Classifications of retail stores and shopping centres: some methodological issues

This paper reviews current methods used in classifying retail outlets and areas devoted to retailing, in the geographical and town planning literature. For retail outlets, classifications based upon types of goods sold, and types of shopping trip, are discussed. This is followed by an analysis of modern large store development which reflects property developers' and retailers' concerns. Areas devoted to retail uses are subdivided into unplanned ‘retail areas’ and planned ‘shopping centres’. Traditional classifications based upon central place theory are reviewed for both of these types, and found wanting in the light of recent changes in retail development practice and consumer behaviour. Classifications based upon physical development characteristics and type of shopping trip are recommended. Finally, classifications of urban retail location are examined. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

U.S. Nationwide trends in metropolitan retail trade: A perspective of the mid 1980s

The 1982 U.S. summary data for retail sales (Census of Retail Trade) are analyzed in light of trends since 1958. The metropolitan economy consists of four sectors, namely CBDs, major retail centres (MRCs), non-CBD/MRC retailing and direct marketing. Total U.S. retail sales declined by some 1.6% during 1977–1982. Metropolitan retail sales increased, however, more than metropolitan population growth. This is related to the construction of outer-ring superregional centres which serve also exurban customers. Within metropolitan areas CBDs continued their absolute and relative decline, while MRCs grew, keeping their share in the metropolitan economy. Non-CBD/MRC retailing is the largest and increasingly growing sector. It represents demographic and economic changes that lead to an increased emphasis on speciality strip and small-town retailing. Direct marketing, while constantly growing, has not yet become a real threat to conventional store retailing.     

Employment in retailing: A case study of employment in suburban shopping centres

There have been many studies of the retail industry in recent years, and of the impact that retailing has had on the spatial arrangement of urban areas and on consumer behaviour. Little attention has been paid, however, to employment in retailing, which is disturbing in view of its growing importance and its rapidly changing nature and composition. This paper examines the nature of the broad structural changes within the industry, and investigates their spatial consequences through a case study of employment generation within a system of suburban retail centres in Canberra, Australia. It is shown that the evolution of suburban centres, particularly those of a regional variety, has had an important and enriching impact on the suburban labour market. The regional centres are also seen to be the focus of the major structural employment changes currently affecting the retail industry. This has some important implications for urban planning.     

A PDF-based analysis of the spatial structure of retailing

The present paper proposes a new method for analyzing the spatial structure of retailing, using microscale locational data of individual retail stores. The method is based on the probability density function (PDF) of stores estimated from their locational data, and consequently it is applicable to both micro- and macro-scale retail analyses. The PDF approach provides a set of quantitative methods that permit us (1) to measure the degree of agglomeration, (2) to classify spatial patterns of store location, (3) to analyze the relationship between the size and function of retail agglomerations, and (4) to analyze the spatial structure of retail agglomeration. An empirical study is performed to test the validity of the method, and some empirical findings are shown. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Methodological problems of intercultural comparisons of retail environments

The internationalising activities of retailers have tended to precede the theoretical contributions of academics. This is particularly the case for the cultural context within which retail internationalisation takes place. Following an examination of the growth of international retailing activity, the article reviews generic difficulties in studying inter-cultural differences before considering the specific steps which retail practitioners have taken to understand the comparative characteristics of retail and consumer markets through the growth of geodemographic and lifestyle analysis. Finally, we relate one of the most significant integrative intercultural theoretical instruments to the case of retail internationalisation within Western Europe. We find that significant insights into retailer behaviour and strategy can be gained from an understanding of the culturally-specific characteristics of the activity. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The new retail trade and services and their emerging location pattern in St. Petersburg

The system of factors affecting the spatial distribution of the retail trade and service establishments has changed dramatically since socialist times. The administrative regulation lost its almost complete dominance and turned into one of the market forces. In contrast, the impact of the urban environment under very free market conditions substantially increased. We show the main directions of this influence. Two generalized indicators that we use describe macro trends in the development of the spatial system of retail trade and services. One of them, which we call the urban morphology, is of a concentric effect, another – transportation pattern – adds the sectoral component to the retail trade and services geography. Five systems of spatial attractions differently affect the distribution of different branches.     

Globalizing retail and the ‘new e-conomy’: The organizational challenge of e-commerce for the retail TNCs

This paper examines the organizational challenge of e-commerce for emerging retail transnational corporations (TNCs). The paper begins by scoping and conceptualizing the retail TNCs and in the process, draws attention to the high level of territorial embeddedness of these firms. This provides the framework for the remainder of the paper, where the organizational challenge of a ‘multi-channel’ paradigm (blending online and offline forms of retail distribution) is evaluated. Specifically, the paper argues that place, space and embeddedness continue to matter in the ‘new e-conomy’ of multi-channel distribution.     

