Out of Town Shopping Centres need to be Controlled

Changing Patterns

In recent years, there have been some noticeable changes in the peoples shopping habits and in the growth and decline of types of shops. These changes are given below:

The increased mobility of shoppers

Due to a constant increase in car ownership people are now willing to travel further, to do their shopping and to visit shops. As long as the shops or supermarkets contain a wide range and high volume of stock, the customers will do more bulk buying. This causes great convenience.

Monthly pay:

Nowadays people are paid monthly; therefore it is easier to buy in a bulk once a month at large superstores or supermarkets. Shoppers will tend to buy goods from the town centres and just use their local shops to buy forgotten items or low order goods.

The decline and closure of district centres and corner shops:

Many supermarkets are opening in the out of town centre, providing excellent services and attracting many shoppers to them. The district centre loses its support of many of these shoppers and therefore they lose a lot of money. Corner shops also lose out on a lot of money as people now buy in bulks from the superstores, and only go to the newsagents to buy their local newspaper or low demand needs.

Discount warehouse and mail order firms:

Both outlets cater for the shopper who has a limited amount of money to spend. Mail order firms are aimed at customers who prefer to shop from their home. Growth of supermarkets provides self-service, bigger range and greater volume of stock at reduced price. All these schemes are only to create convenience and this is because the present modernised society prefers an easy relaxed life.

Map showing shopping centres and superstores on

Ealing Road and Wembley High Road Town Centre

District Centre

Shopping Centre Parade

New Shops/ Superstores opening out of Town Centre

Trends affecting Brent shopping Centres

This table shows that over the last couple of years, there has been a large increase of the floorspace out of town centre. Eventually, it decreased. It also shows the change in the vacancy rate over the last couple of years.

Location of new retail development in Brent

Year

Floorspace (square meter)

...............................................................................

Out of Centre

Town Centre

987

988

989

990

991

992

993

994

995

996

1,900

22,480

-

,850

-

23,440

-

-

3,250

2,320

660

-

900

-

-

-

680

-

6,870

960

Total

987-96

65040

0070

N.B Includes developments of over 200 sq metres only

Car ownership

% of households with no car in Brent is 43%. The reason for this might be because people know that Brent is a highly populated borough. This can lead up to more cars in the borough. Because Ealing Road and High Street are both very busy roads and there are traffic jams most of the times, especially at the rush hour, the people might think its better to take the bus or go walking.

Town Centre Shop Vacancy Rates

Centre

987

2007

Wembley

6%

2.%

Kilburn

1%

5%

Neasden

6%

26%

Willesden Green

0%

3%

Harlesden

1%

4%

Shop Vacancy Rate - Percentage of shopping Frontage

What are the new shops opening on the

Lower Ealing Road?

On the lower Ealing Road there are now many new shops and superstores opened and they provide very good services to the people. Some of these superstores are listed below:

* J Sainsburys / Sainsburys petrol station

* Wickes

* Currys

* HSBC bank

* McDonald's

* Halfords

* Esso Petrol Station

* Lung Fung

* Alperton Fords

Why are these new shops opening out of

Town centres?

The new shops are opening out of town centre, as there are many advantages. These superstores are very large, selling a wide range of quality products. The superstores need large area of floorspace to start a new business in order to cover the space for car parking and extra services such as petrol station/car wash, as well as the superstore itself. Opening new superstores with large area of floorspace would be difficult to get inside the town centre and it would also be too expensive. Buying a large area of floorspace out of town would be much cheaper and there wouldn't be so much traffic in the town centre. Superstores like Sainsbury's have a large market and because it is right next to the North Circular Road, it would mean that there would be people travelling to shop at Sainsbury's from further Distances. This would also give better access to the car drivers. The floorspace out of town would be much cleaner as well as being cheap. The floorspace being clean would attract more people to start new business.

Questionnaire 1

Carried out at Sainsbury's

. How often do you shop here?

