Tourist and retail relationship in departure points and travel hub consumption: the start of the tourist retail relationship

Abstract

Introduction This chapter explores the relationship between travelling process locations, or travel hubs, and retail. Adopting an historical perspective, it begins by examining the advent of travel for the elite and then moves on to its ensuing widespread development for the masses. In doing so, an emerging theoretical perspective is offered wherein recent retailing developments have drawn upon the principles of Disney theme parks in the integration of a leisure-based tourist retail experience. This perspective is evident in the case offered of the St Pancras International Railway Station (SPIRS). St Pancras is shown to be rising to a challenge in providing a combined national and international railway passenger service, a retail destination and a site of cultural tourism in itself. The overall objective of the case is to capture the process of building the St Pancras International brand and enhancing its presence as a national and international departure point where retail, travel and cultural tourism are all interlinked. By this process, the chapter supports emerging academic interest in retail-led regeneration, as reflected in government policy, which, since the early 1990s, has focussed on regeneration of urban locations. This study complements other, similarly focused academic studies such as Lowe’s (2007) examination of retail provision at Portsmouth’s city centre as an example of retail regeneration linked to cultural tourism. The chapter also draws upon the work of Ritzer and Liska (1997) and Bryman (2004) in order to examine the extent to which SPIRS could be identified as having organisational processes similar to those found at theme parks.