Shopping Malls in the UK - Case Study Example

The study of Shopping Malls in UK Definition: Britannica Concise Encyclopedia defines shopping malls as “Collection of independent retail stores, services, and parking areas constructed and maintained by a management firm as a unit.” The concise definition of shopping mall according to Answer.com is 1. An urban shopping area limited to pedestrians 2. A shopping centre with stores and business facing a system of enclosed walkways for pedestrians Architecture and Construction site defines shopping malls as                             “A shopping center enclosed within a large structure; often two or three stories high, often designed around a central atrium; may have numerous stores, as well as entertainment facilities such as movie theaters, fast-food outlets, restaurants, and public areas.” History of Shopping Malls: Laura Byrne Paquet in her fascinating book The Urge to Splurge writes “-----the regional Mall is just a brighter, shiner, bigger version of Middle Eastern marketplace where an early Christen may have bartered with an austere tent maker named Saul. The stage today is bigger and better lit, but the process marketers call the “retail drama” has been going on for centuries.” (Paquet, 2003 pp, 13) The malls evolved in stages. In Mesopotamia city of Ur, by 1600 B.C someone decided to separate a street of shops from the town with doors which were closed at night. That is the first trace of the ‘enclosed shopping promenade” evolved in more than a millennium. Then the ancient Greeks had their liking for market and the market place was the centre of debate and discussion. As the stoicism was named for the stoa, it was large roof structure; walled on three sides. Stoa, along with other purposes, was used for marketplace. In Roman Empire Trajan decided to replace crowded jumble of streets and small buildings with grand buildings with a formal plan. Aula Traiana was the two story market with vaulted roof. (Paquet, 2003 pp, 87) The early history of shopping mall dates back to 10th century A.D of Isfahan’s Grand Bazzar, largely covered and 10 kilometers covered Tehran’s Grand Bazzar has also a long history. Grand Bazzar of Istanbul which is still one of the largest covered markets in the world with about 58 streets and almost 4000 shops was built in 15th century. Saint Petersburg’s Gostiny Dvor, the first purposely- built shopping mall was constructed in 1778, consisting of 100 shops with an area of 53,000 m. (New York Times. November 15, 1957). In 1774 the Oxford Covered Market was established in England and is still running. The Burlington Arcade was opened in 1819 in London. United States owed the concept of shopping malls to The Arcade built in Rhode Islands in 1828. Shopping Malls in Britain: For modern shopper the shopping under one roof seems natural but for mediaeval shopper it was all strange. In medieval days many European countries were controlled by guilds that took care to see what was sold and made. It kept stores small and specialized. Mercers were the stores which sold grocery and fabric both and were the medieval shopping malls. Actually, until 1700 there were a few wealthy people in Britain who could afford to buy many goods. Even the rich paid ‘cash on the barrel’ because credit was the order of the day. Quakers leader George Fox complained about the absence of fixed prices in English stores. Fox asserted “Bargaining encouraged lying and wasted a lot of time.” In 1653 he urged for the fixed prices which made the customers uneasy and Quakers had to abandon the idea. In 1723 Daniel Defoe in The Complete English Tradesman reprinted with sympathy the complaint of merchant fabric about what we would today call window shoppers. “ There are many young ladies and worse many old ladies, within the bills of mortality , that every Saturday, while their houses are cleaning, take a fancy to have a business with me, for no other reason in the world but because they can not tell how else to dispose of themselves. ------ They swim into my shop by shoals, not with the least intention to buy, but only to listen to my silk rustle, ------ so they tumble over my goods and defeat me with the round of questions, till, having found nothing in my shop to their fancy, as they call it, they toss themselves again into their coaches” So, with the passage of time a new middle class of factory owners arose in England. They were eager to buy goods to get a feeling of stability and class. (Paquet, 2003 pp, 143) Department stores thrived with the emergence of middle class then the cities were also growing, bringing more people to the cities and within the vicinity of department stores. The new form of mass urban transport; trains and omnibus, also contributed in retailing. The shoppers had the facility to go to the department stores. Modern England: Independent called Brent Cross shopping centre on its 25th birthday as “the mothers of malls.” ( 9 March 1997) . Brent Cross is the first purposely-built shopping centre of England. After its opening many other bigger and grand malls have been established (Merry Hills, Meadow hall and Lakeside among them) but the claim of Brent Cross to have been the first is unchallenged. In this study we will focus on West Quay Southampton shopping malls to assess the impact of the shopping malls on the urban geography of England. The Arundel Circus entrance to WestQuay WestQuay is situauated in the centre of city ; close to docks and its entrance