Is there a Shopping heirarchy in Brent

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This coursework is based on shopping patterns in Brent which will be the result of an investigation involving collection of data through field work. This will involve comparing two different shopping centres in Brent, which include Harlesden and Brent South Retail Park. The main purpose is to investigate whether or not there is a shopping hierarchy in Brent. To do this I will construct a questionnaire, which will provide me with the information about peoples shopping habits, which will also allow me to make a comparison between large shopping centers and low order businesses. My hypothesis is that most people do not travel great distances to buy a newspaper or food but they are prepared to travel further to purchase clothes, jewellery or furniture, which are expensive and bought less often. There are three main broad types of questions to investigate, in relation to the main aim. These include:

  • Is there a shopping hierarchy in Brent?

I have chosen this question because it relates the most to the main aim. I predict that Brent South retail park will have a bigger sphere of influence than Harlesden, as it sells high order expensive goods which are bought infrequently.

  • Does the internet affect shopping centres? How?

I think the internet does affect shopping centres by attracting more and more people to shop online for having cheaper deals, more variety etc.

  • Does the environment influence shopping patterns? Why

My prediction is that the environment does affect the shopping patterns because, the more pleasant a shopping centre’s environment is, the more people will be attracted to it.

The following are the questions (most with choices) covered in the questionnaire, which individuals will be asked at each shopping centre. This will assist in investigating and answering the main questions mentioned above.

  1. How often do you shop here?

Regularly       weekly       sometimes       rarely

  1. What do you shop for?

Clothes        jewellery        Food       Other

  1. How much do you spend on your shopping?

£5 - £10    £10 - £50    £50 – £100    £100+

                                       

  1.  What transport did you use to get here?

Car        Walk         Bus       Cycle

  1. Do you think that the environment affects were you shop?

Yes           No

  1. How far have you travelled to this shopping centre?

1-5 miles   6-11 miles   12-17 miles   17+ miles

  1. What is your reason for shopping here?

Cheap    Near to home     Good quality  

More variety     Other

  1. Do you shop online

Yes           No

Brent South Retail park

(Detailed Map view)

(Satellite map view)

Brent South Retail Park is a well known shopping centre located directly opposite Brent Cross shopping centre alongside Brent Terrace, situated on the North Circular Road (A406) off the intersection which leads to the M1. The shopping centre is owned by Hammerson and Standard Life Investments and it was completed in November 2004. The retail park has an out-of-town location which provides 350 parking spaces as it is very spacious. People will travel a long range to buy goods from this shopping centre because mostly high order expensive items are obtained here from shops and stores like “Next, Burtons, Sports World and Dfs”, which sell Comparison and specialist goods such as Clothes, shoes, sports goods and furniture. Brent South Retail Park is close to the M1, A41, A5 and the A406 North Circular Road and within easy reach of M25. The nearest London Underground station the Retail Park is the Brent Cross on the  and it is served by the following buses: 112, 232, 266, 182 and 142.

Picture B1) Through this picture, the centre of the Retail Park’s car park can be seen clearly  and it looks well organized firstly for being clean and secondly for being spacious. By looking at the site from this direction we can spot two major stores dfs (furniture store) and Next (Clothe store) which could be put into a hierarchy according to the importance of the customers. Dfs would go on top of the hierarchy between these two stores because it sells very expensive specialist goods like sofas, whereas Next sells comparison products for example clothes. Although being expensive, clothes can not be comparable to furniture in money. Easy accessibility of the shops and the open space with sparse population makes the Retail Park a satisfying place to go for shopping unlike Oxford Street which is crowded most of the time making it hard for people to shop.

Picture B2) This picture shows the Retail Park at another angle. From this angle, we can see the footpath leading to the high order shops and the car park across the zebra crossing. By looking at the disabled sign in the middle of the picture, we can see how caring Brent South Retail Park is for the disabled people making it easier for everyone to shop comfortably by providing disabled parking spaces. This Photograph also shows direction arrows which guide to the parking spaces and indicate “slow”

creating a safer environment for the pedestrians. One of the major clothe retailer we can see from this angle is Evan which sells comparison goods.

Picture B3)In this picture we can see the a couple of safety measures taken for traffic concerns which are the entrance and the exit of the retails park’s car park and the presence of traffic sign which shows the maximum speed permitted inside the retail park’s car park. The car park has an entrance and an exit in different places and the maximum speed allowed is 10 miles per hour. These safety measures have been taken in order to provide a safer and pleasant environment for the pedestrians within the shopping centre by decreasing the probability of a car accidents and creating a non traffic zone.

Harlesden

(Detailed map View)

(Satellite Map view)      

                     

Harlesden is a suburban town in the . It is densely populated with an estimated population of 12,227. Harlesden has many low order shops like corner shops and state agent which sell convenience goods which are consumed or used at a regular basis for example food items, magazines ,newspapers etc.  It has quite a few halal butcher shops as there is a huge majority of Muslim people living in the area. It is a multicultural community. Harlesden is close to B4492, A400, A402 and A404 and has excellent transport links. It has bus routes , , , , , , , ,  and  running in the town centre as well as routes  and  running just outside.

Picture H1)This picture was taken of Harlesden’s CBD; this is a picture looking northbound towards Wembley and Stonebridge. Unlike Brent south we can tell that Harlesden is not a very clean area by looking at the litter on the floor in this picture The area also displays of a variety of low order shops selling convinience goods on the left side of the road.

PictureH2) This picture is taken in the pathway connecting the Craven Park Road and the Manor Park Road for the pedestrians which run through Harlesden. We can see a few low order shops, trading specialist goods such as beauty shops on the left hand side of the picture.

Picture H3) In this picture we can see Harlesden’s CBD again and it shows The  Jubilee Clock which is a reference point commemorating Queen Victoria’s golden Jubilee. The Jubilee clock is in the centre of two main connected roads which are the craven park road and the Harlesden high street. In the background we can observe some Low order shops which sell convenient goods.    

Terms and Ideas

To successfully complete this investigation, I will need to use a variety of primary and secondary sources of information to gain more accurate and reliable information. In order to achieve my aims I will firstly construct a questionnaire to find out peoples attitudes at each shopping centre. Then I will prepare a pedestrian counts and environmental quality survey. At each area I will be collecting the following primary data to help me with my investigation.

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1. Questionnaires

I have designed a questionnaire as previously mentioned, this will give me all the information I require to answer my main aim. I will hand out my questionnaire to the public and find out what they think about the area and I thought about my own individual questions for investigation. I will need to find out where they live, frequency of visit, mode of transport, goods bought and how far have they travelled.

2. Land use maps

I wrote down names of the shops and services in the area on a blank piece of paper then ...

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