Many policy and business decisions regarding food deserts in the U.S. are based on the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) definition of a food desert. This definition only includes large/national chain grocery retailers, based on the assumption that these major retailers are the only affordable sources of food contributing to balanced diets. As alternative distribution channels, including smaller stores, start to include groceries in their product offering, the need to consider the role of other businesses in the food retailing environment should be addressed. This thesis assesses the role of smaller format grocery retailers (small local grocers, convenience stores, gas stations, dollar stores, and drug stores) in shaping the food desert landscape in Dallas, Texas. The analysis evaluates the products offered in these stores, and then identifies the difference these stores make when included in the USDA analysis. This was done by collecting in-store data to determine the variety of products offered, the affordability of those products, and the overall healthfulness of the store. In addition, the gaps in supply and demand were identified in the USDA-defined food deserts in order to identify the impact any smaller format retailer may have. The findings suggest that, overall, smaller format retailers do offer a variety of products needed for a balanced diet. However, the products in these stores are mostly not affordable, and most stores offer more unhealthy foods, than unhealthy. Overall, results suggest dollar stores may play a role in alleviating the impact of food deserts.

The shopping center has held an important place in the American economy for decades. However, the concept has seen multiple revolution in terms of format. The most recent shopping center concept to gain rapid popularity is the lifestyle center – an outdoor shopping mall made to resemble a pleasant main street setting, with a tenant mix emphasizing dining and entertainment. In other words, the lifestyle center concept is geared toward selling consumers things to do, versus things to buy. This thesis studies the geography of lifestyle centers in the United States in both the large-scale and small-scale view. Results show that lifestyle centers are concentrated into larger urban areas, often with a population of over 1 million. An analysis of spatial agglomeration revealed that lifestyle centers are often several miles away from the nearest traditional mall, indicating that developers do not feel the need to build near established shopping districts where traditional malls lie. Finally, results concerning trade area characteristics show the characteristics of consumers in areas where lifestyle centers have been built. Findings in this study indicate that developers are utilizing a unique approach when selecting sites for lifestyle centers compared to traditional indoor malls.

Many factors have prompted the adoption of partial-market exit strategies in retail as a means of reducing cost and minimizing risk. These mass closures have become more frequent in recent years. Marketers and economists have offered explanations for these closures linked to the rise of e-commerce, the real estate cycle and general changes in consumer taste. The research here marks an attempt to apply geospatial and econometric methods to better understand what factors explain the spatial variation of these closures across the United States. Specifically, the analysis examines the store networks of Sears, J.C. Penney and Macy's- large, established department stores that, collectively, announced over 100 closures at the beginning of 2017. By treating each store as a unit of observation, and a closure as a limited dependent variable, this analysis will attempt to quantify the relationship between place-specific factors and retail closures using Probit modeling. This application of modeling marks a deviation from traditional analyses in retail geography which, up until the early 2000s, have focused almost entirely on store development and growth. The results reveal patterns of spatial clustering of closures in and around the Rust Belt and demonstrate the strong negative effect of competitive agglomeration on the probability of closure.

In recent years, small towns have experienced declining levels of retail activity attributable to a variety of factors. Previously conducted research identifies a number of these factors such as changing population dynamics, continuously evolving retail practices, locational factors, and an assortment of other macroeconomic factors. Although retail decline is common for many small towns, there are some small towns that have been able to maintain their viability in an ever-changing economic climate. The primary purpose of this research is to better understand what spatial and socio-economic characteristics contribute to retail growth and decline in a series of small towns. This research highlights a selection of small towns across a 14 county area within east Texas. The selection of small towns includes a number of towns with an increasing number of retail establishments as well as a number of towns with decreasing retail establishments over the 14 year study timeframe. Contained within this research is a discussion of small town economic and retail development, as well as findings regarding spatial and socio-economic characteristics as they relate to retail growth and decline in small towns. This research finds that locational characteristics do have an effect on retail growth and decline. The research also supports the literature, which states retail growth and decline is more pronounced within certain retail categories.

