Does the Bentalls Shopping Centre in Kingston Upon Thames meet the needs of the people whom Live in its sphere of influence?
Does the Bentalls Shopping Centre in Kingston Upon Thames meet the needs of the people whom Live in its sphere of influence?
Introduction:
In the past very little thought was given to the needs of the shopper, and shopping was just regarded as a necessity. However, with the arrival of huge shopping centres today, offering enormous choice of goods, the people in Britain and the western world seem to have a new favoured past time: shopping. Shopping habits have changed for the following reasons:
* Increased affluence has created a demand for more luxury goods.
* More people work and do not have time to shop as frequently.
* Being paid monthly means that people find it more convenient to buy in bulk.
* People are prepared to travel further to shop as car ownership has increased.
* Refrigeration and domestic freezers mean food can be kept fresh for longer.
Shopping malls and shopping centres contain chain stores and vast varieties of specialised shops, meaning it caters for most of your needs. Services and facilities generally reach high standards. Lavatories, crèches, telephones, self service cash machines, seating, escalators and lifts, information desks, restaurants, bars and health studios are examples of what is being offered. In addition to all the new services and facilities, technology has made its mark in the shopping industry with the Internet and has opened a new phase for shopping. You simply, do your shopping online.
A shopping mall usually provides a comfortable atmosphere for you to do your shopping in. It is a cover from any form of precipitation, which you could encounter whilst you are walking down a high street. And, attempts are always made to make the structure and architecture attractive on the inside and the outside. Decorations are put up in festive seasons and each shopping mall does its very best to attract more and more customers.
The Bentalls Centre is a very good example of a shopping mall that offers almost everything. Built in 1991 it is situated in Kingston upon Thames, in Surrey, Southeast England. It also serves most of Surrey and its community. It is a large, five-storey shopping mall offering very many services, including a large car park. It provides easy access in and out of the centre, with its five entrances.
Aim 1: What is the sphere of influence of the Bentalls Shopping Centre?
The sphere of influence is Surrey and the Southwest London, but it is a question where in Surrey? Kingston is not the only town that has a shopping mall in Surrey or the Southwest. But, Kingston offers very easy access to transport, with direct bus routes to areas like Putney, whom also have a Shopping Mall. This makes both towns lie within each other's sphere of influence, as it is easy and quick to get to and from both towns. Looking through the "yellow pages" I found out where the other shopping centres in the Southwest and Surrey are, and from this source of information one can predict a sphere of influence by referring to an atlas or map.
These are the main shopping centres in the Southwest:
The Bentalls Centre - Kingston
Centre Court Shopping Centre - Wimbledon
Elmsleigh Centre - Staines
Arndale Shopping Centre - Wandsworth
Putney Exchange Shopping Centre - Putney
St. Nicolas Shopping Centre - Sutton
Wimbledon and Putney have direct access to Kingston by either train or bus, so I would include both of these, in the sphere of influence. It is hard to park in Kingston, and getting public transport into Kingston is equally as efficient as by car. From having visited Centre Court and Putney Exchange I think the Bentalls centre can offer the public in Putney and Wimbledon more, simply due to the range of shops being greater. However, the people who come from Staines, Sutton and Wandsworth do not have direct public transport routes, making it harder to get to Kingston, and not to mention more of a hassle. It is also easier to get to Central London and Fulham from Wandsworth. From Sutton it is easier to get to Croydon, where there are large shopping complexes. Staines is the town furthest away from Kingston but it is within a reasonable driving distance away.
My prediction for the sphere of influence of the Bentalls Shopping Centre is:
* Map not drawn to scale.
Aim 2: What are the needs of the people who live in the Bentalls Shopping Centre's sphere of influence?
The Bentalls Centre contains a wide range of shops including shops selling clothes, personal items and household items. Having all these types of shops is something the public expects because when a person goes to a shopping mall he/she expects to get all his/hers shopping done in one place. I also think that chain stores would meet the needs, and they would be desired, of the people shopping in the Bentalls Centre. As for services, I think the public expects there to be lavatories, telephones, escalators, crèches, seating access and restaurants. This is because when people go shopping, they come for a quite a bit of time so they will want to eat, rest or meet up with people. I think people expect a parking area to be close to Bentalls so they don't have to spend ages looking for a parking space in Kingston. For this aim I will be using a pre-questionnaire to find out what the most important needs are.
Aim 3: Does the Bentalls Shopping Centre meet the needs of the people who live in its sphere of influence?
The Bentalls Shopping Centre met my needs when I was there. There might not be a supermarket but the younger generation, such as myself doesn't expect a supermarket and I don't think it will have too much affect on the younger generation. With adults and full time housewives I think the case is different. They do expect a supermarket. However, there are so many supermarkets right outside Bentalls and in Kingston that I don't think that the publics needs would be dissatisfied. In my opinion the variety of shops stretching from Stationary shops to Clothes shops in Bentalls is brilliant and it also has chain stores. I think it is important for a shopping mall to have chain stores because the quality of the item purchased is normally good and cheap.
There are five entrances in total, two large entrances and three side entrances allowing easy access in and out the centre. Most importantly, the whole centre is accessible for handicapped persons, meaning that there are in addition stairs and escalators, there are lifts and ramps everywhere, which meets the needs of handicapped people and old pensioners.
Of services there are many including a hairdressing saloon and an indoor gymnasium (health club). But, it is difficult to park your car in Kingston during the day, and I think this could irritate people.
However, I still think that the Bentalls Centre will meet the needs of its customers. But, I have to make a shop survey, chain store survey, service survey and a questionnaire on quality to prove my prediction.
Method for Aim 1: What is the sphere of influence of the Bentalls Shopping Centre?
These are the three methods I will use to get an idea of what the sphere of influence of the Bentalls Centre is:
. Look at maps of the local area (Secondary).
2. Question Shoppers (i.e. Where do you live?).
3. Transport Survey (Secondary/ Primary).
To find out where the sphere of influence of the Bentalls Shopping Centre is I made a questionnaire, which included a question referring to where a shopper has come from or travelled from to go shopping in the Bentalls Centre.
When I found out where the other shopping centres in the Surrey are in relation to the Bentalls Centre on a map, I could see how much further or less people in a certain area would have to travel to get to the Bentalls Shopping Centre. This has a big effect on the sphere of influence because people would most probably want to travel a short distance to get to a shopping centre.
