published_or_final_version / Housing Management / Master / Master of Housing Management

published_or_final_version / Real Estate and Construction / Doctoral / Doctor of Philosophy

Megastores are the latest phenomenon in the retail industry's evolution. This new form of retailing can be categorized by three main retail types: category killers, superstores and membership clubs. The arrival of megastores into British Columbia brings with it a variety of issues including economic, environmental, employment, aesthetic, social and planning. North American examples described in current literature detail these issues but do not directly address the role of the planner vis a vis megastores. Given that megastores are changing the retail geography and community development patterns of British Columbia, planners must have a comprehensive knowledge of their quantitative and qualitative impacts. To assist in an understanding of these impacts, two British Columbian megastore host communities are considered - Prince George and Courtenay. These case studies are assessed according to impacts delineated from the North American examples to determine the applicability of other research findings. Findings from this thesis show that megastores will become an important issue for British Columbia's planners and decision-makers in the years to come. The short history of megastores in the evolution of retailing make it difficult to evaluate their impacts. While some of the impacts found in the literature hold true for the British Columbian case studies, others do not. This divergence be attributable to the focus of available literature or the difference in exposure time to the megastore phenomenon. Further observation, research and analysis will be required to provide municipality specific data on which elected officials can base decisions.

The study Demographics of Central Indiana Wal-Mart and Target Stores for Analysis of Intended Consumers and Store Locations sought to answer whether or not each store chose locations based upon their demographic needs. Through the use of flow charts a methodology was derived and then completed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Business Analyst software from ESRI. Data for income, age, education, distance, drive time, market penetration, city demographics and businesses were broken down into customer profiles, market analysis and proximity analysis categories. These were used to compile maps and graphs for final analysis. The data from the maps and graphs were then compared from one store to another and a conclusion was made about whether or not each store did a good job of locating near its average intended potential customers. / Department of Geography

Thesis (M.Arch.) - Carleton University, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 111-113). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (M.A.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 146-153). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (MA)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / Bibliography. Also available via the Internet.

Samples of stores were drawn from two chains, Pizza Hut and Zale Corporation. Two different samples were taken from Pizza Hut. Site specific material and sales data were furnished by the companies and demographic material relative to each site was gathered. Analysis of variance tests for linearity were run on the three regression equations developed from the data and each of the three regressions equations were found to have a statistically significant linear relationship. Statistically significant differences were found among similar variables used in the prediction of sales by using Fisher's Z' Transformations on the correlation coefficients. Eight of the eighteen variables used in the Pizza Hut study were found to be statistically different between the two regions used in the study. Additionally, analysis of variance tests were used to show that traffic pattern variables were not better predictors than demographic variables.

abstract: The objective of this dissertation is to empirically analyze the results of the retail location decision making process and how chain networks evolve given their value platform. It employs one of the largest cross-sectional databases of retailers ever assembled, including 50 US retail chains and over 70,000 store locations. Three closely related articles, which develop new theory explaining location deployment and behaviors of retailers, are presented. The first article, "Regionalism in US Retailing," presents a comprehensive spatial analysis of the domestic patterns of retailers. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and statistics examine the degree to which the chains are deployed regionally versus nationally. Regional bias is found to be associated with store counts, small market deployment, and the location of the founding store, but not the age of the chain. Chains that started in smaller markets deploy more stores in other small markets and vice versa for chains that started in larger markets. The second article, "The Location Types of US Retailers," is an inductive analysis of the types of locations chosen by the retailers. Retail locations are classified into types using cluster analysis on situational and trade area data at the geographical scale of the individual stores. A total of twelve distinct location types were identified. A second cluster analysis groups together the chains with the most similar location profiles. Retailers within the same retail business often chose similar types of locations and were placed in the same clusters. Retailers generally restrict their deployment to one of three overall strategies including metropolitan, large retail areas, or market size variety. The third article, "Modeling Retail Chain Expansion and Maturity through Wave Analysis: Theory and Application to Walmart and Target," presents a theory of retail chain expansion and maturity whereby retailers expand in waves with alternating periods of faster and slower growth. Walmart diffused gradually from Arkansas and Target grew from the coasts inward. They were similar, however, in that after expanding into an area they reached a point of saturation and opened fewer stores, then moved on to other areas, only to revisit the earlier areas for new stores. / Dissertation/Thesis / Ph.D. Geography 2013

Muito se tem estudado a respeito dos aspectos econômicos e mercadológicos dos Shopping Centers, focando-se essencialmente na relação destes empreendimentos com os consumidores finais. Este trabalho pretendeu abordar esta questão sob a ótica do lojista que se instala em um shopping center. E não exatamente um lojista qualquer, mas o pequeno lojista, ou o lojista satélite, como são chamados estes comerciantes nos empreendimentos. Através da hipótese de que por menor que seja o empreendimento comercial, sempre existirão critérios objetivos de escolha de ponto, procurou-se aqui sistematizar esses critérios, através de uma abordagem teórica que pudesse dar sustentação conceitual ao processo de escolha. Dentre as conclusões do trabalho, verificou-se que apesar de nem sempre aparente, o lojista tem uma clara percepção das características do ponto, embora às vezes tenha que optar por aquele ponto onde sua restrição de orçamento assim o permita. / Many researchers have studied economic and merchandising issues regarding shopping centers, focusing essentially on the relationship between the entrepreneurs and the consumers. This work is intended to provide a different approach, focusing on the relationship from the shopper-owner viewpoint, with an emphasis on small businesses. Based upon the hypothesis that even in the smallest commercial business, everyone should develop some technical criteria to assist in choosing their sites, the author tried to organize these methods, using a theoretical approach in order to support the site study process. Among the conclusions, it was verified that even when the owner cannot use the concepts to choose a site in a shopping center (e.g., because of a restricted budget), he/she has a clear idea about the quality and characteristics of the site locations.