Stall markets in metropolitan Sydney

Stall markets on open air, suburban sites are an important new form of retailing in Sydney. The existing literature on petty commodity forms of production argues that stall markets are conserved in underdeveloped economies for a variety of reasons but the relevance of these ideas to the markets in many cities in advanced economies has not been considered. This paper identifies the basic types of stall markets in Sydney, establishes that these markets are not ephemeral and shows that they have characteristics and parameters which are similar to those of conventional shopping centres. Thus the way is open to compare stall markets with conventional retailing, to assess the role of stall markets in post‐industrial societies and to investigate the reasons for their recent appearance in Sydney.