Looking at a map of train and bus routes would help to find the sphere of influence, as direct routes to different areas are easy to use. This comes out as an advantage to Bentalls as people from these other areas can get to and from Bentalls very quickly. The direct bus and train routes would increase the size of the sphere of influence.
However, there are some limitations to these methods. Inaccuracies can occur as the people visiting Bentalls, the day we are surveying, could have come from further areas (e.g. Oxford), rather than more local areas such as Wimbledon. These people could be just visiting London and Surrey for a long weekend. This would stretch the sphere of influence and make it bigger when it actually is not. Depending on where people live, the transport facilities are not always economical, as someone might have to take the bus and switch onto a train to get to Kingston.
Method for Aim 2: What are the needs of the people who live in the Bentalls Shopping Centre's sphere of influence?
The only method I will use to get the answer for this aim is:
. A pre-visit questionnaire.
The focus of this pre-questionnaire we made is to find out the needs of the people who live locally to the Bentalls Centre, or within its sphere of influence. I have enclosed a clean copy of the questionnaire. Ten people were asked to fill in this questionnaire. We worked in a group of six people, so all in all our results covered sixty people's answers. This would give all of the people in our group a good variety.
There are no limitations in this method as we are only asking questions and taking in responses.
Method for Aim 3: Does the Bentalls Shopping Centre meet the needs of the people who live in its sphere of influence?
For this aim, I have a number of methods:
. Shop Survey (Plan)
2. Chain Store Survey (Checklist)
3. Service Survey (Facilities)
4. Questionnaire about quality
Data was collected from the Bentalls Centre. These data included a fully drawn up plan of the shops and floors of the Bentalls Centre (Secondary data). I have drawn everything up onto separate sheets with a key.
To identify which chain stores were in the Bentalls Centre, I used a checklist. If there was one particular chain store missing, it was usually because those chain stores were on the high street. This I have identified that with my results.
Each service and facility in the Bentalls Centre I commented and marked on. If I gave one facility a 5 that means it is excellent, whilst giving another facility 1 then it would be poor and I would have to say why.
For example: Lavatories - 4 - clean area, large room, mirrors, available soap...etc...
In my questionnaire I had some questions on what the public thought was the best feature and the worst feature of the Bentalls Centre. There was a range of answers.
Results: My results are varied from sixty people's answers and I asked in total thirteen questions to each person. Note: on the scale of 1-10, 10 = the highest mark someone could give.
First here are the results for my pre-questionnaire which included a series of eight questions.
Here are the results from my pre-questionnaire:
How many times do you visit a shopping mall?
Times a week
Number of People
0-3 times a week
26
3-5 times a week
24
5-10 times a week
0
Which 3 services do you expect to be present at a shopping mall?
Service
Tally
Total
Lavatories
39
Crèches
2
Escalators
41
Seating
9
Litter Bins
2
Information Desk
4
Telephones
27
NB! There were not always 3 services given as answers, lessening the total count from 180 to 164.
Which types of shops do you like to visit most in a shopping mall?
Shop Type
Tally
Total
Food
5
Household items
8
Clothes
24
Personal items
8
Other
5
When eating at a shopping mall, which type of facility would you most like to eat in?
Facility
Tally
Total
Fast Food
23
Cafeteria
23
Restaurant
0
When visiting a shopping mall do you expect and desire there to be chain stores?
Tally
Total
Yes
47
No
3
When you visit a shopping mall which facilities do you expect to be available? Choose two of the following:
Facility
Tally
Total
Baby Changing Room
39
Crèches
31
Rides
6
Children's clothes stores
34
How important is the cleanliness of a shopping mall to you on a scale of one to ten?
Rating
(out of 10)
Tally
Total
0
0
0
2
0
3
0
4
0
5
3
6
4
7
8
8
5
9
2
0
8
When travelling to your local shopping mall, how do you usually get there?
Travel Type
Tally
Total
Train
0
Bus
1
Car
27
Tube
6
Walk
4
Bike
Other
On the next page are my results from the 13 questions 60 people answered in the Bentalls centres.
The first four questions come from a shopping questionnaire and the following nine questions are from a shopper's choice questionnaire.
Person
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
Where do you live?
Richmond
...
This is a preview of the whole essay
Travel Type
Tally
Total
Train
0
Bus
1
Car
27
Tube
6
Walk
4
Bike
Other
On the next page are my results from the 13 questions 60 people answered in the Bentalls centres.
The first four questions come from a shopping questionnaire and the following nine questions are from a shopper's choice questionnaire.
Person
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
0
Where do you live?
Richmond
Sutton
Tolworth
Feltham
Oxford
Kensington
Fulham
Kingston
Kingston
Putney
How did you travel here today?
Car
Bus
Bus
Bus
Car
Other
Car
Bus
Walk
Bus
How long does it take to here from home?
5 minutes
40 minutes
20 minutes
60 minutes
85 minutes
60 minutes
25 minutes
5 minutes
5 minutes
20 minutes
What is the main thing you are shopping for here today?
Food
Clothes
Other
Other
House-hold items
Clothes
Clothes
Clothes
Food
Other
How often do you use this shopping centre?
Daily
Other
Other
Once a week
Once a week
Other
Several times a week
Other
Once a week
Once a week
Where else do you shop for food?
Only Kingston
Sutton
Wands-worth
Feltham
Oxford
Central London
Putney
Only Kingston
Only Kingston
Richmond
Where else do you shop for clothes?
Only Kingston
Central London
Central
London
Central London
Oxford
Only Kingston
Central London
Central London
Only Kingston
Putney
Where else do you shop for household items?
Ikea, Croydon
Ikea, Brent-
Cross
Central London
Only Kingston
Ikea, Croydon
Only Kingston
Central London
Central London
Only Bentalls
Ikea, Croydon
On a scale of 1-10 how good do you rate this centre?
8
8
7
9
7
8
8
7
5
8
Do you use this mall more than any other shopping mall?
No
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Which other shopping mall do you use on a regular basis?
Putney Ex-change
Guilford
Centre Courts
Centre Courts
Guilford
Harrods
Harrods
Only Bentalls
Only Bentalls
Putney Ex- change
What do you feel is the best feature of this mall?
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Clean-liness
Range of shops
Clean-liness
Range of shops
What do you feel is the worst feature of this mall?
Access-ibility
Facilities
Clean-liness
Access-ibility
Access-ibility
Layout
Layout
Design/ Dec-oration
Range of shops
Space
Person
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
20
Where do you live?
Kingston
Ted-dington
Houn-slow
New Malden
Fulham
Ham
Surbiton
New Malden
Putney
Epsom
How did you travel here today?
