Abstract
In Sicily, the retail sector shows changes both from a structural point of view, with an increase in large-scale distribution at the expense of small businesses, and spatially, through the transfer of many commercial activities to the suburbs of cities or to extra-urban areas. This is a phenomenon that can also be observed in the rest of the country. The analysis of the most recent statistics in the sector, however, seems to highlight a significant flexibility of a part of the fabric of Sicilian commercial enterprises due to the widespread presence of small commercial businesses on the regional territory.
Highlights
The retail sector in Sicily has suffered the negative impact caused by the economic crisis of 2008
It is interesting to note that in Sicily 64% of Sicilian commercial enterprises in a fixed location prefer the legal form of sole ownership, whereas the figure drops to 62% in the South-Islands area and even to 54.9% in the national territory
A direct comparison with other national or regional realities presents objective limitations since the size of the surfaces of the Sicilian businesses is not specified in the statistics of the Ministry of Economic Development for 53% of the total, while at a national level the percentage of unspecified sales areas is 36%
Summary
The retail sector in Sicily has suffered the negative impact caused by the economic crisis of 2008. In Sicily, as in many other parts of Southern Italy, the organizational downsizing of the retail sector is associated with a change in the spatial distribution of the points of sale. To describe the current trend and to try to analyse some effects caused on the regional and local commercial system by the current organizational changes, this paper has managed the most up-to-date sector statistics. The data, drawn from research institutes and national administrations as well as from the Sicilian Region, are read trying to bring out some emerging dynamics and to interpret the macro-trends through an overview of the most recent information regarding the actual consistency and the spatial distribution of some retail business categories. The quantitative approach is intertwined with a qualitative analysis of the information collected, proposing an interpretation of phenomena still in progress which, for this reason, here are focused outlining possible trend lines that can be further explored when consolidated statistical data will be available
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