is through Waterstone’s and through John Lewis , having a mulity story car park. westQuay has an area of 800,000 suqare feet with around hundred shops , including major retailers like Jhon Lewis, Marks and Spencer, Benetton, Apple and many other top brand names. Biulding work was started in 1997 and it was opened on 28 September 2000. The West Quay shopping centre was created under the new wave of inner-city major reatil development and the purpose was to regenerate the already existing retail district. (Gardner, 2007) . Lowe (2005) in her article on the impact of the shopping centre on Southhampton argued that construction of Westquay was important to “ regenerate Southhampton city retail district” to avoid the threat which was oulines by Schiller(1986) while propunding his theory of Third Wave. Schiller is of the opinion that during the 20th century the increasing growth of out of town shopping centres would al last remove all retailers from existing shopping centre. But the depression of 1987 became the hurdle and Oughton et al(2003) came with the view that West Quay shopping centre was the result of “retail centrelization” of 21st century. The depression of 1987 and the government planning notes (PPG6 & PPG13) made it impossible to gain permission for out-of retail developments in 20th century. Eight large in-town shopping centres were constructed in Britain between 1999 and 2003, covering the total of 6 million squre feet of retail and leisure space. (Crosby, 2005) The Case Studies ( Literature Review): Bennison and Davie’s (1980) paper is about the impact of Eldon Sqaure shopping centre, built in Newcastle in 1975, whereas, Lowe (2005)is of the opinion that new wave of shopping centres have regenerated new cititis in late 20th century. He refered to West Quay in Southhampton city. Following Lowe’s research Crosby et al (2005) sudied the impact on Reading of the Oracle Shopping Centre. It was the first construction after third wave. (Gardner, 2007) also pointed out the impact of the theory of “shopentertainment” which was developed by John Hannigan(1998) on the retail trade of Southhampton city. The theory of ‘shopentertainment’ suggests that shopkeepers offer some entertainments to keep shoppers in their centre for long period of time. But , as suggested by Peterson(2002) , to research a specific retail theory is problematic. “ Unfortunately , retailing does not posses foundational theories of its own. Foundational retailing theories that do exist tend to be either derived from or adoption of microeconomic theory (Tirole, 1989) or central place theory (King, 1984) both of which were developed in, and for, other knowledge realm.” The Econmic Impact of West Quay on Southhampton: The introduction of PPG13 policy in 1994 encourged the new wave of in-town shopping centres in later days of 20th century. Planning policies emerged in consequence of Envirnmental concerns and the purpose was to have town centres to minimize the “car-shoppers”. PPG13 Transport’s guidance says “ That local planning authorties should actively manage the pattern of urban growth, locate facilities to improve accessbility on foot and cycle, accommodate housing principally within urban areas and recognize that provision for movement by walking, cycling and public transport are important but may be less achievable in some rural areas.” (Original release date March 1994) Evans (1997) comments , “ [ PPG13 guidance note] recommended the promotion of retailing within existing centres able to offer a choice of access , particularly to those without a car, and more generally, the location of higher density development in areas accessible to alternative modes of transportation to the car and minimal car parking provisons.” So, by following the guidance West Quay in Southhampton was the first shopping centre in UK. Lowe (2005) had argued that after five years since the establishment of West Quay , “the local effects of the centre's opening have not been as detrimental as was feared and that West Quay appears to be generating considerable synergy with Southampton's existing city centre” Lowe argues that shops in above streets get benefits from the existing footfall from West Quay shopping centre. Eventually, Bargate and Marlands also benefit from the West Quey. Gardner (2007) found that 24 out of 48 surveyed people going to the shopping centres to substaitate the research of Lowe (2003) that tradational chain shops in the retail district have maintained their dominance because of the strong customer base. He also found that majority of shoppers associated West Quay with Southhampton which refuted the stance of Southhampton City Council that West Quay is regional shopping centre. Social Impact of West Quay on Southhampton: Michelle Lowe in his article Regional Shopping Centre in the Inner City: A Study of Retail-led Urban Regeneration, published in Urban Studies, Vol. 42 No.3, 2005 argues “that West Quay has had a fundamental impact on the built form and urban identity of Southampton.” In his paper Lowe maintains that the development has been viewed by Labour-controlled city council “as strategically vital to the survival of the city as the south coast's leading regional centre.” The West Quay represents a vital change in the direction of UK retail development and planning in the late 1990s “towards strongly regeneration-led focus, with cities like Southampton pioneering the link between retail and urban regeneration as a central component of a