Routledge Library Editions: Retailing and Distribution – serie

Britain’s high street revolution has made retailing one of the most important and dynamic sectorsof the British economy in the last twenty years. It has had an irreversible impact on our towns and cities and, for many people, transformed shopping from an unattractive domestic chore to a pleasurable ‘leisure ‘experience’, offering consumers an everchanging array of ‘disposable dreams’. The resulting ‘retail culture’ is everywhere – it has colonised huge areas of our social life outside the traditional high street, from sporting venues to arts centres, from railway termini to museums. Many see it as the epitome of Thatcher’s Britain, breeding acquisitive individualism and destroying our traditional manufacturing base. Others see it as a potential saviour of an ailing economy.Yet to date there has been no thorough analysis of this all-pervasive phenomenon, from its economic roots to its profound social effects. In Consuming Passion, Carl Gardner and Julie Sheppard have written the first overall study of the ‘retail revolution’ – a controversial and hard-hitting look at where retailing has come from, what it has achieved and where it is going. Key issues such as the role of design, the growth of the supermarket and shopping centre and the poor conditions of retail employment are all minutely examined. The book also discusses the very real pleasures that consumers gain from today’s enhanced shopping experience.The authors take an iconoclastic look at some of the powerful myths that have sprung up around retail: ‘the death of the high street’ scenario; the central role of credit; retailing as a major creator of employment; and the imminent possibility of ‘retail saturation’. A fascinating book for everyone who likes shopping – and even those who hate it.First published 1989.

This book is concerned with the spatial aspects of the distributive trades. It provides a comprehensive insight into the relationship between consumer demand and retail supply in the context of both recent business trends and increasing planning controls. It unites a wide variety of theories and techniques to the practical problems confronting businessmen and planners and draws together the findings of a vast research literature on the geography of retailing. Extensive comparisons are drawn between conditions in North America and Western Europe.Originally published 1976.‘A valuable and welcome undergraduate textbook.’ Environment and Planning‘Recommended unreservedly to managers and planners in the distributive trades and to all those who are concerned with the implications of current trends in the provision of shopping facilities.’ Retail Distribution and Management

Changes in the philosophy of planning and the political influences behind it have led to an increasingly ambivalent approach to retail and commercial matters and a lack of clear goals and objectives as to what both central government and the local authorities should be concerned with. At the same time, changes within the distribution industry have brought new pressures to bear upon the environment which the conventional planning process seems ill-equipped to accommodate. This book, by an established leading authority, takes stock of the new problems to be confronted and provides the rudiments of an alternative planning approach to dealing with them.It begins by examining the growth of office blocks and shopping centres, and goes on to analyse and criticise the existing planning processes, suggesting alternative procedures. It looks at the dual needs of development on the one hand and renovation and redevelopment on the other and discusses how these should be dealt with in the future. More specific problems are also examined: the impact created by new shopping schemes, the decline of small shops and related activities, the conflict over transport demands and provisions and the special physical needs of particular urban and rural environments. Throughout, the argument is supported by detailed examples of particular developments.Originally published 1984.

Studies of the organisation and location of retailing activity have played a central role in the emergence of urban geography as a major area of academic study. Moreover, retailing is increasingly the focus of interdisciplinary research, with economists, sociologists, psychologists and marketing specialists all contributing.This book surveys and sets in context the wide range of research work that has recently been done on retailing. It concentrates on western industrial societies, particularly Britain and the USA, and considers empirical research, theory and theoretical applications. Topics covered include location analysis which is a traditional area of academic interest; consumer behaviour, which is of particular interest to psychologists, and retail organisation and government involvement, which will interest all those concerned, especially those actually involved in retail planning and management.This comprehensive book is the first substantial review of research in retail geography and suggests many future lines of research within the field.Originally published 1980.

Retailer’s buying power has significantly increased in recent years as a result of a process of market concentration. As vertical relationships in marketing channels have strengthened their influence over the shape of the industry, the producer-distributor relationship has become more central to an understanding of both marketing practice and the conduct and performance of consumer goods industries.This comprehensive and detailed book covers the theory and practice of national and international retail and marketing channels. It provides a structural overview of the producer-distributor relationship as well as analyses of specific aspects of channel control and management. Finally, the book assesses the implications of new developments in the evolution of marketing channels.First published 1989.

This textbook provides an up-to-date, comprehensive and fully integrated treatment of retailing as a) and industry, b) a force shaping social attitudes and contemporary culture, and c) a force for change in modern townscapes. Unlike other texts which focus on specific topics, this book provides a treatment of retailing which will appeal to geographers, economists, planners and social scientists.First published 1991.

