Retail Enterprise on the U.S. Urban Periphery: The Role of Immigrant Ethnic Groups in the Late-19th Century

This research adds to knowledge about ethnic entrepreneurship in U.S. cities by testing the hypothesis that, in the late-19th century, levels of retail enterprise of entrepreneurial ethnic groups (e.g., Russian and Polish Jews) were highest in the most remote locations of the nation's urban-regional hierarchy. This hypothesis is based on the proposition that (1) "gateway cities" in the hinterlands of a society are bustling centers of commerce that offer unusually good prospects for retail enterprise, and (2) ethnic groups that are richly endowed with entrepreneurial resources can most fully exploit the advantages of such locations. An analysis of census data, guided by the "interactionist approach" to the study of entrepreneurship, supports this hypothesis and advances the literature on the ethnic economy by suggesting that a city's position in an urban-regional hierarchy (i.e., core vs. peripheral location) is a key element of the opportunity structure for ethnic entrepreneurship in that city.     

PATRONAGE RATES OF SUPERMARKET SHOPPING CENTERS,SAN ANTONIO,TEXAS*

The neighborhood supermarket shopping center is an increasingly important element of the suburban retail landscape. An analysis of patronage differentials for such centers in San Antonio, TX, reveals that both competitive share and retail mix factors are important. Correlation analysis of a patronage density index with locational and management variables indicates that center and store visibility, distance from a regional mall, retail mix (offering of goods appropriate to a small center), and size of center (smaller is better) were the most important explanatory factors in center viability.     

FROM HAMBURGER ALLEY TO HEDGEROSE HEIGHTS: TOWARD A MODEL OF RESTAURANT LOCATION DYNAMICS

The distribution of restaurants is the product of a complex interaction of traditional and non-traditional location factors. Much of the obvious locational disorder may be reduced by categorizing restaurants into those which feed the body, meals consumed for nourishment, and those which feed the soul, meals planned for aesthetic or social reasons. Accessibility, locational ambience, and demographic character of the population served are the primary locational considerations, although a variety of perceptual, psychological, and spatial elements are significant for particular types of restaurants and situations in Atlanta, GA.     

上海市区商业中心的等级体系及其变迁特征

改革开放促进了上海商业的发展和商业空间结构的演变。文章以上海市区内的30余个商业中心为研究对象,认为上海市区商业中心的变迁具有以下特征：商业中心的整体职能有所提高,等级差异有所缩小,在空间上商业中心的集聚与扩散、衰落与兴起并存。最后,就商业中心的建设提出3项建议。     

大型跨国零售企业进军中国的市场分析

CEPA和WTO框架的全面实施，对我国零售业将产生巨大影响．本文以进入中国市场的大型跨国企业为研究对象，分析其业态特征、进入中国市场的条件及其对中国零售业的挑战。文中以销品茂和大卖场为重点，探讨其准入现状、准入环境、规模经济优势和技术优势。论文最后就在竞争中学会竞争，提高中国零售企业的国际竞争力提出自己的见解。     

广州市零售业态空间分异特征与机制

零售业业态空间分异识别对优化城市资源配置至关重要,基于高精度大样本数据的零售业态空间分布识别较传统研究更精确便捷。以广州市2014年47 026个零售业网点数据为基础,基于信息熵、平均最近邻分析法、核密度估计等研究方法,探讨广州市的零售业分布格局、业态空间分异与零售业结构影响机制。结果表明：1）广州市零售业功能显著集聚于城市核心区,越秀、荔湾与天河北的零售功能发育相对均衡,均衡度从核心向外围显著下降;2）不同业态零售业分异较大,以商业服务和基本生活服务为主的零售业态网点分布的集聚度显著高于大体量的综合类零售业态;3）各业态零售业随着城市圈层的外拓分异显著,大体量型零售业态分布相对均衡,以商服功能为主的零售业态则主要集中于核心层与内圈层;4）人流集聚程度、交通通达性、职住人口分布、地方政策与社会空间分异共同影响着零售业业态空间的形成与演化。     

The Multifunctionality of Country Stores: Insights on Resilience from Rural Vermont

A multifunctionality analysis of built environments within rural landscapes can deepen understanding of how contemporary rural places function. There is an urgent need for this knowledge as small towns in the United States lose socio‐economic infrastructure resulting from restructuring, demographic change, and the centralization of services. This qualitative and exploratory study of country stores in rural Vermont finds that stores operate as key socio‐spatial nodes within broader geographic networks. Analysis of the goods, functions, and services stores furnish reveals the reflexive relationships stores have with the physical and cultural geographies of their regions. In moments of community crisis and under certain conditions, stores exhibit hyper‐functionality. Built environments and their socio‐spatial roles in multifunctional landscapes should be included in analyses of rural community resilience.     

“A Newcomer” versus “First Mover”: Retail Location Strategy for Differentiation

In a competitive business environment, retailers brand themselves using unique location strategies. New retailers, especially, use their location strategy to construct a different brand concept from that of the first mover. Therefore, retail chains in the same industry show different location patterns. This article aims to investigate how a new retailer uses its location strategy to differentiate itself from the first mover by comparing the location patterns of two coffee chains. The location patterns of Starbucks Coffee (a “first mover” that employs a premium brand concept) and Ediya Coffee (a “new retail chain” that promotes an economical brand concept) are analyzed for the study. We use a Bayesian spatial model to explore the two retailers' location patterns in Seoul, Korea. Considerable differences are found in the spatial distribution patterns of the two coffee franchises. Starbucks has formed store groupings in prime areas such as the city center based on its cluster location strategy, reflecting its premium brand concept. Conversely, many Ediya Coffee shops have been located in less desirable areas such as fringe areas with low land prices, reflecting their economical brand concept and differentiating the company from Starbucks. These findings lead to a useful marketing implication for a retail startup formulating its location strategy for differentiation. Furthermore, this study's company-level analysis of retail location patterns provides a better understanding of complex retail geography.     

The Geographic Exposure to Lifestyles by U.S. Retail Chains

Fifty retail chains with more than 70,000 U.S. store locations were placed into a cluster analysis to group together similar chains based on lifestyle segmentation composition of store trade areas. Five distinct cluster groups emerged. The objective was to analyze whether the geographic exposure to various lifestyles is aligned with the value platform of each retailer. Competitors were also analyzed along the lines of group membership. Although not all competitors were in the same groups, category killers generally located near higher income segments, whereas value retailers and chains that feature off-price merchandise generally located near customers with more modest incomes.     

Network-constrained and category-based point pattern analysis for Suguo retail stores in Nanjing,China

The distribution of many geographical objects and events is affected by the road network; thus, network-constrained point pattern analysis methods are helpful to understand their space structures and distribution patterns. In this study, network kernel density estimation and network K-function are used to study retail service hot-spot areas and the spatial clustering patterns of a local retail giant (Suguo), respectively, in Nanjing city. Stores and roads are categorized to investigate the influence of weighting different categories of point events and network on the analysis. In addition, the competitive relation between Suguo and foreign-brand retail chains was revealed. The comprehensive analysis results derived from the combination of the first-order and second-order properties can be further used to examine the reasonability of the existing store distribution and optimize the locational choice of new stores.