Large-scale Retail Developments Research Articles

TOWARD DEFINING POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR LARGE-SCALE RETAIL IMPACT ADDRESSING IN SERBIA

The main objective of this paper was to research how policy framework in Serbia could be improved to address impacts of large-scale retail development. The first step of the research included identifying economical, social and environmental impacts of large-scale retail construction through the review of literature. The second step of the research included the analysis of different type of procedures for retail impact addressing, applied in developed European countries. Finally, policy framework in Serbia was analyzed and recommendations for its improvement are given in accordance with the experiences of European countries.

Institutional obstacles in large-scale retail developments in the post-socialist period — A case study of Niš, Serbia

The main objective of this paper was to research the main institutional obstacles to large-scale retail developments in the post-socialist period through a case study of the city of Niš in Serbia. The first step of the research included analyzing the institutional and policy environment for a large-scale retail development in post-socialist countries and its major systematic differences in relation to developed European countries. The second step of the research included a case-study analysis of three large-scale retail projects and their building procedures in the city of Niš, in which the strengths and weaknesses of the institutional and policy framework were identified. Factors crucial for the effective realization of large-scale retail projects in the post-socialist period are identified in the paper.

‘THE MODERN SHOPPING EXPERIENCE’: KINGSWAY DEPARTMENT STORE AND CONSUMER POLITICS IN GHANA

ABSTRACTDespite the perception that department stores are a recent phenomenon in West Africa, modern indoor retail spaces have existed in its major cities since the mid-twentieth century. This article uses the history of Kingsway Department Store in Accra as a lens to understand emerging political, economic and social tensions in post-colonial Ghana. Drawing on United Africa Company (UAC) records, staff reports and inspection findings, as well as local newspapers, advertising and oral interviews, I demonstrate how legacies of colonial capitalism, struggles for political independence and negotiations over what constituted the ‘modern’ fuelled both local and foreign support of the project. For the UAC, investment was an opportunity to legitimize its activities in a newly independent Ghana and a means to shed its image as a colonial merchant firm. While local authorities were divided on whether large-scale retail developments should be part of an expanding post-colonial city, Prime Minister Kwame Nkrumah thought the store might provide a key component in constructing his vision of a new modern nation. However, the presence of white-collar working women, young managers supervising older employees, and the mixing of white expatriate and African shoppers exacerbated social conflicts – challenging local and colonial notions of authority based on race, gender and age.

Czech Physical Planning at the Crossroads: Towards the Regulation of Large-Scale Retail Developments?

The second half of the 1990s saw a dynamic development of Czech retailing and its spatial structure. Recent massive development of large-area commercial outlets in particular has revealed some problematic aspects and has also raised the question of whether their construction needs to be regulated. The role of local government in the decision processes concerning such developments is extremely weak and these processes are also complicated by a notably high level of bureaucracy. Although legislative documents proclaim the concept of sustainability as a key principle of future spatial development, its practical application will always depend on the will of the individual participants in the negotiation process. The authors argue that if a regulative approach to planning is chosen in the Czech Republic, planning offices must be respected bodies with enforceable rights and bound to act as strong authorities and effective agents of spatial plnning.

Das Immobilieninvestment als Determinante für den Strukturwandel im Einzelhandel

Abstract Large-scale retailing is gaining increasing prominence throughout Europe in spite of growing reluctance from city planners. In the research literature, this trend is mainly attributed to changing consumer preferences and retail strategies. Although these are indubitably important drivers of retail change, the emphasis in this article lies on the finding that investment preferences of institutional investors are key reasons for the cyclical patterns observed in these large-scale retail developments. The arguments focus on Germany and the UK. We believe that institutional investors and real estate markets should be given much more consideration in scholarly analyses of retail change than has been the case in the past.

Identifying the Effect of City Center Retail Redevelopment on Consumer's Shop-around Behavior: An Empirical Study on Structural Changes of City Center at Fukuoka City

At the city center of Fukuoka City, a core city of Northern part of Kyushu island in Japan, large-scale retail developments have completed one after another within two years of 1996 to 1998. They include openings of two new department stores and one new large commercial complex, and one enlargement of shop-floor area of an existing department. As a result, the total increase of shop-floor area becomes 13.4 ha. If restricted to the central commercial district of “Tenjin”, the total shop-floor space of the department stores has drastically been expanded to 2.7 times the previous one. Such a rush of large-scale retail developments is quite a rare event. Thus the case of Fukuoka City gives a valuable occasion to investigate the effect of redevelopment on the structure of city center since, to our knowledge, few empirical research has been carried out to identify the effect of redevelopment based on a behavioristic standpoint.This study has conducted three on-site surveys on consumer's shop-around behavior before and after the actual developments at the city center of Fukuoka, and identified their effect on the structure of city center as the change of consumer's shop-around behavior between retail establishments using Markov shop-around model.

Rethinking the Role of the Retail Sector in Economic Development

This article critically reviews the widespread notion that the retail sector is a ‘dependent’ activity, reliant upon the supposedly more ‘productive’ sectors of the economy for its survival. Through a critical evaluation of the source of this belief, ‘economic base’ theory, the ability of locally-oriented enterprises to curb the seepage of income from an area is revealed to be as important to economic development as the external income generating function of outward-oriented industries. Consequently, retailing is redefined as contributing to economic development not only in its much neglected role as a basic activity which generates external income but also in its non-basic locally-oriented function of preventing the leakage of money out of an area. To show this in operation, case studies are presented of a particular local economy, a large-scale retail development and cross-national shopping.

A Note on the Law of 29 June 1975 to Control Large Scale Retail Development in Belgium

The Business Premises Act in Belgium has been in operation for five years and seeks to control the development of large shops. From a review of the workings of the Act it appears that it was introduced too late to have much impact on supermarket development, but has succeeded in slowing the growth in the number of hypermarkets. Under the implementation procedure it appears that there are considerable differences in permission rates for different types of development and a notable size differential between approved and refused applications.