection on family. Consumers may be moved emotionally and transported on a nostalgic journey as memories are evoked by the settings, colours, lighting, food, artefacts, objects and other aesthetic codes. The design and combination of product, ritual and aesthetic have the effect of creating “personal idiosyncratic memories” (Costa and Bamossy, 2003, p. 255) of friends and family, motivating consumers to share these stories, thereby creating a sense of belonging in the present. This is attractive because consumers do not have to

Plate 3.

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choose between the past and the present; all desires are united in one complete experience (Outka, 2009).

Many of our consumer and proprietor informants agreed that taking time out is important to the experience. As one manager explained, “you cannot have a sense of urgency or rushing these people”, a sentiment that is reinforced in our introspective accounts.

We eat slowly […] we want to make it last as this is not an experience that one gets to enjoy on a regular basis. It’s a feeling of contentment that just outside the doors the city is buzzing with people, those working in the nearby offices and shoppers racing up and down the busiest shopping street. In contrast as if captured in a spell we are cocooned in an oasis of calm for a few hours.

This may be interpreted as a form of time indulgence, a self-gift (Mick and DeMoss, 1990) to calm the mind and ease away tensions. The combination of high-quality, homemade indulgent food meets our body’s need for “pampering the soul” (Warde, 1997, p. 78) and the aesthetically appealing environment offers mood regulation (Arnold and Reynolds, 2009). Afternoon tea could therefore be described as “a rich tapestry of hedonic activity which provides the customer with real emotional benefits” (Healy et al., 2007, pp 756).

Conclusions We demonstrate that small business marketers striving to create an experiential environment can employ a strategy of commercialised nostalgia that embeds values of belonging. Consumption spaces staged to evoke personal and collective memory intermingle in collaborative and interactive processes to create a valued and often deeply moving (nostalgic) experience (Figure 1). We link the experiential view of consumption within the nostalgia paradigm. Merging these two streams of thought puts theorists and practitioners in a better position to extend understanding in this area and to develop appropriate strategies in this realm of business. Within our research context, we have demonstrated the relevance of Pine and Gilmore’s (1998) five design principles: theme the experience (nostalgia), harmonise impressions with positive cues (product, ritual and aesthetics), eliminate negative cues (discussed later), make the experience tangible (use of nostalgia staging props) and engage all five senses (a culmination of home-like sensory cues). This is important given the scant attention paid to the influence of nostalgia cues in the retail context (Ulrich and Bourrain, 2008).

Previous work has focused on immersive leisure environments, global brands, flagship stores and large-scale multi-sensory, interactive, theatrical experiences (Hollenbeck et al., 2008; Ritzer, 2005). We suggest that small business owners can be equally effective in constructing consumer experiences that transform an ordinary activity to an experiential event. Activities such as afternoon tea allow the past to be re-accessed, albeit in a contemporary way. By remaining the same, yet also evolving, they become more attractive to customers (Balmer, 2011). In this sense, contemporary tearooms do not simply replicate tradition, they use it as a cultural resource to construct something novel. Whereas well-known coffee chains are critiqued for “propagating a soul-numbing aesthetic homogeneity” (Thompson and Arsel, 2004, p. 634), tearooms can remain outside this hegemonic consumptionscape.

We have profiled small business owners who employ nostalgia via the construction of an idealised home through product, ritual and aesthetics. This is in line with Davis’

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(1979) first-order nostalgia that sentimentalises and celebrates the past. Marketers present a utopian version of the past; this is an illusory representation but appealing; consumers do not question its accuracy. Similar to Pine and Gilmore (1998), negative cues are deliberately eliminated by the owner-manager, for example, the labour associated with production, the maintenance of the homelike environment and the efforts involved in gaining necessary competencies are all invisible.

