Doctoral Dissertations

Date of Award

6-1988

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy

Major

Geography

Major Professor

Charles S. Aiken

Committee Members

Thomas L. Bell, Bruce A. Ralston

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to analyze alterations in the retail structure of medium-sized metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) between 1958 and 1982. Medium sized metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) are ones with populations between 250,000 and 1,000,000. The major hypotheses of the study are that differences exist among metropolitan areas in types of retail structure and that dominant new retail districts have replaced central business districts as the focus of retail sales.

Factor analysis of data from the Census of Population and Census of Retail Trade for ninety-two medium-sized MSAs identifies five types of retail structure: 1) central business district maintained, 2) major retail center dominated, 3) dispersed within a central city, 4) multiple central city, and 5) low centralization. Internal characteristics of retail structure are examined in a sample MSA of each type. The sample MSAs are Montgomery, Knoxville, Chattanooga, Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point, and Greenville/Spartanburg.

Large retail districts are the appropriate units for analysis of retail structure because they are more inclusive than shopping centers or retail areas identified by the Bureau of the Census. A large retail district is defined as an area of contiguous retail land use that contains at least twenty-five stores and is connected by at least one arterial street.

The outcome of competition among retail districts in medium-sized MSAs is determined by decisions of customers and investors. Site, neighborhood, and trade area characteristics influence the decisions. Competition among retail districts tends to decentralize retail structure while planning decisions of developers and public officials tend to centralize it. Retail sales are centralized in a dominant retail district in central business district maintained and major retail center dominated MSAs. In the other three types of MSAs, retail sales are decentralized among several districts that have a limited range of goods and services. Both centralized and decentralized retail structure in medium-sized MSAs differ from the polycentric models proposed by scholars for large MSAs. Decentralized retail structure is prevalent in nine eastern states and is associated with fragmented political structure.

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