Retail supply and demand in a system under transition: The case of Israel

The paper examines organizational and spatial responses of metropolitan retail trade in Israel to increases in demand. Since the late 1960s until 1984 Israel enjoyed continuous increases in incomes, rates of car ownership and dwelling sizes. These coincided with a suburbanization of population in the metropolitan areas of Tel-Aviv and Haifa. Consequently, there developed four new forms of retailing, namely ribbons in industrial areas, factory retail outlets, hypermarkets and shopping malls. Locational and other characteristics of these forms of commerce are discussed. Special criticism is pointed at an undifferentiated evolution of ribbons and outlets. I wish to thank Ms. Naomi Elad and Mr. Moshe Schmerler for field work in metropolitan Haifa and Tel-Aviv respectively.     

Retail geography and social well-being: A note on the changing distribution of pharmacies in Scotland

Dispensing Chemists represent an important component in the organization of primary medical care in the United Kingdom, as well as providing a basic retail service. Over the past 30 years, the number of dispensing chemists' shops in Scotland has fallen by 40%, a withdrawal of services which has important spatial welfare implications. In this paper the locational dynamics of pharmaceutical retailing are examined, and the pattern of change between 1950 and 1980 is described. It is shown that the major trend, at both regional and intra-urban levels, is centralization. This trend is only weakly related to patterns in population change. Rather, it is the product of a general restructuring of retailing, reinforced by changes in the structure of the health care delivery system.     

A global model or a scaled-down version?: geographies of convergence and divergence in the Australian retail banking sector

Via the spread of financial liberalisation and deregulation across advanced industrialised societies over the past two decades, national banking sectors have come under increased competitive pressure. In Australia, this pressure has manifested itself in two main forms: an almost self-imposed nervousness over the growing scale and rapidity of bank mergers occurring at an international level; and the growth of new cut-price competitors in the domestic retail market. There is now growing evidence of convergence between national banking sectors in key areas. This paper employs four criteria to examine the degree of convergence between the Australian retail banking sector and its international counterparts: centralisation of services and operations; application of the `user pays' philosophy to services; a `flight to quality' in lending and service provision; and industrial relations practices. While considerable similarities can be found between the Australian retail banking sector and its international comparators at the macro-level of analysis, there is also substantial diversity evident at regional and local scales as new public- and private-sector agencies and institutions seek to meet the financial needs of those individuals and communities effectively disenfranchised from the banking system via the major banks' `world's best practice' management strategies. The paper argues that a critical and reflexive concept of scale is imperative in apprehending the increasingly complex ways in which financial service provision is being reconfigured by the strategies of reaction and resistance employed by financial consumers, urban and rural local governments, national and state media, financial consumer agencies and State and Federal Governments.     

Changing methods of location planning for retail companies

Academic research has made an enormous contribution to applied problem solving in the areas of retail planning and marketing. The aim of this paper is to review the changing methodologies used in store location research beginning with the work on simple checklist and analogue techniques in the 1960s. The arrival of geographical information systems (GIS) heralded the start of a second phase of work which eventually saw GIS established in many retail organisations. However, the main argument of this paper is the need to consider more sophisticated modelling procedures if the different types of corporate growth strategy are to be adequately investigated. This third phase of research development focuses on these models and illustrates the business potential of such approaches through a number of case studies. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Wal-Mart and Aldi: Two Retail Giants in Germany

Wal-Mart entered the German market at the end of 1997 but is still running at a loss in its 92 stores. This article tests the hypothesis that there are two main reasons for Wal-Mart’s problems in Germany. First of all, Wal-Mart is competing against very strong and well established deep discounters, especially Aldi. Secondly, there is the difference between the so-called Wal-Mart culture and German customer values. So far, Wal-Mart has not managed to close this gap or create a positive image in Germany. The first part of the article describes the differences between the two retail companies Wal-Mart and Aldi, whereas the second part focuses on the consumer perspective. Four hundred people were interviewed on the phone about their shopping behaviour in the city of Würzburg (northern Bavaria, 140,000 inhabitants). This survey is part of an international study also undertaken in Canada, Great Britain and China.     

In poor health: Supermarket redlining and urban nutrition

Over the past 100 years, ethnic minorities and the poor have become increasingly concentrated and isolated in low-income urban neighborhoods. While the demographic changes in cities are well documented, the parallel history of urban retailing is less well known. Little research has been done on changes in urban food retailing, particularly as they concern the urban poor. As the residential character of urban neighborhoods changed during the 20th century, so did the amenities available in those neighborhoods. The low point for urban retailing was in the 1980s, when cities experienced a net loss of supermarkets even as, nationally, store openings exceeded closings. The trend toward fewer, bigger stores located outside cities has continued to the present. Some critics have referred to this disinclination of large chains to locate in cities as `supermarket redlining'. Changes in food availability are a key element in the changing social conditions of the urban poor and, as good nutrition is critical for good health, a contributing factor in the decline of urban health. This paper will examine changes in urban retail food availability, the impact these changes have had on the health status of the urban poor, strategies utilized by the urban poor to address inadequate access to quality food sources, and the role of supermarkets in distressed communities.     

