Paper short abstract:

Enabled by the obfuscating potential of long-distance trade (Steiner 1994), Ghanaian market vendors respond to the alleged Chinese encroachment of urban marketplaces by constructing imaginaries of commodity value and authenticity, thus creating alternative 'luxury' markets in unusual places.

Paper long abstract:

Since the beginning of the 21st century, an increasing number of independent Chinese migrants have been flocking to Ghana's urban markets in search of investment opportunities in general trade, among other economic activities. Benefiting from trade liberalization, these migrant entrepreneurs operate in local marketplaces at reduced profit margins thus putting Ghanaian importers under existential pressure. Local entrepreneurs have responded to the new competition by finding innovative ways to interact with customers, particularly by creatively constructing their own imaginaries of quality and value and, ultimately, creating an alternative 'luxury' market amidst the informal urban marketplace. More precisely, Ghanaian importers - arguably purchasing from the same assembly lines as their Chinese counterparts - strategically choose and advertise particular Asian commodity hubs (Bangkok and Dubai instead of Guangzhou or Yiwu) which, they claim, offer higher quality Chinese commodities destined for Euro-American markets. By distancing their economic activities from their Chinese competitors this way, Ghanaian entrepreneurs construct a fictive market space that effectively secures their income generating activities against the perceived intruder. Burgeoning all over Accra's central marketplace, such boutique-fashioned businesses of pretended higher class commodities may change the face of Accra's central market in the long run. While local informal marketplaces are known to attract low-income customers, there is a chance that the recent development will re-attract the middle-class clients that have drained to Western-style supermarkets and malls over the last decade.