PurposeThis paper aims to report results from an exploratory study of farmers' markets, taking particular interest in the motives for participation of customers, and their perceptions of the functioning of markets as co‐created sites of local food production, retail and consumption. Customer perceptions are also compared between farmers' markets and supermarkets.Design/methodology/approachQuestionnaires were completed by 252 customers at 11 farmers' markets around New Zealand in 2008‐2009. Customers rated the importance of 31 constructs that might influence their involvement. For comparison, 257 supermarket shoppers in Auckland completed a similar questionnaire. Student t‐tests are used to distinguish between samples and subsample groups.FindingsThe paper finds that product quality is the key motivator for patronage, with price not a significant barrier to purchase or visits to farmers' markets. The “retail environment” has only a modest influence on market customer choices, and markets are only partially co‐created, with customers not highly valuing interaction with producers. Customers rated price, location and store environment constructs to be much more important at supermarkets than at markets.Originality/valueFarmers' markets have experienced recent rapid growth and diffusion in many parts of the world, including Australasia, becoming popular sites of small retail trade and local cultural exchange. This paper contributes to the understanding of what motivates customers to participate in them, and what distinguishes markets from other food retailing sites such as supermarkets, at least in the New Zealand context.