The shopping centre has become an established feature of urban structure over the past thirty years. Development of centres has been rapid and little attempt has been made to consider the development process and the problems caused by it. There is a growing awareness that centres are not always wholly beneficial to their host cities and that some public policy control is necessary.This book examines the shopping centre development process and analyses the control policies which have been taken and which are needed. It draws on material from throughout the developed world.First published 1985.

Although the scientific study of marketing is relatively new, certain aspects of it have been analyzed in considerable detail. A body of literature exists, for example, on the various phases of retailing and advertising. It is only in the last decade or two, however, that much attention has been given to the study of wholesalers and wholesaling. The field occupies an important place in the economy, and in this study of the development of the wholesaler in the United States, Bill Reid Moeckel provides the historical basis for understanding the present nature of the wholesaling business, with pointers for the future of the wholesaler and the wider retail economy in which it resides.First published 1986.

In one of the first books to treat retailing as a subject of serious analysis, Retailing and the Public examines the state of one of the most important industries in the country. Retailing gives direct employment to more people than any other trade; it accounts for over half of national income. No other industry affects the public as much as retailing does. These facts stand as true today as they did in the 1930s, and this classic text, groundbreaking in its time, shines as much light on the present as it does the past.First published 1932.

First published in 1971, The Economics of the Distributive Trades is a comprehensive analysis of all sectors of the British retailing sector, written by the then-head of the Research Department of the John Lewis Partnership. Using economic statistics and modelling, Patrick McAnally examines the the full range of the retailing business, from output to competition, pricing, assortment and transport to location, staff and finance, and in doing so provides an invaluable snapshot of the state of the distributive trades at the end of the Sixties.First published 1971.

This book is concerned with the spatial aspects of the distributive trades. It provides a comprehensive insight into the relationship between consumer demand and retail supply in the context of both recent business trends and increasing planning controls. It unites a wide variety of theories and techniques to the practical problems confronting businessmen and planners and draws together the findings of a vast research literature on the geography of retailing. Extensive comparisons are drawn between conditions in North America and Western Europe.Originally published 1976.‘A valuable and welcome undergraduate textbook.’ Environment and Planning‘Recommended unreservedly to managers and planners in the distributive trades and to all those who are concerned with the implications of current trends in the provision of shopping facilities.’ Retail Distribution and Management

Changes in the philosophy of planning and the political influences behind it have led to an increasingly ambivalent approach to retail and commercial matters and a lack of clear goals and objectives as to what both central government and the local authorities should be concerned with. At the same time, changes within the distribution industry have brought new pressures to bear upon the environment which the conventional planning process seems ill-equipped to accommodate. This book, by an established leading authority, takes stock of the new problems to be confronted and provides the rudiments of an alternative planning approach to dealing with them.It begins by examining the growth of office blocks and shopping centres, and goes on to analyse and criticise the existing planning processes, suggesting alternative procedures. It looks at the dual needs of development on the one hand and renovation and redevelopment on the other and discusses how these should be dealt with in the future. More specific problems are also examined: the impact created by new shopping schemes, the decline of small shops and related activities, the conflict over transport demands and provisions and the special physical needs of particular urban and rural environments. Throughout, the argument is supported by detailed examples of particular developments.Originally published 1984.

Studies of the organisation and location of retailing activity have played a central role in the emergence of urban geography as a major area of academic study. Moreover, retailing is increasingly the focus of interdisciplinary research, with economists, sociologists, psychologists and marketing specialists all contributing.This book surveys and sets in context the wide range of research work that has recently been done on retailing. It concentrates on western industrial societies, particularly Britain and the USA, and considers empirical research, theory and theoretical applications. Topics covered include location analysis which is a traditional area of academic interest; consumer behaviour, which is of particular interest to psychologists, and retail organisation and government involvement, which will interest all those concerned, especially those actually involved in retail planning and management.This comprehensive book is the first substantial review of research in retail geography and suggests many future lines of research within the field.Originally published 1980.

The shopping centre has become an established feature of urban structure over the past thirty years. Development of centres has been rapid and little attempt has been made to consider the development process and the problems caused by it. There is a growing awareness that centres are not always wholly beneficial to their host cities and that some public policy control is necessary.This book examines the shopping centre development process and analyses the control policies which have been taken and which are needed. It draws on material from throughout the developed world.First published 1985.