Walk
Car
Car
Car
Bus
Bus
Car
Bus
Bus
Car
How long does it take to here from home?
5 minutes
0 minutes
20 minutes
20 minutes
5 minutes
5 minutes
5 minutes
20 minutes
25 minutes
25 minutes
What is the main thing you are shopping for here today?
Personal items
Clothes
Personal items
Personal items
Clothes
Other
House hold items
Clothes
Clothes
House hold items
How often do you use this shopping centre?
Daily
Once a week
Once a week
2/3 times a week
Other
Daily
Other
Daily
2/3 times a week
Once a week
Where else do you shop for food?
Only Kingston
Putney
Ted-dington
New Malden
Fulham
Richmond
Surbiton
New Malden
Putney
Epsom
Where else do you shop for clothes?
Richmond
Putney
Only Kingston
East Sheen
Only Kingston
Richmond
Richmond
Putney
Wimbledon
West End
Where else do you shop for household items
John Lewis, Kingston
Peter Jones, Central London
John Lewis, Kingston
John Lewis, Kingston
Peter Jones, Central London
John Lewis, Kingston
John Lewis, Kingston
John Lewis, Kingston
John Lewis, Kingston
John Lewis, Kingston
On a scale of 1-10 how good do you rate this centre?
8
7
9
8
7
6
7
8
9
6
Do you use this mall more than any other shopping mall?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Which other shopping mall do you use on a regular basis?
Centre Courts
Putney Exchange
Putney Exchange
Richmond
Centre Courts
Putney Exchange
Richmond
Centre Courts
Putney Exchange
Blue- water
What do you feel is the best feature of this mall?
Range of shops
Facilities
Range of shops
Range of shops
Layout
Range of shops
Facilities
Access-ibility
Range of shops
Range of shops
What do you feel is the worst feature of this mall?
Signs
Layout
Layout
Design/ Decora- tion
None
Signs
Access-ibility
None
Clean-liness
None
Person
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
Where do you live?
Putney
Putney
New Malden
Wimbledon
Surbiton
Esher
Cobham
Chiswick
Sheen
Richmond
How did you travel here today?
Bus
Bus
Car
Bus
Bus
Car
Car
Car
Car
Car
How long does it take to here from home?
20 minutes
0 minutes
5 minutes
20 minutes
20 minutes
20 minutes
40 minutes
30 minutes
5 minutes
0 minutes
What is the main thing you are shopping for here today?
Clothes
Personal items
Other
Clothes
Other
Other
Food
Other
House hold items
Personal items
How often do you use this shopping centre?
Once a week
2/3 times a week
2/3 times a week
Other
Once a week
Other
2/3 times a week
Once a week
Several times a week
Several times a week
Where else do you shop for food?
Putney
Kingston
Kingston
Wimbledon
Surbiton
Esher
Esher
Putney
Sheen
Richmond
Where else do you shop for clothes?
Richmond
Hounslow
Richmond
Wimbledon
Surbiton
Guilford
Guilford
Putney
Richmond
Richmond
Where else do you shop for household items
John Lewis
John Lewis
John Lewis
John Lewis
John Lewis
John Lewis
John Lewis
John Lewis
John Lewis
John Lewis
On a scale of 1-10 how good do you rate this centre?
7
8
8
0
0
0
7
9
6
7
Do you use this mall more than any other shopping mall?
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Which other shopping mall do you use on a regular basis?
Putney Exchange
Putney Exchange
None
Centre Courts
None
Guilford
White- cliff, Croydon
Centre Courts
Centre Courts
Centre Courts
What do you feel is the best feature of this mall?
Range of shops
Range of shops
Access-ibility
Range of shops
Design/ Decoration
Access-ibility
Range of shops
Access-ibility
Layout
Facilities
What do you feel is the worst feature of this mall?
Signs
Facilities
Layout
None
None
None
Signs
None
None
None
Person
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
Where do you live?
Esher
Barnes
Twickenham
Sheen
Kingston
Richmond
Wimbledon
Kingston
Esher
Sunbury
How did you travel here today?
Car
Car
Car
Bus
Walk
Bus
Car
Cycle
Bus
Car
How long does it take to here from home?
0 minutes
20 minutes
0 minutes
35 minutes
0 minutes
30 minutes
20 minutes
0 minutes
30 minutes
5 minutes
What is the main thing you are shopping for here today?
Clothes
House hold items
Clothes
Personal items
Other
Clothes
House hold items
Clothes
Personal items
Other
How often do you use this shopping centre?
Once a week
Other
Other
Other
Several times a week
Other
Other
2/3 times a week
Once a week
2/3 times a week
Where else do you shop for food?
Cobham
Barnes
Wimbledon
Sheen
Only Kingston
Richmond
Waitrose, Wimbledon
Wimbledon
Cobham
Wimbledon
Where else do you shop for clothes?
Wimbledon
Richmond
Wimbledon
Only Kingston
Central London
Topshop, Kingston
Centre Courts, Wimbledon
Richmond
GAP, Kingston
Next, Kingston
Where else do you shop for household items
Bentalls
BHS, Kingston
The Prior, Kingston
Richmond
BHS, Kingston
Kingston
Habitat, Kingston
Wimbledon
Wimbledon
Habitat, Kingston
On a scale of 1-10 how good do you rate this centre?
0
9
8
9
7
0
8
6
7
7
Do you use this mall more than any other shopping mall?
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Which other shopping mall do you use on a regular basis?
Guilford
Putney Exchange
Guilford
Hamer
Guilford
Centre Courts
Centre Courts
Putney Exchange
Guilford
Guilford
What do you feel is the best feature of this mall?
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Access-ibility
Clean-liness
Range of shops
Range of shops
Space
Range of shops
Range of shops
What do you feel is the worst feature of this mall?
Layout
Layout
Clean-liness
None
Facilities
Access-ibility
Layout
Layout
Clean-liness
Space
Person
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
Where do you live?
Kingston
Sheen
Twickenham
Fulham
Barnes
Kingston
Kingston
Kingston
Kingston
Roe-hampton
How did you travel here today?
Car
Bus
Car
Car
Car
Walk
Bus
Car
Car
Bus
How long does it take to here from home?
5 minutes
20 minutes
25 minutes
5 minutes
30 minutes
5 minutes
5 minutes
5 minutes
20 minutes
35 minutes
What is the main thing you are shopping for here today?