Every day { } 2-3 times a week { } Once a week { } Once a month { } Never { }

2. How did you travel here?

Waking { } Bus { } Car { } Bike { } Train { }

3. How far have you travelled to get here?

Less than a mile { } 1-2 miles { } 2-5 miles { }

4. Which age group are you in?

0-20 { } 20-60 { } 60+ { }

5. Do you like shopping here?

Yes { } No { }

6. Do you think shops have closed in Wembley because of the new shops on Ealing Road?

Yes { } No { } Don't know { }

7. Do you think more 'out of town' stores should be built?

Yes{ } No{ }

8. Will you shop at Wembley High Rd more often once the re-building is finished?

Yes{ } No{ }

8. Do you think more 'out of town' stores should be built?

Results from the Questionnaire

How often do you shop here?

This graph clearly shows how often the public goes shopping on Ealing Rd (Sainsbury's) and Wembley High Rd. It shows us that there are more people shopping at Wembley High Rd than at Sainsbury's. This graph shows us that 50% of the public goes shopping 2-3 times a week on Wembley High Rd. At Sainsbury's there is about 40% of people shopping once a week as they do more shopping in one go which would last them for about 1 week or more. At Sainsbury's there is 30% of public who does shopping 2-3 times a week and there is 10% who does shopping every day. My questionnaire has shown that people mostly aged 60+ and/or travelling less than a mile does shopping every day or 2-3 times a week at Sainsbury's. At Wembley High Rd there are more people shopping 2-3 times a week or once a week, as there is a large variety of shops. My questionnaire has shown that people mostly aged 60+ goes shopping everyday at Wembley High Rd and it also shows that people shopping at Wembley High Rd once a month are travelling 2-5 miles. This graph shows as clearly that Wembley High Rd is better for daily shopping and Sainsbury's is better for weekly or monthly shopping. Below is a line graph showing the same thing but it is showing clearly what the patterns are like between the two shopping areas.

How did you travel here?

Lower Ealing Road

Wembley High Road

By looking at these pie charts we can clearly see that most people travel to Sainsbury's by car where as at Wembley High Road there are more people travelling on foot. One of the reasons why there are more people travelling to Sainsbury's by car, is because they have a large parking area at no cost. There are more cars at Sainsbury's because people tend to buy weekly in bulks. Travelling by car would be much more convenient for the shoppers who don't live near Sainsbury's as they wouldn't have to carry the bulk all the way home. Nowadays there are many more people who own a car within a household and so they would prefer travelling to places in car. At Wembley high Road there are many more people who travel by foot and quiet a few who use bus. There aren't as many people as Sainsbury's who are travelling by car. This is because there is much more traffic along the main road and there aren't many car parks. At Sainsbury's the parking is free whereas at Wembley High Road it isn't. These reasons would make it very inconvenient for those travelling by car. People find it easy to go shopping by foot on the main road, as there are many shops next to each other and people buy less in bulks. One of my graphs also shows that people go to the high street more often in a week where as people at Sainsbury's go once a week. Travelling many times a week by car would by inconvenient and it would also cost too much for the petrol and the car parking tickets.

Do you think 'out of Town' stores should be built?

How far have you travelled to get here?

How far do people travel to get to Alperton Sainsbury's?

How far do people travel to get to Wembley Hight Road?

These Pie charts are showing how far people travel to get Wembley High Road or Sainsbury's. My survey shows that at Sainsbury's, there are some people who come from 2-5 miles to do their shopping from Sainsbury's where as at Wembley High road there wasn't anybody travelling from 2-5 miles. At Wembley High Road there is an equal amount of people who come from less than a mile and 1-2 miles. There are more people travelling from further distances to get to Sainsbury's because there is better access and service at Sainsbury's for the people who are car owners.

Which age group are you in?

At both Sainsbury's and Wembley High Road, the majority age group was from 20-60 years old. People in this age group have better access to shopping because they may own a car. At Sainsbury's there were nobody found from the age group 10-20, as there isn't a very good access for that age group. There were a couple of people from that age group found at Wembley High Road as there is a better access for people who don't have a car and have to travel by foot. There was also a better access to the pensioners at Wembley as there are safe conditions for the pedestrians.

Conclusion

New shops are opening out of town centres. The new shops have certain benefits for the community but also a number of planning issues. This project sets out to investigate 3 key issues, which are:

* Do all the new shops add to traffic in the area?