Die geographische Handelsforschung konzentriert sich bei der Betrachtung des Tankstellengewerbes seit den 1990er Jahren vornehmlich auf die Untersuchung der sekundären Geschäftsaktivitäten im Tankstellenshop. Die vorliegende Arbeit rückt die eigentliche Funktion der Tankstellen in den Fokus: Den Verkauf von Kraftstoffen. Anhand der Tankstellen wird untersucht, wie die Standortstruktur derart kostenintensiver Dienstleistungsbetriebe auf innovationsbedingte Veränderungsprozesse reagiert. Dazu wird das Geschäftsfeld zunächst hinsichtlich der auftretenden Betriebsformen untersucht, ein festgelegter Untersuchungsraum wird über eine Zeitspanne von 40 Jahren bezüglich des Auftretens grundlegender Innovationen betrachtet. Die Verbindung der gewonnen Erkenntnisse mit der Auswertung anderer Studien führt zu der Schlussfolgerung, dass bestehende Modelle zur Dynamik des Einzelhandels in diesem Dienstleistungssektor nicht anwendbar sind. Vielmehr kommt es zur Entwicklung einer persistenten Strukturprognose in einem planwirtschaftlichen System und einem spezifischen Modell der Dynamik der Standortstruktur von Tankstellenbetrieben in der Marktwirtschaft. Beide Modelle werden im empirischen Teil geprüft und auf Anwendbarkeit getestet. Die Arbeit schließt mit Erläuterungen zum Einfluss von Innovationen auf die Dynamik der Standortstruktur von Tankstellenbetrieben, weist aber auch explizit darauf hin, dass die gewonnen Erkenntnisse kaum auf andere Dienstleistungsbereiche übertragbar erscheinen. / Since 1990 the retail geography focusses the research at gasoline service stations on secondary business activities in service stores. The present thesis centers on the primary function: The retail of gasoline. The author examines the innovation caused change in the location structure of high investment cost service providers on the basis of gasoline service stations. The business segment will be examined with regard to the type of business; the examined space will be analyzed with focus on the appearance of fundamental innovations during two different periods of political systems. The examined period is 40 years. The link between results and other studies negates the applicability of existing models of the dynamic in the location structure of retail. In fact, the locations structure prognosis is persistent in a state-directed economy. In market economies, the sector differs from others retail segments. Within, the author develops a specific model to explain the dynamic of (gasoline station) location structure in market economies, integrating the sector characteristics. In the empirical part of the paper, both models will be verified. The paper ends by explaining the influence of innovations on the location structure of gasoline service station, limiting the results on this single sector of retail.

Insbesondere seit den 1990er Jahren ist international eine wachsende Bedeutung der Transiträume Tankstelle, Flughafen und Bahnhof als Einzelhandels- und Dienstleistungsstandorte zu beobachten. Vielfältige Gründe sowohl auf standortendogener als auch auf standortexogener Seite sind dafür verantwortlich. Nach einer vergleichenden Analyse der drei Transiträume auf allgemeiner Ebene wendet sich die Betrachtung der praktischen Umsetzung der Einzelhandelsansiedlung an den Standorten zu. Für die Flughäfen und Tankstellen geschieht dies mittels einer Literaturauswertung. Der Einzelhandelsstandort Bahnhof wird dagegen im Rahmen einer eigenen empirischen Studie im Großraum Berlin einer speziellen Prüfung unterzogen. Den Ausgangspunkt stellt ein deduktives Modell zum Versorgungsstandort Bahnhof dar, das die wichtigsten Einflussgrößen nennt und zueinander in Beziehung setzt. Ziel des Modells ist es, die Entwicklung eines Bahnhofs zu einem erfolgreichen Versorgungsstandort zu erleichtern. Außerdem hilft es, die Effekte der Bahnhofskommerzialisierung auf Standortcharakter und städtischen Raum abzuschätzen. Der Modellentwurf wird mit Hilfe einer Bestandsaufnahme auf Bahnhofs- und Angebotsseite und einer Besucherbefragung überprüft und inhaltlich konkretisiert, so dass schließlich ein verifiziertes Modell zum Versorgungsstandort Bahnhof vorliegt, das mit empirischen Daten und Planungshilfen untermauert ist und zur Anwendung bereitsteht. / Since the 1990s there has been a growing significance of transit areas like gas stations, airports and railway stations as retail locations. This development is caused by various reasons. Having compared the three types of transit areas in general the thesis illustrates how the setting-up of retail in transit areas is put into practice. The shopping areas of airports and gas stations are presented on the basis of a literature review. The retail in railway stations is analysed by own research. Starting point of the study is a deductive model describing the railway station in its function as retail location. It shows the key elements of the retail system and their relations to each other. The model aims at facilitating the development of profitable shopping areas within railway stations and it helps assess the effects of the commercial using on the location''s character and its surroundings. To check and fill up the model with empirical data own surveys (inventory, interviews) have been carried out in the metropolitan area of Berlin. Eventually a verified model describing the railway station in its function as retail location exists. It is supported by empirical data and planning aids and ready for application.