Personal items
Clothes
Clothes
Personal items
Personal items
Personal items
House hold items
Other
Clothes
House hold items
How often do you use this shopping centre?
Several times a week
Once a week
Other
Once a week
Once a week
2/3 times a week
Several times a week
Once a week
2/3 times a week
Other
Where else do you shop for food?
Kingston
Sheen
Ham
Putney
Sheen
Only Kingston
Kingston
Kingston
Richmond
Putney
Where else do you shop for clothes?
Only Kingston
Richmond
Only Kingston
Richmond
Richmond
Only Kingston
Central London
Only Kingston
Richmond
Only Kingston
Where else do you shop for household items
Habitat, Kingston
Ikea, Croydon
Ham
Fulham
BHS, Central London
John Lewis, Kingston
Ikea, Croydon
Habitat, Kingston
Bentalls, Kingston
Bentalls, Kingston
On a scale of 1-10 how good do you rate this centre?
8
0
7
8
7
8
9
7
0
8
Do you use this mall more than any other shopping mall?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Which other shopping mall do you use on a regular basis?
None
None
None
Brent Cross
None
Brent Cross
Centre Courts
None
None
Putney Exchange
What do you feel is the best feature of this mall?
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
What do you feel is the worst feature of this mall?
Access- ibility
Facilities
Facilities
Design/ Decoration
Clean-liness
Facilities
Design/ Decoration
Facilities
Facilities
Facilities
Person
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
Where do you live?
Ewell
Richmond
Cheam
Staines
Twickenham
New Malden
East Sheen
Clapham
Teddington
Roe hampton
How did you travel here today?
Bus
Car
Car
Car
Car
Car
Car
Other
Other
Bus
How long does it take to here from home?
30 minutes
5 minutes
5 minutes
20 minutes
25 minutes
0 minutes
20 minutes
25 minutes
30 minutes
40 minutes
What is the main thing you are shopping for here today?
House hold items
Other
Other
Clothes
House hold items
House hold items
Clothes
Other
Personal items
Clothes
How often do you use this shopping centre?
Several Times a week
Several times a week
Other
Once a week
Once a week
Other
Other
Other
2/3 times a week
Other
Where else do you shop for food?
Surbiton
Richmond
Sutton
Staines
Ham
New Malden
Sheen
Roehampton
Ham
Roehampton
Where else do you shop for clothes?
Epsom
Richmond
Sutton
Staines
Twickenham
Wimbledon
Central London
Brent Cross
Central London
Central London
Where else do you shop for household items
Epsom
New Malden
Sutton
Staines
Twickenham
Central London
Central London
Brent Cross
Only Kingston
Central London
On a scale of 1-10 how good do you rate this centre?
7
9
8
8
7
8
7
8
5
8
Do you use this mall more than any other shopping mall?
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
Yes
No
Which other shopping mall do you use on a regular basis?
Ashley Centre
None
Sutton
Staines
None
Ashley Centre
None
Brent Cross
None
Putney Exchange
What do you feel is the best feature of this mall?
Space
Access-ibility
Range of shops
Range of shops
Range of shops
Facilities
Range of Shops
Layout
Clean-liness
Clean-liness
What do you feel is the worst feature of this mall?
Range of shops
Clean-liness
None
None
None
Access-ibility
None
None
Range of shops
Range of shops
Looking closely at my results we see that when I asked the question "How did you travel here today?" when someone answered "other" the answer was mostly by train or tube. The same thing occurred in the question "What is the main thing you are shopping for today?" when a shopper mentioned "other" the most appeared answer stood out to be "window shopping".
I also did a shop name survey for the Bentalls Centre which looked like this:
Shop Name
Present in mall/ Not present/On Kingston High Street
Marks & Spencer
On Kingston High Street
W H Smiths
Present
Boots
Present
Dixons
On Kingston High Street
Body Shop
Present
Dillons/Waterstones
Present
A Department Store
Present
HMV Records
Present
Wool Worths
Not present
Thorntons
Not present
Next
On Kingston High Street
Habitat
Not Present
Gap
Present
Wax Lyrical
Present
Clinton Cards
Present
BHS
Not present
Early Learning Centre
Present
Travel Agency
Present
River Island
On Kingston High Street
Benetton
On Kingston High Street
Some of these shops are not situated in the Bentalls Centre because they are situated on the High Street next to the centre or further down in Kingston.
Together with this shop survey I looked around closely at the facilities and did a facilities survey: I gave each facility a mark out of 5, 1 = poor facility and 5 = good facility.
Facility
Score
Reason
Car Parking
4
Good, lifts and stairs, plenty of floors, access to Bentalls through a passage above ground level.
Lifts to all Floors
3
Lifts are on one side of the centre, three lifts in total, look nice.
Escalators to all Floors
3
Awkwardly placed
Wheel Chair Access
3
Although the whole centre is wheel chair accessible, the toilets were locked and the lifts are awkwardly places.
Toilets
3
Smelly. Dirty, tight for space.
Telephones
3
On ground and 4th floor, on one side of the centre only, several of them.
Baby Sitting
5
Lots of toys, Child friendly environment, clean, big, young staff and attractive.
Baby Changing Room
4
Clean, Good bench space, next to baby-sitting.
Plan of Shops
3
Plan on every floor, only on one side of the centre and not clearly positioned small.
Café/Eating area
4
Wide Variety, Lots of seating space, McDonalds on bottom floor, good quality and clean.
To finish of all my results for this investigation I drew a base map of all four floors of the Bentalls Centre, including the shop plan:
KEY:
Written Analysis
Aim 1: What is the sphere of influence of the Bentalls Shopping centre?
My original task involved making a prediction for the sphere of influence of the Bentalls Shopping Centre, and then from having collected all my data, drawing the sphere of influence, which one can see on page . I drew my sphere of influence by hand based on the source of information I was provided by the public, I only drew in the towns and areas that were mentioned and this is how I ended up with the shape I got. It stretches as far north of Bentalls at Kensington, till as far south as Epsom, as Far West as Staines and Clapham in the North East and Cheam in the Southeast.
I looked for other shopping centres in Surrey/ Southwest London to see if those shopping centres would have a strong effect on the Bentalls Shopping centres sphere of influence, these centres are included in my predictions. According to the diagram people who shopped in Bentalls did live in areas like Wimbledon where other shopping centres are present.