* Do the new shops cause the traditional town centres to decline?

* Do the new shops give everyone good access to a wide range of shopping services?

So do the all the new shops add to traffic?

There is bound to be more traffic with new shopping facilities such as Sainsbury's. However, if free car parking is adequate and people find it less necessary to park along the main road when visiting shops, then there is less congestion and traffic can pass through quickly. Traffic wardens are abundant, giving another reason why people do not tempt themselves to park along Ealing Road. The roads are busy with the new shops but they do not cause traffic congestions.

Observing the north part of Ealing Road, suggests that buses are the cause of congestion as they stop and start at several places and traffic has to wait while drivers collect fares. The bus garage itself, by the station, seems to cause no problems, nevertheless routes converging there as it is a terminus, cause many buses to pass through. I therefore believe that the new shops do not add to traffic in the area.

Do all the new shops cause the traditional town centres to decline?

These new shops out of town centre do cause the town centre to decline as they are providing excellent services to the people. The new superstores that sell a large variety of quality good are attracting many people from around the town to buy goods in bulks at lower prices. This would be a lot more convenient for the people (buy in bulks) and all the superstores on the lower Ealing Road are providing large car park. This would cause the town centre to lose some of its support from the people and some of the shops would lose out on their profits. The |Wembley High Road is a very busy road and there is a lot of traffic There isn't easy access to car parking and they aren't free. This would make it inconvenient for the car drivers and wouldn't attract them to the town centre. The vacancy chart on page _ is showing that Ealing Road have lower vacancy rates than it did nine years ago where as on Wembley High Road the vacancy rate have increased. On my environmental survey you can see that there are more empty shops on Wembley High Road than there are at the Lower Ealing Road. This clearly shows that the new shops opening out of town centre do have a large impact on the town centre to decline.

Do all the new shops give good access to services?

The new shops are doing their best to give excellent services to all the people. All the people have different needs and it is very hard to provide all the services. The new shops are clearly giving good access to the people with all the services they are providing but they don't give access to the age groups. The new shops are mainly attracting and providing excellent services to the age group 20-60. The survey I carried out is showing that the people in this age group are mostly car drives, aged 30+ shopping without any children. Sainsbury's on the Lower Ealing Road are providing very good services for those who are travelling by car. First of all the huge car park is totally free, the superstore has its own petrol station next to it, it also provides a car wash and these new superstores are also opening till late nights everyday unlike most of the shops on Ealing Road and all these services would be excellent for the middle aged group. My mobility survey is clearly showing that the middle-aged group have better access at the Lower Ealing Road, where as the younger age groups and the 60+ don't have a good access as there aren't good easy access and safer conditions to the pedestrians. So I finally believe that these new shops do give very good access to the services but not for all age groups.

Benefits

These new superstore clearly have many benefits to the area. The new superstores are massive in size and therefore it would need to employ hundreds of employees. These new superstores have provided many job opportunities to the people around the town and these new stores are also giving good services to many people. Superstores like Sainsbury's have caused a multiplier affect on the Lower Ealing Road and attracted new stores such as B&Q, Currys, Halfords and McDonalds. People who have good access to shopping out of town centre benefits from this multiplier affect as the new stores would cause more job opportunities and attract more people to go shopping out of town (to the Lower Ealing Road).

The Hypothesis

"Out of town shopping Centres should be controlled",

May be agreed with, disagreed with or maybe partly both. I believe that the new shops on Ealing Road are offering many excellent services to the people around the town and there are many people who benefits from them. Although it gives good access to shopping to the middle-aged group, it may not be good access for the younger ones or the elderly people without good access and safe conditions to the pedestrians. I finally conclude my coursework after studying all the graphs, surveys and the photographs by saying that the new shops does give good access to many people and many people if not every one, benefits from these new superstores opening out of town.

Evaluation

I have learnt a lot from this piece of coursework, although I wasn't here from the beginning to do the Questionnaires and to get all the information about this topic. However, it was a very interesting topic and I have worked hard for it to get the best out of it. The hardest thing for me to do was to actually have to consider the purpose of all the questions because I wasn't there when asking people in town about the questions related to the hypothesis.

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