Discover how various aspects of shopping centres change according to the level of the centre on the shopping hierarchy.

When reviewing shopping centres geographers often distinguish goods and services into two categories of land use:

1. Low order or convenience. This is a god or service that w use or need everyday. They ten to be staples of life for which we are not prepared to travel very far nor pay very much for.
2. High order or comparison. This is a good or service we do not need or buy everyday. They tend to be more expensive luxurious items for which we are prepared to travel further distances and pay more money to purchase.

3. Variables and Predictions

A comprehensive study of the shpping hierarchy is beyond the scope ofthis investigation as there are so many variables to consider at various levels of the shopping hierarchy and care must be taken to ensure there is no bias in data collection.

I have selected four variables         to examine which I consider to be among the most important and intend to asses the changes I observe between mu chosen three centres and examine whether the data collected is in line with my predictions

Question 1:        How does the number of shops change as you progress up the shopping hierarchy?

        

Prediction:        From my own experience I would expect a positive correlation between the size of a shopping centre and the number of shops/service outlets it contains. I predict that the higher you progress up the hierarchy, the greater the number of shops there will be because the larger the centre is, by definition, there should be more shops to provide from more customers.

Question 2:        How does the relationship between comparison and convenience shops vary at different levels of the shopping hierarchy?

Prediction:        It is common to find small convenience shops such as newsagents, greengrocers or drycleaners in a small centre but not a departments store or large electrical retailer. Conversely, there are often few convenience outlets in major centres which are predominantly occupied by comparison stores. Comparison shops sell goods and services with higher profit margins than convenience shops so can therefore afford the higher running costs such as rent that occur in operating a large centre that has to provide more customer services. The threshold populations for a conveience store in a large centre would be much higher than in a small centre. Accordingly, I predict that the portion of convenience shops and services will be inversely proportional to the size of the centre.

Question 3:        Is the sphere of influence of a centre affected by its positioning the shopping hierarchy?

Prediction:        It would appear logical to expect the sphere of influence of a centre to be proportional with size. From my prediction for questions 1 & 2, I anticipate that a larger centre has a higher number and proportion of comparison shops. The larger the range would naturally attract a wider customer base, but also, as I have defined earlier, comparison outlets attract people willing to travel further than for convenience shops. Consequently, I can assume that the sphere of influence of a larger centre must be greater than a small centre with predominantly convenience shops.

Question 4:        How does the accessibility of a centre change at different levels of the hierarchy?

Prediction:        The higher up the hierarchy a centre is, the more shops it will contain, therefore thgere will be more customers to provide the required total threshold population for those convenience stores. More customers mean a requieement for more transport, both public and private. To cope with this, I would expect to a higher provision of public transport in a large centre together with more vehicle routes and parking for private vehicles. The denser customer population will cause greater pedestrian congestion through larger centres and I anticipate finding more provision of pedestrian precincts.

4. Selection of Centres

I look to examine these questions in three centres at differing levels of the shopping hierarchy in Greater London.

Bromley: the largest centre, situated southeast of London, in the affluent commuter belt of northern Kent. This centre was chosen for me by the Geography department at my school as they wished to take the entire class to the centre in order to teach us the methods of data collection to develop practical knowledge of the project and to work as a team due to the large amount of data that needs to be collected.

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Fig B

         

        Fig C

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Park Hall: the smallest centre is in Dulwich, south East London.

Fig D