Not as many people as I expected who shop at Bentalls live locally: Only ten people came from Kingston (which is 16,7%), four from New Malden (6.7%), the catchment area spread to areas that have shopping malls, i.e. Wimbledon and Putney. One may ask why people who live in such intense shopping areas as Wimbledon, Putney and Richmond come and shop at Bentalls. I think the reason why people who live further away from Kingston shop at Bentalls is that it must offer a better selection of goods and products as well as having excellent direct public transport links. Twenty-one out of the sixty people whom I surveyed had used the bus routes from where they lived to get to Bentalls, see the pictogram on page .
I found out that people who shop in Bentalls take between five to sixty minutes to get there from their homes, with the exception of the people who travelled from Oxford whom took 85 minutes. All the data collected is drawn up in a table format on pages
and . On average the time taken to get to Bentalls from home was around fifteen to twenty minutes. Some people travelled for over half an hour and even three-quarters of an hour. This must show some dedication to the Bentalls centre and it must mean that people are prepared to travel for a bit of time to get what they want.
Looking at the table on page , it is describing what the main thing the people I surveyed were shopping for today at the Bentalls centre. The five categories were Food, Household items, Personal items, Clothes and other. Only 5% had come to shop for food, 18.3% had come to Bentalls to shop for Household items, 20% were there to shop for Personal items, 33.3% were there to shop for clothes and the rest, 23.3% were there to shop for other things. From the peoples responses you can see that people who live in Bentalls sphere of influence come here mainly to shop for every thing else but food. This is not at all surprising, as you can't buy food in Bentalls anyway.
Out of the sixty people I surveyed forty-two (70%) said that they used the Bentalls centre more than any other shopping mall, page . There must be a reason why Bentalls is so popular amongst the public, and I will try to identify this in the next two aims. Shopping centres like Putney Exchange and Centre Courts apparently do not satisfy the publics needs as much as Bentalls does seeing as on the sphere of influence Bentalls shopping representatives come from those areas - 6.7% come from Putney, 3.3% come from Wimbledon and 6.7% come from Richmond.
Aim 2: What are the needs of the people who live in the Bentalls Shopping Centre's Sphere of influence?
The self-prepared fieldwork method I used for this aim was a pre-visit questionnaire. The pie chart on page tells us that people usually shop around 3 times a week. In total almost half of the people surveyed (Twenty-six people, 43.3%) shop 0-3 times a week, twenty-four people (40%) shop 3-5 times a week and finally the "shoppaholics" who shop between 5-10 times a week cover 16.7% of the total. Shopping three times a week gives me the impression that those three times are used for purchasing the weekly food supplies, going on the weekend shopping spree for clothes and accessories, and finally just in case of an emergency and needing to buy something.
As far as I know if you shop everything at once then it more economical with time, because you get things out of the way quicker. Therefor, what every centre should have to meet the publics needs is a large variety of shops, including a supermarket, household item departments, and personal item stores and clothes departments. With this variety people wouldn't have to shop as regularly every week. If the certain centre has the variety then that explains why most people, on average, visit a shopping mall only three times a week because they get all their shopping out of the way in one big go.
Chain stores are usually situated in shopping malls because the goods provided are of such quality and importance to the public and the products have to be brought sometimes on a monthly basis, sometimes on a weekly basis, for example clothes. I appreciate chain stores being present in shopping malls and from all the responses I was given, most of the public expect and desire there to be chain stores in a shopping mall. The tally chart on page displays this information. Only thirteen people didn't expect and desire chain stores. The remaining forty-seven did (78.3%). Chain stores are also known to give a lot of bargains. And as they are all quite well known (e.g. WHSMITH) people know exactly what to get and where to get it in the store, which is quicker and sometimes products are better than what you might find at another competitor, or a single store, selling the same products.
All centres and malls provide services. When I asked the public to choose three services they expected the most, escalators and lavatories topped the list. The information I gathered is presented on page .
Lavatories are a "must" in a shopping centre because when people do shop in these huge complexes they come here for a few hours. In the duration of that time, with help from the consumption of beverages and food supplied by the centre's restaurants and fast-food bars, people tend to need a lavatory break!
Due to the size of the shopping centres in the modern world, with the many floors in each complex, escalators are of great importance. When people go shopping they want to access another floor in a more efficient way without much struggle, which is encountered on stairs, especially if you are carrying heavy shopping bags. One must wait after you have called for a lift, an escalator allows you just to get on, stand still as it takes you to your destination. There is no waiting involved, and then you can carry on without having to open or close doors or climb stairs. Some times when centres do get over crowded the escalators get packed and if one breaks down then people have to use the stairs and lifts. That's why the public expects there to be two sets of escalators on each floor. Also, if the centre were to be so big in size it would be more convenient to have one set of escalators on one side and another set on the other side of the centre. Otherwise it would be too much of a hassle for the public to be running from each end to end of the centre.
Each person surveyed could choose three out of the seven services as in to which they would expect a shopping mall to have. Forty-three people (71.7%) expected escalators and thirty-nine people (65%) expected lavatories.
Twenty-seven people (45%) expected telephones and personally, I think telephones are a very important service. Calling friends and home from your shopping centre in case of emergencies or arrangements is very practical. However, I feel the need for telephones in a shopping mall is decreasing as more people carry mobile telephones on them. Seating was expected by 31.7% of the people surveyed, and seating can be important especially if someone has been shopping non-stop for a few hours. People tend to need a rest and the public does expect there to be seating benches scattered around the centre just in case that they have to wait for someone, for example. Seating should always provided in eating areas and occasionally around the centre.
An information desk is very good for first-time users of the mall and tourists, but a simple plan of the centre and all its floors usually is more than helpful for someone who is just going into a centre to purchase a few items. Out of the sixty people fourteen people (23.3%) expected an information desk.
Along with all the people that shop in a centre, there is always a lot of litter. Litter bins were expected by twelve people (20%) and I can see why people see the importance in it, but the main source of litter that can be thrown around the place would have to food or wrapping brought from restaurants in the mall. These restaurants provide their own bins. This links in with a further tally chart I made on page , which explains how important on a scale of one to ten cleanliness is to the shoppers. Litterbins participate in a keeping a clean, pleasant environment in a shopping mall. Although many people might have said that litter bins weren't considered much of an important service on the page , still cleanliness is very important to the public. Eighteen people (30%) rated cleanliness to be 10/10 of importance, twelve people (20%) for 9/10, fifteen people (25%) for 8/10, eight people (13.3%) for 7/10, four people (6.7%) for 6/10 and finally only 3 people (5%) for 5/10. In total, 88.3% of the people surveyed rate cleanliness from 7/10 or more in a shopping mall. This means that cleanliness is very important factor to the public and litterbins are the only solutions to keep cleanliness at a high standard.
