From a marketer’s perspective, place is only a sacrosanct component of the marketing mix (McCarthy, 1960), and extends into services’ “7Ps” (Grӧnroos, 1994). The servicescape literature explores how stimuli present within commercial consumption settings or servicescapes impact consumer behaviors (Rosenbaum & Massiah, 2011). Arguably, marketers view place as exchange locales, and they do not understand the evocative role that they assume in consumers’ lives (Sherry, 2000). Within cultural geography, places represent “profound centres of human existence” (Relph, 1976, p. 43). Place is a triad comprising of a physical setting, activities, and meanings (see Relph, 1976). This paper investigates how Israeli Jews attribute meanings to places associated with their destruction during the Holocaust (1939 – 1945). Respondents were eight Jewish Israelis who recently participated in the educational Holocuast sojourn (i.e, Warsaw Ghetto, Treblinka, and Aushwitz). Using long interviews, the authors put forth a framework that shows how the participants assign place-based meanings on four dimensions. The individual dimension reflects how the tour personally impacts visitors’ lives. The communal dimension, explores the trip impact’s the individual’s view towards Israel and Israeli nationalism (Zionism). The religiosity dimension reflects tour’s impact on a participant’s self-identity as a Jew (e.g., secular, conservative, Orthodox). Lastly, the global dimension explores the trip’s impact on a participant’s identity as a human being in a global world. Did the trip alter a participant’s views towards mankind, towards genocide, and universal lessons that everyone may learn from the Holocaust? Results help to understand the evocative role that places often assume in consumers’ lives. Place no longer seem as inert; instead, spaces imbued with meanings impact lives, experiences, and even one’s overall well-being. From a broader perspective, the results suggest a different role that consumption settings may assume in consumers’ lives. Places may impact consumers on multiple levels, and the essence of understanding the profound bonds that consumers often form with places, originates not from the functions that places serve, but rather, from the meanings that consumers often assign to place.

Colombia is an emerging country that has institutional stability and perspectives of fast economic growth. Indeed, despite decades of internal conflict and drug related security challenges, Colombia maintains relatively strong democratic institutions characterized by peaceful, transparent elections and the protection of civil liberties (CIA World Factbook, 2014). Today, Colombia is Latin America’s fourth largest economy. Most importantly, the country is witnessing the benefits of governmental and economic stability, as evidenced by its commodity markets, strong macroeconomic policies, and improved security and infrastructure conditions. The bottom line is that Colombia has been witnessing strong economic performance since the early 2000s (OECD, 2013), and now its citizens are reaping the benefit of being new middle-class and upper-class members. A remarkable characteristic of emerging countries is the increase in the size and the economic power of their middle-class population (Bridsal, 2010). The middle-class is an ambiguous social classification, which reflects the ability of a group of citizens within a country to lead a comfortable life. These comforts include, stable housing, access to quality healthcare, educational opportunities, job security, and discretionary income that can be spent on vacation and other leisure pursuits (Kharas, 2010; p.7). As country’s become increasingly wealthier in term of gross national output, the country’s middle-class typically witnesses corresponding increases in income levels and more available cash to use for marketplace consumption. Indeed, in terms of Colombia, its middle-class represents approximately 26% of total consumption (Ferreiro et al., 2013; Bridsal, 2010; p.11). Perhaps, one of the common characteristics across all global middle-class populations is their unique affinity for mall shopping compared to the lower-class and upper-class populations (Jafferlot & van den Veer, 2008; Conroy, 1998). That is, middle- class consumers show strong preferences for visiting and patronizing modern department stores and shopping malls (Mathur, 2010). Indeed, shopping malls are important for newly minted middle-class populations because it signals to them they have reached a higher status and possess disposable income for engaging in shopping, luxury consumption, and entertainment activities (Banerjee & Duflo, 2008). Given Colombia’s economic growth and its newly created middle-class population, understanding consumption patterns among this group is well-warranted, especially given Colombia’s emerging nation status. Thus, the goal of this presentation is to introduce the global community to the growing and affluent Colombian middle-class consumers. We achieve this goal by exploring the types of mall shoppers that currently exist in Colombia and by exploring how consumption patterns differ between and among different demographic consumer segments. Interestingly, one of the primary findings that emerge from this research is that the Colombian middle-class consumer exhibits essentially the same consumption pattern as any other consumer in an industrialized nation. That is, the typical middle-class consumer is a female housewife who enjoys shopping as a leisure activity. In the following section, we discuss a brief review of the literature and then discuss our research methodology and findings. We conclude this extended abstract with a discussion of managerial and theoretical implications and research limitations.

This study examines an unexplored area in services—namely, the existence of inauthentic retail establishments. These fake establishments, which mimic the service and product offerings of genuine establishments, such as Starbucks, McDonald’s, 7-Eleven, Apple, and others, prevail across Southeast Asia, primarily in China, Vietnam, and Cambodia. By employing grounded theory methodology, this study offers an original framework that illustrates why consumers accept and patronize both authentic and inauthentic retail establishments. The model shows that many consumers are satisfied with inauthentic retail establishments, and that some inauthentic retailers are building a loyal customer following. Thus, service organizations should respond to these inauthentic companies by viewing them as potential partners for innovation and expansion, rather than as future parties for costly litigation. That is, the authors suggests that authentic retail organizations should target their inauthentic competitors as possible joint venture partners, especially because these competitors have the ability to mimic authentic operations by operating counterfeit schemes.