Everyday Shops

This paper explores the role of local, everyday shops in the production of heritage of inner city streets. Employing the concept of everyday heritage, valuing places and practices important for people’s everyday life and routine, the paper proposes that everyday shops act as records of those who have worked and visited them over the years becoming carriers and enablers of everyday heritage. Emphasis is placed on the methodology used to analyze these shops, combining methods from architecture, urban history, and ethnography. Influenced by the emerging field of Graphic Anthropology, the paper argues that the use of drawing, both as an introduction to the field as well as part of the reflection and analysis, can provide an alternative way to respond and synthesize the diverse information acquired during fieldwork. The three shops presented in this paper are all independently owned and located within the commercial core of Belfast city centre but off the main shopping thoroughfares: Tivoli barbershop, Café Red, and Atomic Collectables.