With the many young mothers who do their shopping with their baby's, it would be very practical if a centre would have a crèche or a baby sitting service. This would make the job for the mother a lot easier and I think mothers these days expect crèches. On my pre-questionnaire I therefor included a question on which facilities for babies are expected to be available at a shopping mall, which is shown in the form of a star graph on page . The four facilities for the public to choose two from were - Baby changing rooms, crèches, rides and children's clothes stores. Rides was least expected, sixteen people expected rides. All the other three options where considered important, having a changing room, crèches and children's clothes stores in a shopping mall is very much appreciated by mothers who go shopping with children. Thirty-nine people (65%) expected baby changing rooms; thirty-one people (51.7%) expected crèches and thirty-four people (56.7%) expected children's clothes stores. Nowadays, I think a mother who goes shopping with her baby expects the shopping mall to be offering these facilities.
To aim in making a perfect centre with the right services and facilities, I think every centre should provide all these services and facilities because the different types of services are useful for different types of customers.
I made a pictogram on page . It refers to the types of shops people like to visit the most in a shopping mall. The options- food, clothes, household item, personal items and other- were quite evenly distributed amongst the public's opinions. Clothes was most liked with twenty-four people preferring it to the others, in total 40% of the people surveyed. Food was also popular reaching 25%, household items came to 13.3%, personal items came to 13.3% and finally people who like to visit other types of shop were 8.3% of the people surveyed. Every shopping mall should aim to have all these five types of shops, because these shops caters for everyone's needs, whether it would be a school child or working housewife/full time mother running a family. Large varieties of shops all in one area make shopping a quicker and easier process.
During the shopping hours you may also want to meet up with partners, friends or colleagues and have lunch. This facility is offered at every shopping mall, whether there is a fast food bar, sandwich bar, restaurant or café. The percentage bar graph on page shows the percentage of people who like to eat in a restaurant (e.g. T.G.I Fridays), cafeteria (e.g. Starbucks coffee) or fast food bar (e.g. Macdonald's) whilst they are in a shopping mall. 45% of the people surveyed would like to eat in a fast food bar, 38.3% would prefer to eat in a cafeteria and only 16.7% would prefer to eat in a restaurant. I suppose this is because people just want to grab a bite to eat and go shopping straight after, if people choose to eat at a restaurant it usually means they have a lot of time on their hands. I know that with the younger generations fast food is very popular because it is cheap and most youngsters like the beef burgers and fries that are served. In my opinion for a shopping mall to have a cafeteria or some sort of fast food bar would be best, because the food is cheap, easy to order and quick to both cook and receive. It is a facility well appreciated nowadays and it caters the needs of almost everyone that shops in a mall.
The line graph on page shows us that most people, when travelling to their local shopping mall, travel by car. 45% (Twenty-seven people) of the people surveyed travel to their local shopping mall by car, 18.3% travel by bus, 16.7% travel by train and finally 10% travel by tube. Although travelling by car is the prominent mode of transport, one can notice from the diagram that public transport is used a lot. One can then predict that it would be very practical if the centre were to be situated near a large public transport station, either for bus, tube or train. If the station were to have many direct routes between larger towns it would be a lot less time consuming to get to and from the centre, not to mention the low costs.
Seeing as so many people travel by car, I think the public would crave an allocated parking area belonging to the centre just so they have an easier route to bringing all their goods back to their vehicles. Also, parking in very over-crowded areas, like in Kingston, is difficult. Therefor, for a centre to have its own parking area would show dedication towards its customers and again it is another service, which would be well appreciated. Very few people walk, or cycle. One person usually cycles, and four people walk. These people probably live very locally to the centre.
The people who shop in the Bentalls centres sphere of influence seem to have many needs. In aim 3 I will compare the Bentalls centres facilities and services to the public's needs to see if it does meet the needs of the people whom live in its sphere of influence.
Aim 3: Does the Bentalls Shopping Centre meet the needs of the people who live in its sphere of influence?
To be able to answer this aim, I used information from a shop survey, service/facilities survey and a questionnaire about quality. I will begin with the questionnaire and the first diagram I will be describing is on page .
When observing the percentages one can see that 30 % of the people surveyed use this shopping centre once a week. As most people shop at Bentalls several times or once a week it must mean that it is the type of shopping centre where you can buy everything all at once, meaning it would meet the needs of its shoppers.
The next question, shown in the form of a bar graph on page , tells us where else people shop for food. From the responses given it seems obvious that Bentalls attracts people to Kingston. In fact eleven people (18.3%) come to Kingston only to shop for food. However, If one looks at the floor plans on pages - it is noticeable that there is no supermarket in Bentalls. The only sign of food stores are the restaurant and cafes. That is the first negative aspect to Bentalls that I have observed. But, Bentalls is located in Kingston and food supermarkets are spread all over Kingston's High streets and side roads and that is why some people shop food in Kingston because of the variation in Supermarkets, to name a couple: Iceland and Sainsbury's. There were seven people (11.7%) who shop for food in Putney and six people (10%) who shop in Richmond. There was a lot of variation in the towns where people shop for food but I think that is because where ever one lives there will always be a supermarket nearby. Therefor the people who live in Putney, for example, won't have to travel to Kingston to buy food because they can purchase exactly the same food products in their local supermarket. Other popular destinations to shop food in were Wimbledon where five people (8.3%) shop otherwise for food and Sheen where also five people (8.3%) shop for food.
If one refers to the Sphere of Influence I drew on page , one can see that ten people (who were shopping at Bentalls at the time) lived in Kingston. Seeing that Kingston is the nearest town to them then that is probably the most logical and practical place for them to go and buy food. I would say that the answers to this question should be almost identical to the numbers of the people who lived in certain areas on page . If they weren't, which was in some cases then it was probably because some one who might have lived in New Malden went to its neighbouring town to shop for food, Kingston.
The bar graph on page represents results from almost exactly the same question as the previous except this time it is to do with where else people shop for clothes. The responses by the public where very different. There wasn't as much variation, but there was a bit: sixteen areas where recorded. However, Ten of those sixteen areas where only mentioned once, which most likely means that that person who shops for clothes there lives in that area. The other six areas mentioned were places where many people went to shop for clothes. What is noticeable about these areas, is that all the areas have a major shopping mall. For example, Centre Courts in Wimbledon, Putney Exchange in Putney, Bentalls in Kingston and Harrods in London. Richmond and Kingston each had fourteen people (23.3%) saying that is the only other place they shop for clothes. Both of these towns have many high streets completely full with clothes stores. Again, we notice Kingston topping the publics' opinions; therefor there is no doubt that Bentalls is satisfying the needs of the public clothes wise.
