Store Openings Research Articles

The economic impact of state cigarette taxes and smoke-free air policies on convenience stores

ObjectivesTo investigate whether increasing state cigarette taxes and/or enacting stronger smoke-free air (SFA) policies have negative impact on convenience store density in a state, a proxy that is determined by...

Building customer confidence in the automobile age: Canadian Tire 1928‐1939

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine how one Canadian retailer developed customer confidence in the interwar years when the automobile was in its infancy. The emphasis is on products and product information in the mail‐order catalogue.Design/methodology/approachThe research design strategy draws on a longitudinal case study research using primary archival data collection and analysis.FindingsIn the 1930s, the firm used multiple approaches to respond to opportunities and challenges and to reassure customers through product assortment, guarantees, branding, quality assurance and support services. Generating an extensive mail‐order business occurred in tandem with the opening of stores, and together these approaches created rapid growth. In the early years, the emphasis was on maintenance, repairs and some augmentation through accessories. From the mid‐to late 1930s, with easing economic conditions, the focus shifts from automobile functionality to include roles for leisure and sport products, and the injunction to engage with the Canadian countryside.Originality/valueThe paper uses original historical research to contribute a new way of understanding how retailers developed customer confidence. The study contributes to knowledge about Canadian retailing in the interwar years, and the means for building customer confidence using a range of marketing techniques. For researchers, the study demonstrates a further example of the efficacy of using archival materials to explore marketing questions.

Impact of Organized Retail on the Economy of Punjab

The study aims to check the effect of opening of the organized retail stores on the unorganized retail, farmers and consumer. It further attempts to find that how much is the economy of Punjab affected by growing of retail sector. The study revealed the changing patterns of the Indian retail industry with special reference to Punjab. The data is collected through the help of questioner filled from retailers as well as customers. The statistical tools i.e. descriptive statistics, regression, kurtosis, skewness used for the evaluation purpose. The study reveals that the Punjab retail sector is undergoing a sea change now as many retail investor open their retail store and running successfully and some other big players are ready to invest in the retail sector in Punjab and the future of organized retail is quite good in big cities.

Using new Huff model for predicting potential retail market in South Korea

This study sets out to reinvestigate the existing theoretical models (that is, the Huff Model, the new probability model, and the gravity model) for the following two critical reasons: (1) it is because the precedent models have seldom predicted an estimation of sales potentials at the opening of stores particularly at local markets in Korea and (2) it is also because the existing models did not offer specific factors affecting success in estimating a sales volume at the point of opening in local markets. The current study, thus, proposes a new formulation (model) which can precisely predict a sales potential volume at the opening of stores at a particular large local market located in Daejeon, Korea. From the newly-established formulation (model), some locally-specified factors affecting success in estimating a sales volume at the point of opening are incubated. And it is suggested that advertising expense, sales promotion expense, and top-of-mind store brand recognition of/on each store have been found to impact profoundly on increasing a sales volume at the inceptive business stage. The study, however, has found a limitation that the number of samples of this study is only four major department stores. Future research needs to include some more samples expanded with other cities and Eastern Asia countries. Key words: The Huff model, the new probability model, the gravity model, top-of-mind brand recognition.

Strategic multi-store opening under financial constraint

This paper analyzes strategic store openings in a situation in which firms can open multiple stores depending on the financial constraints of the firm. Specifically, given any upper limit of the number of store openings that two potentially symmetric firms can open, they sequentially determine the number of store openings, including their locations, to maximize their profits. As a result of our analysis in a microeconomic framework, we show that the equilibrium strategy can be wholly classified into only two following opposite strategies according to the level of their financial constraints involved. When firms can afford to invest significant amounts of money in the market, the leader chooses “segmentation strategy,” in which a part of the market can be monopolized by opening a chain of multiple stores and deterring the follower’s entry. In contrast, when the leader has a severe financial constraint so that it can only monopolize less than half of the market, the leader chooses “minimum differentiation strategy,” where firms open each of their stores at exactly the same point as the rival’s. Under this strategy, the leader necessarily captures just half of the market. Furthermore, we show that regardless of potential symmetry between firms, both first and second mover advantages in terms of profit can occur in the equilibrium.

