| Summary: | Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore and typify the characteristics and diverse features of urban speciality stores selling rural provenance food, taking the case of three cities in Portugal. Design/methodology/approach: The study was based on hierarchical cluster analysis, performed upon data collected from a survey to 113 shops, located in Aveiro (n = 15), Lisbon (n = 56) and Porto (n = 42). Findings: The study identified three clusters of shops according to the type of rural provenance products sold, services provided and clientele characteristics: the wine focused, the rural provenance focused and the generalist. The study confirms that in Portugal, small food retail outlets, with different rural provenance patterns and degrees of specialization have considerably grown in large cities over the last decade. Research limitations/implications: The study contributes to typifying urban speciality food stores selling rural provenance products and to addressing critical research gaps on this topic. The study highlights the dynamism of small food retail outlets and their significance, mediating and responding to changing patterns of food consumption in urban spaces. Originality/value: This study contributes to a better understanding and characterization of food speciality shops in urban settings and their links with rural territories of provenance, an under-researched topic on the food retail literature. © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited.
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