If you look at the floor plans then one can notice that there are many large clothes shops in the Bentalls Centre, coded in red, for example, Mark 1 on the lower ground floor and Gap Kids on the first floor. I counted that in total thirty-one (33.7%) out of the ninety-two shops in Bentalls are clothes shops, which is a significant amount.
Central London had ten people (16.7%) saying that they shop for clothes there, Wimbledon had six people (10%) and Putney had four people (6.7%). I would say that Putney Exchange and Centre Courts are the biggest rivals to Bentalls. This is because they are all quite closely situated to each other and each of the towns they are situated in is within each other's sphere of influences. From the results given in this question and the previous it seems that what I said at the end of aim one in this analysis was true. That was that Putney Exchange and Centre Courts cannot be satisfying the needs of the public as much as Bentalls can. Guilford is also a big shopping area; Towns in the southern area of Bentalls' Sphere of Influence like Epsom fall into Guilford's Sphere of Influence as well. For these few people it is quicker to get to Guilford rather than Bentalls, which is why it is a preference to them to shop in Guilford.
The line graph on page is once more the same type of question but this time it substitutes the word "clothes" for "household items". As Kingston has been most popular for the last two questions unsurprisingly it was top here too. Thirty-five people (58.3%) come to either stay in Kingston or come here to shop for household items. When one looks around Kingston there are many department stores such as John Lewis and Habitat. In Bentalls alone (please refer to the floor plans on pages - ) there are many furnishing stores. Bentalls has its own department on the second floor, also on the second floor are other furnishing and household stores such as The Pier and Spoils. Between the people surveyed it seems that Central London is Bentalls', or Kingston's biggest rival in the household industry business. Nine people said that they go to Central London to shop for household items. Yet still Bentalls and the people who live in Bentalls' Sphere of Influence prefer Kingston.
Those three diagrams covered where else people shopped for food, clothes and household items. From what I have seen in my floor plans and results it seems that Bentalls satisfies the people who live in its sphere of influence for clothes especially, and for household items. For food Bentalls is saved by the area it is situated in, Kingston. Although there is no food stores in Bentalls I still think that Bentalls satisfies the peoples needs because there are supermarkets just outside the doors to Bentalls. Therefor there is really no need for Bentalls to be wasting valuable shop space on a large supermarket. Also, if one looks back at the tables on page one can see that the people in Bentalls weren't there to shop for food, only three were. This proves my point that food is shopped everywhere and people don't travel to a big nice shopping mall only to shop for food.
The answers to my next question were very positive, the diagram on page . Twenty-one people (35%) rated the centre 8/10. I think this was the average mark. Only two people (3.3%) rated Bentalls 5/10, four people (6.6%) rated it 6/10, eighteen people (30%) rated it 7/10, twenty-one people (35%) rated it 8/10, eight people (13.3%) rated it 9/10 and finally seven people (11.7%) gave it full marks. In total people who rated the centre 7/10 and above was 80% of the people surveyed. With this it already looks like the answer to my third aim is yes, the Bentalls centre does satisfy the needs of the public. Otherwise, why would they rate the centre with such high marks?
This is supported by the fact that 70% of the people surveyed use this mall more than any other Shopping mall (see page ).
Even if they use Bentalls more than any other shopping mall, on page , one can see that Bentalls does have quite a few competitors within its sphere of influence and that the people that live in Bentalls' Sphere of Influence use them. Like I predicted earlier in this aim, Putney Exchange and Centre Courts are Bentalls' biggest rivals with twelve people (20%) for both malls saying that they use those malls on a regular basis. However, still fourteen people (23.3%) said they don't use any other centre, only Bentalls. Once more, one can only think that most of the people, who answered that they only shop in Bentalls, probably live in Kingston or a nearby town like New Malden.
From the information I have gathered now, I can see that Bentalls does satisfy the needs of the public, but what exactly in the Bentalls Centre does?
The answer to this rhetorical question is Bentalls' range of shops. The bar graph on page shows the publics opinions on the best and worst features of the mall. The range of shops is by far the most highly regarded and appreciated feature. If one looks at the floor plans every type of shop is present, apart from a supermarket. There are chain stores, sports shops, restaurants, designer shops, toyshops, stationary shops, bookshops and many more, which you can clearly see.
This question links in with my shop survey on page . Eleven (55%) of the twenty shops on the check list were inside the Bentalls Centre, five shops (25%) were just on the high street outside Bentalls and only four shops (20%) no - where near the centre, yet still in Kingston. With over three-quarters of the checklist being in or just outside the Bentalls centre one can predict that the range of shops in the Bentalls centre must be good.
Referring back to the tally chart, under pre-questionnaire diagrams on page , one can see that forty-seven people (78.3%) expect and desire chain stores and they get that I the Bentalls centre, which should satisfy their needs. Even the people who don't expect chain stores, it shouldn't make them disapprove of the Bentalls centre from how I see it chain stores are only beneficial.
The worst feature was shared between two of the features to choose from, Facilities and Layout. The layout of Bentalls is beautiful but I can understand what the public mean. The escalators and lifts are awkwardly placed and seeing as Bentalls is so big, it can get annoying walking around half the centre before getting to an escalator to take you to another floor.
As for the facilities in my opinion were very good. I am not so sure why the public said that was the worst feature of the mall along with layout. I did a facilities survey which is presented in a table on page . If you skim down the page and look at the scores I have given the facilities, you will see that I think that most of them are above average and some very good. For example, I gave the baby sitting 5/5 (10/10) because it was clean, had lots of toys, plenty of space, young staff and an attractive internal design. I rated the toilets 2/5 (4/10) because they were lacking a lot of space, they were smelly and they were situated only on the top of the centre and badly signed. Maybe the public agrees with me on the toilets, and perhaps they only consider this to be the most obvious facility and therefor regard facilities as the worst feature of the mall.
Going back to my pre-questionnaire, on page there is a bar graph representing the most expected facilities to be present in a shopping mall. Bentalls has the two most expected, lavatories and escalators along with crèches, seating and telephones. What the centre is missing is litterbins and an information desk. However, not many people expected these services so I doubt that will have much affect on not fulfilling the publics needs. Yet there are bins in the eating areas and there are floor plans on each floor.
