Becoming Eataly

Abstract

Eataly is not simply a supermarket that sells food: it sales a ‘taste’ of and a travel to an imaginary Italy by seducing its customers to spend time and money in order to see, smell, touch, hear, eat and nearly literally, incorporate the brand and its branded products and services. In this chapter, I offer an account of the coming into being of Eataly, a brand that with 25 about 30 malls (in Italy, Japan, Turkey, Brasil, the USA and United Arab Emirates). By taking further Jon Goss’ notable metaphor of the ‘magic of the mall’, I specifically focus on showing how Eataly draws on specific geographies and geographical imaginations to establish itself as a brand recognised in Italy and overseas, and as a business venture that can be successfully replicated elsewhere. I highlight how Eataly does a very specific ‘kind of magic’ to its customers, as the brand and the mall attempt to persuade them to spend time within the walls of the mall to eat and do their shopping. I argue that this form of ‘magic’ draws on a visceral register of communication that is potentially successful as it ‘speaks to the guts’ of the visitors of the mall.