The Retail Park: Customer Usage and Perceptions of a Retailing Innovation

Abstract

Recently described as a ‘peculiarly British innovation’, retail parks are an increasingly important element of the UK's urban retail structure. Yet relatively little is known about customer usage and perceptions of this innovative retail form. A study of the Abbey Trading Centre, an unplanned retail park on the outskirts of Belfast, reveals that the complex is patronised by middle-class families of one-stop-shoppers. The perceived advantages and disadvantages of shopping in the retail park are also explored and it is argued that these may help explain the evolution of retailing innovations.