Abstract

From the mid-1980s through the early-2020s, Montreal’s commercial landscape saw a proliferation of heritage shops selling imported items from South-Asia such as incense, crystals, clothing, jewelry, home décor, and more. Today, the city’s zeitgeist has changed, but these shops still remain. Hence, what efforts do these shop owners exert to construct their authenticity and keep this heritage consumer subject alive? Previous research has either taken too vast of an institutional approach in studying this phenomenon or has focused too closely on the product that is the consumer subject itself. Thus, the literature does not take a balanced approach by studying the retail market actors themselves and the actions they specifically take to shape their ideal consumer subject. To fill this gap, this research employs a qualitative approach, combining three research methods: in-depth interviews, fieldwork, and secondary data. Overall, this thesis uncovers the muti-layered process that heritage shop owners undertake to shape consumer subjects. It contributes to the marketing literature by applying existing notions of authenticity to a new commercial niche and geographical context and by investigating the role that shop owners specifically play in the ethnic market sphere. For managers, this study can serve as a beginner’s guide for opening a business—or filling in any gaps of an existing business— that employs the construct of authenticity as understood, perceived, and crafted through managers’ very own eyes.