The Diffusion of Wal-Mart and Economies of Density

The rollout of Wal-Mart store openings followed a pattern that radiated from the center outward, with Wal-Mart maintaining high store density and a contiguous store network all along the way. This paper estimates the benefits of such a strategy to Wal-Mart, focusing on the savings in distribution costs afforded by a dense network of stores. The paper takes a revealed preference approach, inferring the magnitude of density economies from how much sales cannibalization of closely packed stores Wal-Mart is willing to suffer to achieve density economies. The model is dynamic with rich geographic detail on the locations of stores and distribution centers. Given the enormous number of possible combinations of store-opening sequences, it is difficult to directly solve Wal-Mart's problem, making conventional approaches infeasible. The moment inequality approach is used instead and works well. The estimates show the benefits to Wal-Mart of high store density are substantial and likely extend significantly beyond savings in trucking costs.

Trouble in Store: Probes, Protests, and Store Openings by Wal‐Mart, 1998–2007

The authors consider how uncertainty over protest occurrence shapes the strategic interaction between companies and activists. Analyzing Wal‐Mart, the authors find support for their theory that companies respond to this uncertainty through a “test for protest” approach. In Wal‐Mart’s case, this consists of low‐cost probes in the form of new store proposals. They then withdraw if they face protests, especially when those protests signal future problems. Wal‐Mart is more likely to open stores that are particularly profitable, even if they are protested. This uncertainty‐based account stands in sharp contrast to full‐information models that characterize protests as rare miscalculations.

Régimen Jurídico General de la Licencia Municipal de Obras y Apertura de Establecimiento en Andalucía

Libro dedicado a teorizar sobre el principio de la autonomía local, el concepto de licencia urbanística y especificar el régimen del medio ambiente, establecimientos de comercio minorista y de apertura de establecimientos dedicados a la alimentación, y que tendrá continuación en otro libro actualmente en elaboración

Induction of Cytosolic Calcium Flux by CD20 Is Dependent upon B Cell Antigen Receptor Signaling

The anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody (mAb) rituximab is now routinely used for the treatment of non-Hodgkins lymphoma and is being examined in a wide range of other B-cell disorders, such as rheumatoid arthritis. Despite intensive study, the mechanism of action still remains uncertain. In the current study, anti-CD20 mAb-induced calcium signaling was investigated. Previously, we grouped anti-CD20 mAbs into Type I (rituximab-like) and Type II (B1-like) based upon various characteristics such as their ability to induce complement activation and redistribute CD20 into detergent-insoluble membrane domains. Here we show that only Type I mAbs are capable of inducing a calcium flux in B cells and that this is tightly correlated with the expression of the B-cell antigen receptor (BCR). Inhibitor analysis revealed that the signaling cascade employed by CD20 was strikingly similar to that utilized by the BCR, with inhibitors of Syk, Src, and PI3K, but not EGTA, p38, or ERK1/2, completely ablating calcium flux. Furthermore, binding of Type I but not Type II mAbs caused direct association of CD20 with the BCR as measured by FRET and resulted in the phosphorylation of BCR-specific adaptor proteins BLNK and SLP-76. Crucially, variant Ramos cells lacking BCR expression but with unchanged CD20 expression were completely unable to induce calcium flux following ligation of CD20. Collectively, these data indicate that CD20 induces cytosolic calcium flux through its ability to associate with and "hijack" the signaling potential of the BCR.

An Illustrative Application of Multi-Unit Franchise Expansion in a Local Retail Market

Retail expansion in a local market offers many challenges, and given the sensitivity of survival to location mistakes, it is imperative to develop site models that incorporate realistic impediments to that expansion. Small independent businesses or local area franchisees facing limits on all forms of capital rarely can open additional units without delays. In this paper, we test the benefit of using Kaufmann, Donthu and Brooks' (2000) multi-unit site selection model that incorporates the reality of delays in the opening of new stores as well as the recognition that local retail chains can face competition from many hard to identify sources. We use data from the actual introduction of a small set of stores in a major United States metropolitan market to estimate the potential for improvement over a pure sequential expansion strategy. When compared to the sequential strategy actually used by the retailer, we estimate that performance could have been improved by 15.5% if a model that anticipated the delays in opening the stores and competition from secondary sources would have been used.

