Strawberry fields forever?
Some decades ago (here in Norway), farmers started selling their strawberries directly to customers at the parking lots of gasoline stations. It was a smart idea. Strawberry season were more or less at the same time as the national holiday season (july). In other words, there were easier to get a good price and a customer for that matter at a gas station, than in grocery stores in the cities.
Early summer 2010. I drove by a gas station when visiting my grandma. They had posters announcing “fresh strawberries”. This would be a miracle since the cold north needs time to produce juicy and sweet berries. But the berries didn´t come from a local farmer. They were imported from Belgium and sold by the owner of the gasoline station.
So for decades norwegians have been very happy with the ritual of buying strawberries from the parkinglots at the gas stations. Picked from a local farm. The same day. This had become a summer ritual.
When a greedy gas station owner wants to expand the strawberry season he or she are devaluating the whole experience. Suddenly this is no more a cultural ritual. A social experience. It is merely a product made available at a rather odd place.
Take away the cultural ritual and the social experience from a purchase and it becomes commodity. The need for stopping at the gas station when the “real” season begins will be reduced. The owner will in the longer run loose customers.
I miss the old days. At least on days like this. Cheers.