Such an approach can allow for the surfacing of consumer emotions, and drawing on Sierra and McQuitty’s (2007) dual-process model of nostalgic decision-making, our research reveals that affective responses become more important than cognitive responses to the past in some situations. Some argue that the artificial environment in restaurants and cafes restricts “authentic social participation”, as the need for civility and manners can repress true emotions and, instead, emotions are commodified through ritualised conventions (Finkelstein, 1989 cited in Lupton, 1996, p. 99). We would argue that it is possible for the consumer to express real emotions during the dining out experience and that these real and personal emotions mask the inauthenticity and staging of the nostalgic codes. The real and the simulated are deeply intertwined and, indeed, it is futile to attempt to make a distinction between the two; consumers do not stop to question the authenticity of their emotions. Although the consumer is aware that the context is staged through lighting, furnishings and artefacts, they still welcome any opportunity that serves the purpose of mood regulation and escapism that is afforded to them by the artificial separation “from the bustling and commercial public sphere” (Outka, 2009, p. 113).

Figure 1. Engagement in

experiential consumption

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Appreciating the link between nostalgic references in the marketplace offering and consumer emotional response has important marketing implications. The essential interplay between product, ritual and aesthetics creates the positive moods and pleasure and may increase satisfaction. From this we can deduce that managers who use emotion-evoking elements such as nostalgia may improve the consumer experience. Retailers who wish to create such spaces need to understand the emotional value of everyday experiences and consider ways to facilitate consumers’ personal and social experience. This supports Desai and Mahajan (1998), who found that such emotions play a crucial role and directly influence consumer loyalty.

It has been suggested that marketing is one of the biggest challenges for small business owners (Huang and Brown, 1999). In line with Fillis (2004), this study reinforces how creative marketing enables the smaller firm to gain competitive advantage despite limited resources. This offers a stark contrast to high-cost solutions and its success calls to mind Goulding’s (2001, p. 578) suggestion that some people view the present as “volatile, intimidating, pressurizing and impersonal, a society where machines have taken over artisan skills”. Our focus illustrates how familiar experiences can be made special through personalisation and dedicated interaction between staff and consumers.

The nostalgic references can persuade and influence consumption preferences and patronage because it satisfies consumers’ needs in a hedonic and aesthetic sense (Joyce and Lambert, 1996). Nostalgic cues evoke nostalgic thoughts and may be a powerful opportunity to position the service offering.

Finally our study demonstrates the value of researching small business environments and we encourage future lines of enquiry in this domain. It would be useful to extend the study into different cultural contexts. This would help to explain how traditions and customs from one culture are taken up and adapted in others. Afternoon tea is not the only context where retailers exploit nostalgia. Future studies concentrating on other industries such as home cooking, sewing and knitting classes, sports or local produce retailers and farm shops would offer an interesting comparison. Research in these contexts could provide greater and more generalisable understanding of the role of nostalgia in the consumption experience.

Note 1. The generally accepted legend surrounding the invention of afternoon tea is as follows: Anna

Maria, wife of the 7th Duke of Bedford, is said to have experienced a “sinking feeling” mid-afternoon and as a result, she requested some food to fight the hunger. This soon evolved into a social occasion, as the Duchess began to invite friends to join her.

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About the authors Kathy Hamilton is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. Her research is aimed at understanding and theorising consumer culture and has been conducted in various different contexts. Kathy’s work has been published in a range of journals including European Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Management, Sociology, Marketing Theory and Journal of Consumer Behaviour. Kathy was co-organiser of the ESRC seminar series on “Nostalgia in the 21st century”. Kathy Hamilton is the corresponding author and can be contacted at: [email protected]

Beverly Wagner is a Reader in the Department of Marketing, University of Strathclyde. Her research interests are related to aspects of contemporary consumer behaviour. Beverly is co-organiser of the ESRC seminar series on “Nostalgia in the 21st Century”, which aims to encourage dialogue between different disciplinary approaches in order to promote further enquiry into the uses of nostalgia in contemporary culture.

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