Does the Bentalls Shopping Centre in Kingston Upon Thames meet the needs of the people whom Live in its sphere of influence?

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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?
Join now!


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

...

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