抚顺西露天矿区滑坡易发性评价与时空特征分析

近年抚顺西露天矿矿区滑坡在规模、活动频率以及空间发育位置等方面均与矿区历史滑坡呈现出较明显的时空差异性,为矿区未来治理提出新的挑战。故基于改进频率比模型,选择人类工程活动（主要是采矿工程扰动）和工程地质条件两类致灾因素,对由矿区滑坡时空差异所导致的易发性变化进行研究。结果表明:影响矿区滑坡灾害的主要因素包括坡体结构、工程岩组和水文地质条件;矿区滑坡易发性较2010年前有所降低,高易发区和较高易发区面积共减少1.294 km2,但北帮中区等地段仍呈高易发态势;滑坡易发区的空间位置与2010年前后对比发生了较大变化,矿坑西北帮滑坡易发性大幅降低,东部环矿区境界50~500 m处滑坡易发性轻微降低,北帮中段与南帮中、西段顶部滑坡易发性增加,其中北帮中段为目前最易发的区段。研究结果可为矿区闭坑停采后边坡整治及后续规划利用提供参考依据。      

Institutional forces and retail change: a case study of Metropolitan Toronto

There is a growing interest in the development of purpose-built shopping centres, which now dominate the retail environments of many cities. Much of the past research has been directed at the impact of shopping centres on more traditional retail structures. More recently, however, there has been a recognition of the importance of those institutional forces that shape the internal character of shopping centres and ultimately determine their economic impact. This paper draws attention to these factors and discusses the control that leasing agreements and corporate policy have on shopping centre development. The whole discussion is set within the framework of metropolitan Toronto, which has for some time experienced the full impact of these institutional forces.     

The suburbanization of retail trade: a U.S. nationwide view

The Censuses of Business 1958, 1963 and 1967 and the Censuses of Retail Trade 1972 and 1977 provide data on retail sales in CBDs and major retail centers (MRCs) of SMSAs. Through this period sales in MRCs increased while CBDs lost, reflecting the decline in the population and income of central cities. However, MRCs grew faster until 1963 compared to the late sixties and seventies, due to the rapid diffusion of MRCs all over the country in the early sixties. Retail sales in CBDs continued to decline through the seventies. The trends of increase in MRC retail sales reflect several stages of suburbanization of population, and an increase in the ‘doughnut effect’.     

Constructing environmental responsibility: Perceptions from retail business

This paper examines how retail businesses have employed the concept of environmental responsibility in order to justify their activities in the environmental arena. The sources of such publicised responsibility are investigated in terms of the relationship between the business and the consumer and how far responsibility has a moral base within the company or an economic justification with respect to demand. Data come from in-depth interviews with national and local managers of large multiple grocery superstores in the U.K. as well as from material published by these companies both through leafletting and more standardised reporting channels. Emphasis is placed upon the contradictions between the declaration of internally derived responsibility and the external pressures of demand, legislation and public image, suggesting an anticipatory form of environmental responsibility has been developed by retailers and that this may produce more proactive measures as the environmental debate matures.     

Consumer shopping strategies and purchasing activity: An exploratory investigation

Geographers have relied on somewhat simplistic stimulus-response models to explain shopping expenditure patterns. It is argued that this has resulted in an emphasis on the end-points of the shopping process (places of purchase), rather than on the process itself; so failing to recognise that the same end-points can be reached along a variety of paths. More attention should be given to process and hence to the strategies consumers adopt when engaging in purchasing activity. In this exploratory study, set in a North Yorkshire parish, it was found that the criteria consumers used to select amongst retail outlets were associated with particlar styles of shopping activity, which were in turn tied to particular spatial patterns of purchasing.     

Measuring the spatial vulnerability of retail centres to online consumption through a framework of e-resilience

This paper presents e-resilience as a framework for assessing the extent to which retail centres have spatially differentiated vulnerability to the impacts of online consumption. This extends the conceptual model of resilience as applied to retail, and is operationalised through a novel methodology that develops two indices that balance both supply and demand influences. We describe the creation of a composite e-resilience indicator, and then calculate it for retail centres across England. Our findings suggest a geographic polarising effect, with least vulnerable centres identified as large and more attractive or as smaller local destinations with a focus on convenience shopping. Mid-sized centres were typically shown to be the most exposed, and are argued as having a less clearly defined function in contemporary retail. Such findings have wide policy relevance to stakeholders of retail interested in the future configuration of sustainable and resilient provision.