Pleinement intégrés dans les tissus urbains, les centres commerciaux verticaux se multiplient sous une forme variée sur le territoire sud-coréen depuis les années 1990. Un grand équipement urbain multifonctionnel, affichant une verticalité spatiale, présente une pluralité de comportements des consommateurs. La recherche s’interroge sur les principaux aspects de l’articulation entre le commerce et la ville et démontre comment interagissent la transformation de la société et la mutation des espaces marchands. L’hypothèse centrale est que d’une part ces nouveaux lieux marchands soient formés à partir du contexte local et que d’autre part ces lieux participeraient à une production urbaine spécifique et contribueraient ainsi à une recomposition sociale singulière. Dans ce cadre, la recherche interroge l’histoire locale, les conditions sociales, économiques, juridiques et culturelles comme matrice principale et s’appuie sur l’exemple des centres commerciaux verticaux à Séoul. À travers l’analyse géographique, la recherche aborde trois questions majeures : formes, dynamiques et pratiques urbaines qu’induisent ces lieux marchands. Les interrogations reposent aussi sur la variation des échelles d’analyse : villes, quartiers, lieu marchand et individu. Prenant l’architecture commerciale comme angle d’analyse, la recherche apporte un nouvel éclairage pour comprendre la morphologie actuelle de Séoul et aussi pour évaluer dans quelle mesure un tel équipement urbain peut contribuer à réinventer la ville. La thèse ouvre également une nouvelle perspective sur la circulation des modèles commerciaux dans le contexte de mondialisation actuelle et sur la verticalisation des espaces urbains. / Fully integrated into the urban fabric, vertical shopping centers multiply in varied form on South Korean territory since the 1990s. Large multifunctional urban equipment, displaying spatial verticality, has a plurality of consumer behavior. The research examines the main aspects of the articulation between the retail and the city and demonstrates how interact the transformation of society and the changing of shopping spaces. The central hypothesis is that on the one hand the new shopping places are formed from the local context and on the other hand these places would participate in a specific urban production and thus contribute to a singular social recomposition. In this framework, the research questions the local history and social, economic, legal, cultural situation as main matrix and is based on the example of vertical shopping centers in Seoul. Through geographic analysis the research addresses three major issues: forms, dynamic and urban practices that bring these shopping places. The questions are also based on the change in scales of analysis: cities, neighborhoods, shopping places and individual. Taking commercial architecture as analysis angle, the research provides new insights for understanding the present morphology of Seoul and also to assess how such urban equipment can contribute to reinvent the city. The thesis also opens up a new perspective on the circulation of retail models in the current context of globalization and the verticalization of urban spaces.

This research focuses on the global expansion of the transnational retail industry. Globalization is a phenomenon experienced by many industries in the present global economy. The global production network (GPN) framework can be used to explain and interpret the phenomenon of transnational firms' adaptation strategies. Due to market saturation in their home countries, retailers began to expand into East Asia in the 1980s. However, cultural differences and legislative limitations created barriers and restrictions for the transnational retailers making this transition. How do firms overcome these challenges? Through a case study of Costco in Taiwan, this research investigates the ways in which retailers adapt their strategies with regard to three concerns: site decisions, product mix selection, and supply network consolidation. The results shows that Costco opted for a strategy of lesser localization in all three domains. This research provides evidence to support this characterization along with examples of Costco's localization strategies via a case study and focuses on the issue of the balance between localization and standardization in the GPN framework.

Within the past few decades, commuter rail routes in several major metropolitan areas have been implemented to provide an alternative to automobile transportation. Urban planners in these cities are looking to commuter rail to mitigate congestion and pollution. However, research on the impacts of commuter rail development on the surrounding retail landscape is still needed. In metropolitan Dallas-Fort Worth, the Denton County Transportation Authority recently opened its new A-Train light rail service linking suburban Denton and downtown Dallas. This thesis examines urban changes that occurred in the years before and after the A-Train line's 2011 opening, with a focus on restaurant and retail development in the vicinity of the A-Train stations in Denton County. This analysis evaluates changes in retail density and type, the population surrounding stations, and municipal initiatives that shape the retail landscape of station vicinities. This was done by gathering field data, retailer listings, population data, and conducting interviews with local businesses and city planners. The findings suggest that A-train stations have had a differential impact on the surrounding landscape, depending on the existing retail landscape, the types of retailers present, and the current state of municipal infrastructure that promotes accessibility. Overall, results suggest that urban planners play a vital role in harnessing the potential of commuter rail to promote nearby retail growth.

It is well established that national retail chains impact small, single location retail businesses in terms of revenue generation, retail structure, retail type diversity, and location. This study examines the retail structure and diversity of five retail districts in the City of Denton, Texas. The analysis focuses on one central business district (CBD), one traditional retail strip center (University Drive, also known as US HWY 380), one special retail district (Fry Street District), one traditional enclosed shopping mall and associated development (Golden Triangle Mall), and one power retail center (Denton Crossing). The empirical foundation for the investigation is a historical business database covering years 1997 to 2010, obtained from Info Group's Reference USA. This Reference USA database includes location, industry, and status (single versus chain location) information for each business. Retail diversity and evenness were measured for each of the five retail districts using the Simpson's Diversity Index and the Simpsons Measure of Evenness, leading to specification of the differences that exist in retail structure and diversity among the districts. Golden Triangle Mall and Denton Crossing were primarily chain location in composition while Fry Street District, the CBD, and University Drive were primarily single location in composition. Across all years, the single versus chain status of the local business communities did not substantially change within any of the districts. The Fry Street District exhibited the most change in diversity as well as the lowest overall diversity among the retail districts, followed by University Drive and Golden Triangle Mall. The CBD did not experience any major change in retail type diversity. However, all retail districts experienced major changes in retail evenness. Overall for the city, single location retail businesses accounted for the majority of all the retail businesses, however, chain locations employed more people. In total, these findings indicate that the development of retail districts composed primarily of chain location retailer's affects retail district diversity and evenness but not retail structure.