The behavior of the fresh fruits and vegetable produce section was evaluated, under the point of view of the consumer, in three types of food retail stores in Campo Grande, Brazilian southeast: a grocery store ("quitanda"), a supermarket, and an open-air market. A quantitative-descriptive survey was conducted with 120 individuals, responsible for purchasing fresh fruit and vegetable produce for their homes. To accomplish that, twelve variables were investigated and adapted from the parameters used in the SERVQUAL model, in which the attributes of the retail outlet are pointed out, such as store hygiene and cleanliness and manner by which produce is displayed; employee training traits, such as courtesy and helpfulness; and quality, price range, and variety of the produce for sale. The results reveal that shopping for grocery is done weekly; 80% of the shoppers interviewed do their shopping in supermarkets and 94% do theirs in open-air markets. The open-air market had the best results in the attributes for which they were evaluated when compared with the grocery store and the supermarket. The study also points out that the older the shopper the more often he/she does grocery shopping.
vegetable crops; retail outlet; retail performance; SERVQUAL method