People like to visit clothes shops most when they are visiting a shopping mall, according to the pictogram on page . Bentalls has many clothes shops and that is definitely a positive aspect.
There is a Macdonald's (fast food) in Bentalls as well as a large eating area covering almost half the space on the second floor, with all different types of bars with many different cuisine's. There is no restaurant but a restaurant is more of a dinner thing, and a place to eat on a special occasion. I don't think that should affect the publics needs too much.
Mothers must appreciate the facilities that Bentalls provides. Although there are no rides for the children, there is still children's clothes stores; for example Gap Kids and Mothercare are both on the first floor. There is a baby changing room (which I rated 4/5, see page ) along with a baby sitting which I thought was excellent.
When I visited the Bentalls centre it was very clean and seeing as cleanliness was very important to the public, see page , then it must mean that Bentalls satisfies the people's needs.
Bentalls does have its own allocated parking area, with many floors. It is connected to the mall with a bridge on the second floor. In Kingston there are many bus stops, which have buses that use direct routes in all directions through to towns within Bentalls' Sphere of Influence. There is a train station in Kingston, which is around a five-minute walk from Bentalls. Having bus stations and a train station in Kingston is very practical, especially when in the pre-questionnaire quite a few people travel by public transport to their local shopping mall, which you can see on page .
I have referred to the pre-questionnaire and the public's expectations. From what I have said above it seems that the only negative aspects to Bentalls are that there is no supermarket and the toilets aren't quite up to standard. Otherwise, Bentalls seems to have all the services and facilities which should meet the needs of the public.
Conclusion:
On page you can see the sphere of influence I predicted was quite accurate compared to the one on page . The actual sphere of influence went a bit further North than what I expected, including areas like Fulham. It also stretched as far South as Cobham, which I didn't include. I could have made this the drawing for my sphere of influence more accurate by using a key and drawing my sphere of influence to scale.
In predicting the sphere of influence I included all the towns with shopping malls because I thought the direct public transport would make it easier for the people to get other towns with shopping malls. It appeared that towns like Wimbledon and Putney both fell into Bentalls' sphere of influence, meaning that I was also correct in predicting that Bentalls can offer the public in Wimbledon and Putney more rather than Centre Courts and Putney Exchange because the range of shops is greater. The public thought that the range of shops was Bentalls' best feature (page ).
Some inaccuracies occurred for this aim. In my results there was someone from Oxford who answered the questionnaire. If I had drawn Oxford into the sphere of influence, it would have extended much further Northwest. I don't' think that Oxford lies within the Bentalls centre's sphere of influence but I added it in because I felt that using all my results was important, and it also showed that inaccuracies can occur even when one is just surveying with a simple questionnaire.
I did this geographical investigation on a weekday. There were only adults present, as children were at school. I think this could have an effect on the sphere of influence because adults can drive. They can drive from further distances, which makes the sphere of influence, as I have drawn it. If I had done it during a weekend then I think the sphere of influence would have been even larger because in the weekend people have more time on their hands. They can travel further meaning that people from totally unexpected areas could turn up in Bentalls. This would make the sphere of influence more inaccurate and therefor having done this investigation on a weekday was a good idea. What I would do if I were to take it further would be doing a survey every day in the week. From getting those results I could take averages and that would give me a very precise and accurate sphere of influence.
Here is my summary for Aim 1; the sphere of influence stretches far in northern, southern, eastern and western directions of the Bentalls centre. Bentalls' sphere of influence overlaps with other shopping malls such as Centre Courts and Putney Exchange. But, according to the public's responses to my questionnaire, Bentalls remains the preferred shopping mall.
I found out what the needs are for the people who live in the Bentalls Centre's sphere of influence by using a pre-questionnaire. The three services most expected to be present at a shopping mall were escalators, lavatories and telephones. Consequently Bentalls should meet the publics needs because Bentalls offers all these services and more.
The three types of shops people most prefer to visit in a shopping mall are clothes shops, household shops and food shops. Bentalls has no food shops, which would not satisfy the needs of the people answering the pre-questionnaire. With household shops and clothes shop Bentalls satisfies the needs of the public. In total, 50% of the shops in Bentalls are clothes and household item shops (forty-six out of ninety-two shops). Also, the Bentalls centre's best feature is its range of shops and that is why it meets the needs of the people who shop there.
As for eating facilities people prefer to eat in fast food bars and cafeterias, not restaurants. Bentalls has fast food stores (Macdonald's, Cookie Jar) and a large cafeteria/eating area on the second floor. Therefor it should satisfy the people's needs for fast food.
Forty-seven people (70%) desire and expect chain stores. Bentalls has many chain stores for example, WHSMITH, Allsports and The Body Shop.
The three most expected children's facilities from the pre-questionnaire are baby changing rooms, crèches and children's clothes stores. Bentalls has all these facilities.
Cleanliness was very important to the people who answered the pre-questionnaire. Bentalls is very clean and it provides a pleasant enough environment to meet anybody's needs.
The most common travel medium when travelling to one's local shopping mall was by car. As many people travel by car a parking area is expected. Bentalls meets this need with its huge, covered parking area with many floors. With the parking area the public have easy and quick access to the centre as the parking area is linked with a footbridge which leads straight into the second floor of the Bentalls Shopping area.
I could have included a question which involved in asking what the public thought of the parking facility by adding "parking" to the list of features in the question to see what the public thought was the best and the worst feature of the mall (page ).
The Bentalls centre would meet the needs for all the people who answered the pre-questionnaire as Bentalls covers all their services, facilities and requirements except for the food shops. However, this is not a significant issue as nearby to where Bentalls is situated there are large supermarkets.
In total 70% of the people surveyed in the centre used the Bentalls centre more than any other mall (see page ) and it was very highly rated. From the sixty people that were surveyed in the Bentalls centre, 80% of them rated the centre 7/10 or higher. From these figures one can see that the Bentalls centre does satisfy the people who go there to do their shopping.
In my opinion some of the questions to this investigation where a bit superfluous. I could have done without the question on which other shopping mall people use on a regular basis. The question asking how often do you visit the Bentalls centre I didn't have much use for either.
Having done this survey has made me more efficient in collecting and setting out data. It has taught me the techniques on making a survey and how to go about a survey with people in the field.
I conclude this investigation by saying; yes the Bentalls Centre did meet the needs of the people whom live within its sphere of influence.
Fred Wilhelmsen 5D