Entry regulations and labour market outcomes: Evidence from the Italian retail trade sector

The paper analyzes the relationship between entry regulations and employment in the Italian retail trade sector. In Italy the opening of large outlets is regulated at the regional level. First, by using differences-in-differences estimators the paper presents evidence that in regions with less stringent entry regulations, retail trade employment does not decrease. Second, the paper focuses on the effects of the rules implemented in Abruzzo and Marche, two otherwise close and similar Italian regions which adopted very different policies: the first set tight restrictions on the opening of large stores; the second did not impose substantial entry regulations. The results show that in Marche after the inception of the flexible regulations the share of total retail trade employment in total population increased by 0.8 percentage points more than in Abruzzo. Fiercer competition also led to a recomposition of employment in small retail shops. These findings are robust to a number of checks.

Entry Regulations and Labor Market Outcomes: Evidence from the Italian Retail Trade Sector

The paper analyzes the relationship between barriers to entry and employment in the Italian retail trade sector. In Italy the opening of large outlets is regulated at the regional level. By using differences-in-differences estimators I study the effects of the rules implemented in Abruzzo and Marche, two otherwise close and similar Italian regions, that adopted very different policies: the first set tight restrictions on the opening of large stores; the second did not impose substantial entry barriers. The results show that entry barriers have a negative and sizeable impact on employment growth. Some evidence is also found that fiercer competition encourages the development of more efficient small retail trade shops. These findings are robust to a number of checks.

The effects of Wal-Mart on local labor markets

We estimate the effects of Wal-Mart stores on county-level retail employment and earnings, accounting for endogeneity of the location and timing of Wal-Mart openings that most likely biases the evidence against finding adverse effects of Wal-Mart stores. We address the endogeneity problem using a natural instrumental variables approach that arises from the geographic and time pattern of the opening of Wal-Mart stores, which slowly spread out from the first stores in Arkansas. The employment results indicate that a Wal-Mart store opening reduces county-level retail employment by about 150 workers, implying that each Wal-Mart worker replaces approximately 1.4 retail workers. This represents a 2.7 percent reduction in average retail employment. The payroll results indicate that Wal-Mart store openings lead to declines in county-level retail earnings of about $1.4 million, or 1.5 percent. Of course, these effects occurred against a backdrop of rising retail employment, and only imply lower retail employment growth than would have occurred absent the effects of Wal-Mart.

Firm Entry and Wages: Impact of Wal-Mart Growth on Earnings Throughout the Retail Sector

This paper estimates the effect of Wal-Mart expansion on wages, benefits, and skill-composition of retail workers during the 1990s. We exploit the spatial pattern of Wal-Mart diffusion, radiating outward from the original store in Benton county, Arkansas, to control for potential endogeneity in store openings using both instrumental variable and control function approaches. Estimates from state and county level data suggest that store openings reduced both the average earnings and health benefits of retail workers. At the county level, a new Wal-Mart is found to reduce retail earnings, on average, by .5 to .9 percent. Moreover, we find that changes in skill-composition explain only a small part of compensation reduction, indicating that the decline in retail wages reflect a reduction in labor market rents.

The impact of Sunday shopping on employment and hours of work in the retail industry: Evidence from Canada

Between 1980 and 1998 every Canadian province passed legislation that in some way relaxed restrictions on Sunday shopping. This study exploits the variation in deregulation dates between provinces to identify how retail employers adjust employment and hours of work when deciding to open on Sundays. A major complication of this analysis is to first determine for which provinces the deregulation dates are useful indicators of increases in Sunday store openings. This paper uses a unique trading-day regression approach to identify these provinces and then uses aggregate data from the selected provinces to estimate a simple dynamic labour demand model that allows employment and hours to be imperfect substitutes in production. The results suggest that retailers’ needs for Sunday labour were disproportionately satisfied through increases in employment levels. Comparison of the estimates at three levels of the retail industry suggests that the employment and hours gains were larger among general merchandise stores than among more specialized retail establishments and relatively modest at the aggregate retail industry level. In addition, despite evidence of an immediate shortfall in the employment level below the long-run optimal level, the results suggest that firms were unable to compensate by temporarily increasing the hours of their existing employees.