strategy focused on the development and promotion of successful places. In turn, the notion of such place building- which has been at the heart of New Labour’s urban policy agenda- has become entwined in current revisions of retail planning policy.” (Lowe, 2005) Owen Hatherley in his article Urban Trawl: Southampton, published in The Architects’ Website on 16 February 16, 2009 says that the reliance of Southampton on retail and leisure has given a new architectural identity to counter declining shipping but this reliance has turned the city into a “non-place” which was once a cohesive industrial city. He says that the housing has been thin on ground and the new housing developments are “typically pallid spec luxury flats and are suddenly difficult to sell.” Oracle in Reading: As discussed above eight large in-town shopping centers were opened in Britain during 1999 to 2003. The first of the new in-town to open was Oracle centre in Reading. It is situated near River Kent. The phase one was completed in September 1999 and its second phase was opened in 2001. In our previous discussion we studied the major impacts of in-town shopping centres on surroundings and particularly on pre-existing retail centres in the context of West Quay shopping centre. Now we extend our analysis to examine the impact the Oracle on the town centre of Reading. The focus will be on the retail impact of the centre in the town itself. As BDP and OXIRM (1992) observe, ‘relating events and trends directly to the effects of major new development may be problematic’ and it has many facets like lag effects, the pace of retail change and the noise problem from changing national and local economic environment . Brent Cross, the GLC (1980) found medium sized centres had worse effects than the smaller whereas, the neighborhood centres proved stouter. Because the latter rely on handiness shopping, and quite likely the growth of grocery superstores may have damaging effect on them. Roger Tym and Partners (1993) find the similar results for Merry Hill notwithstanding the fact it has different economic and retailing environment. They also find that Dudley and Sturbridge had adverse impacts. The bad impacts were; a marked reduction in shopping flow and an increase in vacancy rates. Figure 1: Occupation of Reading Town Centre Units, 1995-2003(taken from the study of Neil Crosby et al) 1995 1997 1998 1999 2000 2003 Non Retail 2% 1% 0% 2% 2% 2% Comparison 41% 40% 40% 39% 36% 34% Convenience 4% 4% 4% 4% 4% 4% Service 24% 22% 22% 22% 23% 25% Charity/Discount 3% 2% 3% 3% 3% 3% Leisure 7% 9% 10% 10% 11% 12% Development/Refurbishment 1% 0% 1% 0% 0% 2% Vacant 16% 16% 13% 14% 15% 11% Demolished 0% 3% 5% 5% 5% 8% Not yet built 2% 2% 2% 2% 2% 0% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% The figure shows that the clearest trend in the town centre is the decline in comparison retailing, where the share of units has fallen by 17% over the period. Neil Crosby et al found in their study that the majority of retailers experienced a decline in sales volume because of the opening of the Oracle in Reading. The other reason of the decline in sale was “the pedestrian flow change.” Neil Crosby et al found “The arrival of the Oracle acted as a catalyst, accelerating changes that were already in train.” Conclusion: The West Quay definitely gave a new outlook to Southampton which was supposed to be non-place once when people fled the city for it declining shipping industry. Evidences are that the city became non-place even in 1940 as JG Ballard , In Miracles of Life, recalled the city, his first vision of England in 1946: “a cold sky, grey and low... small, putty-faced people moved around, shabbily dressed and with a haunted air.” But the constuction of the shopping centres regenerated the city which boosted the economy of the city and it had a great social impact on the social life of the city . As different research papers ,cited in this essay, substaitate this view point view. References BDP Planning & Oxford Institute of Retail Management (1992) The Effects of Major Out-of-Town Retail Development: A literature review for the Department of the Environment, HMSO Bennison, D.J. and Davies, R.L., (1980). The Impact of Town Centre Shopping Schemes in Britain: Their Impact on Traditional Retail Environments, Progress in Planning, 14, 1-104 Crosby, N., Hughes (2005) A Message from the Oracle : The Land Use Impact of a Major In-town Shopping Centre on Local Retailing . Journal of Property Research,22(2-3),245-265. Dawson John A., Lord J. Dennis.(1985). Shopping Centre Development. Routledge. Evan, R. (1997) Regenerating town centres . Bath: Bookcraft Ltd. Gardner, Christopher. (2007) What Economic Impact has the West Quay development had on Southhampton. < http://dissertations.port.ac.uk/295/01/GardnerC.pdf> Retrived on 14 Feburay 2009. Hatherley, Owen (2009) . Urban trawl: Southhampton. The Architects’ Website, 16 February 2009. Lowe, M (2005). Revitilizing inner city retail? The Impact of West Quay Development on Southhampton. Internation Journal of Retail & Distribution Management ,33(9), 658-668 Lowe, M (2005). The Regional Shopping Centre in the Inner City. A Sudy of Retailed Urban Regeneration. Urban Studies, 42(3), 449-470. Miller,Daniel.(1998) Shopping, Place, Identity. Routledge. Paquet, Laura, Byrne.(2003) The Urge to Splurge. Canda: ECW Press Schiller, R (1986). Retail Decentralization- The Coming of the Third Wave. The Planner 72(7), 13-15 APPENDIX Read More