Beyond transactions: affordances, emotions, and place attachment in retail spaces

Supermarkets are among the most frequently visited retail environments, yet they are commonly understood as transactional spaces defined by price, convenience, and efficiency. This study examines how routine shopping practices can, over time, generate meaningful consumer-place relationships. Drawing on affordance theory and place attachment literature, we conceptualise supermarkets as accumulated storescapes: environments in which significance develops through familiarity, habit, and repeated engagement rather than isolated encounters or curated experiences. Using mobile ethnography with shoppers in Australia and the United Kingdom, the study traces how ongoing interaction with store environments gives rise to two distinct relational outcomes. Place affinity reflects instrumental reliance and alignment with personal identity without emotional attachment, while place attachment involves emotional investment, a sense of ownership, and resistance to change. The findings demonstrate that even ordinary retail settings can create enduring forms of attachment, not through spectacle or premium branding, but through stable routines, predictable layouts, and everyday use. By emphasising temporality as a central process rather than background context, this research extends servicescape and retail attachment theory and clarifies how place meanings accumulate through practice. It also offers practical insight for managers seeking to cultivate resilient customer relationships that extend beyond price competition or convenience alone.