The Usefulness of MD&A Disclosures in the Retail Industry

The SEC believes that MD&A disclosures provide investors with useful information that clarifies and supplements the financial statements. In this study, we use data from retail firms to examine the predictive ability and value relevance of MD&A discussion of the results of operations and capital resources. In particular, we examine the usefulness of information on the sources of revenue changes (comparable store sales growth, store openings, and store closings) and of two measures of future capital resource plans (planned store openings and capital expenditures). We find that these variables contribute incremental explanatory power in future revenues, future earnings, and contemporaneous stock return regressions that include financial statement variables.

The Quality of Management Forecasts of Capital Expenditures and Store Openings

We study the quality of retailers' forecasts of planned capital expenditures and store openings. We examine five desirable attributes of management forecast quality: unbiasedness, efficiency, explanatory power, incremental informativeness, and sufficient-statistic efficiency (meaning that the forecasts summarize all available information). We find forecasts are unbiased, have high explanatory power and have substantial incremental informativeness relative to alternative historical information. In our in sample tests, we find evidence of inefficiency and sufficient statistic inefficiency, but our out of sample tests find no significant evidence of either. That suggests that it is difficult to improve on these management forecasts. Overall the evidence indicates that these forecasts are of high quality. These findings contribute to our understanding of the general quality of MD&A information, management forecasts in general, and the reasons why MD&A disclosures are associated with future accounting results and reduced cost of capital. The findings also provide some support for recent arguments that encourage requiring information on the ex post accuracy of estimates.

Rules & Regulations

Australia Cabinet Bans Embryonic Stem Cell Research. China Eases Restrictions of Viagra. Beijing Adopts Bidding System for Opening of New Drug Stores. India to Impose Dumping Duty on Paracetamol from China and Taiwan. Japan Proposes Discounts for Doctor Visits and Prescribed Drugs. Korean Varsities to Adopt New Dental, Medical School System. Korea Promoting Law on Animal Experiments. Regulations Seen as Holding NZ Biotech Sector Back.

In poor health: Supermarket redlining and urban nutrition

Over the past 100 years, ethnic minorities and the poor have become increasingly concentrated and isolated in low-income urban neighborhoods. While the demographic changes in cities are well documented, the parallel history of urban retailing is less well known. Little research has been done on changes in urban food retailing, particularly as they concern the urban poor. As the residential character of urban neighborhoods changed during the 20th century, so did the amenities available in those neighborhoods. The low point for urban retailing was in the 1980s, when cities experienced a net loss of supermarkets even as, nationally, store openings exceeded closings. The trend toward fewer, bigger stores located outside cities has continued to the present. Some critics have referred to this disinclination of large chains to locate in cities as `supermarket redlining'. Changes in food availability are a key element in the changing social conditions of the urban poor and, as good nutrition is critical for good health, a contributing factor in the decline of urban health. This paper will examine changes in urban retail food availability, the impact these changes have had on the health status of the urban poor, strategies utilized by the urban poor to address inadequate access to quality food sources, and the role of supermarkets in distressed communities.

Brands without boundaries – The internationalisation of the designer retailer’s brand

Addresses an area which has been neglected in the international retailing literature; the internationalisation of the fashion designer’s brand. Initial exploratory research revealed that there were 114 international fashion design houses competing for a global market of around £24 billion. Further research by postal questionnaire to entrants into the UK market, in addition to semi‐structured interviews with European and US designers, confirmed that this market was buoyant, fuelled by the development of diffusion lines for the mass market. Identifies four stages of market development: wholesale channels to department stores; the creation of ready‐to‐wear flagships; large diffusion flagships; the opening of stores in provincial cities. In order to acquire capital to enable this expansion, over 60 per cent of all fashion designers are now public limited companies. Even then franchising of stages 3 and 4, diffusion line development, is often franchised to third parties with the designer maintaining control over the product and its brand image. Between 20‐30 per cent of gross margin is spent on advertising support to create global campaigns to enhance brand image in foreign markets. However, there is increasing tension between the desire to be exclusive yet becoming involved in product line extensions and widespread distribution which could ultimately dilute the brand’s value.