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In Terms Of What Happens To The Traditional Town Centre When A New In-town ...


In terms of what happens to the traditional town centre when a new in-town shopping centre opens up, few studies have been undertaken looking at the effect on existing retail and planning policy, but Oughton et al. (2003), Crosby et al. (2005) and Lowe (2005) have attempted a first pass as this exercise. Some of these results will be discussed now, in particular for The Oracle in-town shopping centre in Reading. In terms of the data that is normally collected for assessing the impact of in-town shopping centre developments on the existing town centre retail trade, normally data on trading performance pre- and post- the construction of the in-town shopping centre would be collected, and compared, as a direct measure of the effect of the in-town shopping centre on the existing retail trade. This, however, can be problematic, and not a true reflection of the actual effect of the building of the in-town shopping centre, due to such things as a lag effect and changing shopping patterns in general, with researchers suggesting that there are very distinct phases to be assessed when thinking of the impact of an in-town shopping centre development on existing retail stores i.e., an early phase versus a mature phase, whereby the effects of confounding variables can be assessed.
A study by Bennison and Davies (1980) on the effects of the Eldon Square development in Newcastle-upon-Tyne demonstrated that there was a general increase in activity in the area following the building of the in-town shopping centre, with an increase in retail spending in the town centre retail outlets following the building of the in-town shopping centre. This, however, was a localised effect, with the effect only covering primary retail space, leaving those retail outlets in secondary positions within the town centre vulnerable to declines in sales and, ultimately, closure. Studying the shifts in retail outlets, Bennison and Davies (1980) found that there were major geographical shifts in retail positioning within the town centre following the building of the in-town shopping centre, with larger businesses previously in the primary businesses zone moving location to within the in-town shopping centre, primary retail spaces in the town centre being subsequently left vacant, and with many secondary businesses going out of business, leaving many secondary retail spaces vacant and open for vandalism, causing problems for the local authority in terms of managing and shouldering the costs of reversing, vandalism.
A further study, presented in Lowe (2005), looked at the effect of the West Quay development on Southampton's town centre.

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