Corner Shops
- Date from the nineteenth century and before the time of cars and public transport. Had to be easily accessible as people had to walk to them.
- Sell convenience goods – items people need daily but are not necessarily prepared to travel long distances to buy (e.g. milk, bread, newspapers, sweets).
- Open long and irregular for local who might work late, receive unexpected guests who have forgotten odd items.
- Friendly atmosphere. Social meeting place especially for elderly people living alone.
Suburban Shopping Parades
- Found in the suburbs either alongside main roads leading to the city centre or within large, modern housing estates in both cases they provide easy access for local people.
- Save people living near the edge of the urban area from having to travel into the city centre.
- Usually have a limited space for parking.
- Mainly convenience shops and small chain stores (e.g. spar, VG).
- A few specialist shops (e.g. chemist, baker, post office).
Questionnaire
- Where did you travel from to get here?
- How did you get here?
- How long did it take you to get here?
- What goods have they come here to buy?
A) Food
B) Clothes
C) Household/electrical goods
D) Other
- How often do you visit here?
A) More than once a week
B) Weekly
C) Less than once a week
D) Monthly
- What are the good things of shopping here?
- What are the bad things of shopping here?
- Where else do you shop regularly and why?
Results Analysis
Neasden Shopping Centre
The results to my questionnaire show that the majority of people travel to Neasden Shopping Centre by walk, some by car and a minor majority by bus. The reason for this is that local residents of Neasden mainly use the shopping centre as it is walking distance from their homes and convenient as there are no other shops in surrounding areas. People also come from nearby areas such as Dollis Hill, Willesden, and Kingsbury; the reason for this may be because they are just passing through.
Most people are able to get to the centre within 5-10 minutes. The average time is about 10-15 minutes, whether this is by walk or car or bus. If it is longer than that then people don’t want to bother to travel there as they could go somewhere else such as a larger shopping centre or a supermarket.
The centre is mainly so the local residents can buy convenience goods such as milk, bread and newspapers or to buy travel cards. Goods such as clothes or electrical appliances are rarely bought.
The average amount of times a person would visit the shopping centre would be once a week, even though the majority of people visit more than once a week.
Staples Corner
From the people that I surveyed the results show that most of the people either walk or go by car to get to Staples’ Corner. The majority of people who walk there live around the area of Neasden, the others who travel by car come from other areas that aren’t walking distance. Wide ranges of people visit Staples’ from different locations around Brent. This is because Staples Corner consists of large stores, and its convenient.
The average time taken to get there is about 15-20 minutes. But the time can vary, depending on how far they live and their mode of travel. Some people are willing to travel there even though it takes longer than 25 minutes.
Specialist goods are mainly sold there, such as, electrical goods, furniture etc. though it consists of a restaurant and a cinema. But people tend to go there to buy electrical or household products.
Staples is mostly visited less than once a week or monthly. This is because the goods sold here are not everyday items, which people would need.
Brent Cross Shopping Centre
The results of the questionnaire show that people travel to Brent Cross either by car or bus. This is because Brent Cross has a large amount of car parking space available all around the centre therefore people don’t find parking difficult. Also, they have their own bus depot, buses come from all areas including central London, which means people are able to get there from various places. People travel from all over Brent to get to Brent Cross, as well as from other parts of London and even parts of England.
The average travelling time is about 15-20 minutes. Though its takes longer for some and less time for others.
Brent Cross consists of stores that sell a wide range of products from electrical products to clothes to food. The survey shows that people mainly go there to shop for clothes. Due to stores such as Marks and Spencer and John Lewis people are also able to buy products such as electrical or household goods.
As people come from all over to shop at Brent Cross, people visit it a different amount of times. Closer residents visit more than people who live further away. But the majority of people usually visit monthly.
Harrow Shopping Centre
-St Ann’s & St George’s
Harrow has its own bus station; an underground nearby and lots of parking space, which means’ people can travel there however they choose to and are not restricted. My results show that people mainly travelled by bus, for the same reasons as to why people travelled to Brent Cross by bus. Also, as same as Brent Cross, people travel from various places to shop in Harrow, within Brent and outside.
Travelling time is longer for Harrow, the average time is 25 minutes or more, my results show this because the majority of people travel by bus and the time it takes to travel by bus is usually about 30 minutes.
Harrow Shopping Centre also has a wide range of stores like Brent Cross has. Which means that all types of products are available to buy, my results show that people mainly bought clothes.
My results also show that Harrow is rarely visited more than once a week, though it is visited more weekly or monthly, depending on where people are coming from.
Fieldwork results
Neasden Shopping Centre
Fieldwork Results
Staples Corner
Fieldwork Results
Brent Cross
Fieldwork Results
Harrow Shopping Centre
Conclusion
Hypothesis: The developments of large shopping centres have major impacts on low order businesses and shopping habits.
Have you proved the hypothesis?
Referring to my research and results to my survey, I conclude that the hypothesis has been proved but not as effectively as I would have hoped.
The survey results show that people tend to go to larger shopping centres to buy clothes and electrical or household products, products which have a high value, therefore in areas which consist low order businesses that sell clothes or electrical or household products would be effected as people would choose to go to large shopping centres rather than smaller businesses. While shopping in these large centres people will also buy other products from the other stores in the centres, therefore they won’t have the need to go to their local high street to buy them.
I wasn’t able to make a clear analysis that large shopping centres have an impact on peoples’ shopping habits. My research and results do not show how people shop, where they go to buy what product. Though it does show how often they go to shop and what they go to buy. I may have been able to get a clearer analysis if I had asked people questions about ‘where they would prefer to buy certain products’ or ‘would they rather shop in larger shopping centres and why?’ This would have given me more information about peoples’ shopping habits to test my hypothesis effectively and to give me more of a concrete answer.
