The complex retail sector comprises a hierarchy of town and city centres with significant variation in terms of both size and catchment, diverse micro-locations within these areas, and a varied and ever-changing range of formats (Hughes and Jackson, 2015). Retail places are manifest in the diversity of retail formats such as large-scale, out-of-town shopping centres, outlet centres, shopping villages and town centres (Alexander and Kent, 2017). Town centre is a term previously used to identify a city, town or traditional suburban centre that provides a broad range of facilities, services, and functions as a focus for both the community and public transport (Department of the Environment, 1993).
The primary function of town centres is service provision for a local and non-local population (e.g. commuters and visitors) (Page and Hardyman, 1996). City centres continue to be successful because their size operates as a magnet for shoppers and also because they are attractive to leisure shoppers looking for a day-out experience (Jones and Livingstone, 2018). This is also augmented by multi-channel retailers seeking to use their stores as destinations to showroom their goods (Jones and Livingstone, 2018).
Over decades, town centres have evolved with new shopping centres built and the greater flexibility to consumers offered by this format led to the decline of department stores, which where the traditional anchors of these high street locations (Jones and Orr, 1999).
Consumers act differently in various types of shopping centre environments (e.g.
enclosed shopping centres, town centre), which means it is important to consider visitors experience in different shopping centre formats independently (Yan and Eckman, 2009).
Indeed, shopping centre and town centre shopping is the most popular shopping destination for overseas visitors to the UK (Visit Britain, 2014).
Since the 1990s, planning policies in the UK context have generally sought to concentrate retail development within town centres (Adams and Tiesdell, 2013). A primary motivation for such schemes was to counter the effect of retail decentralisation and protect traditional town centre destinations against the movement of out of town retail developments, which became a direct competitor to retail provision in traditional urban centres from the 1970’s
27 | P a g e (Cotterill et al., 2019; Warnaby and Medway, 2004). For instance, Regional Shopping Centres (RSCs), which are often located out-of-town or edge-of-town in the UK (Warnaby and Medway, 2004), attempt to provide consumers with the full range of goods and services anticipated in a medium-sized town centre, but all under one roof (Guy, 1998) and are considered the closest to offering a complete alternative to town centre shopping (McGoldrick, 2002). Local and regional tourism bodies in the UK have indicated that RCSs can help raise the tourism profile of an area and are often used in targeted tourism marketing and have been an important factor in attracting international markets (Robertson and Fennell, 2007). For instance, RSCs tend to draw a wider catchment area, which draws a different sort of shopping trip such as a day out or for an occasion, and often such centres are considered more leisurely shopping trips (Robertson and Fennell, 2007).
However, the growth of these centres and in town shopping malls in cities, combined with improved inter-urban motorways has contributed to bringing greater concentration of sales in regional centres (Jones and Livingstone, 2018). In the UK, large RSCs (e.g. The Trafford Centre in Manchester and The Metro Centre in Newcastle) began to be constructed during the 1980s and 1990s supplying visitors with a comprehensive range of high-street names, as well as restaurants, cinemas and free parking, all in one complex (Harris, 2012). At this time, RSCs had a direct negative impact on the footfall in many surrounding high street areas as they attracted many visitors (Harris, 2012; Williams, 2012), and the central focus for retailers began to evolve around achieving differentiation in a growingly competitive market through attractive in-store design (McGoldrick, 2002).
In previous years (1998-2010), a large increase in clothing and footwear stores in regional centres has been directly linked with a parallel decline in sub regional and town centres (Genecon, 2011).
As a result, out-of-town shopping centres and retail parks have become to represent damaging threats to town centres (Thomas, Bromley, and Tallon, 2006; Guy, 2000) given that they attract national retailers from the traditional high street and there is an increasing overlap in the goods available for sale (Jones and Livingstone, 2015). Additionally, shopping centres are attractive and appealing to the leisure-tourist-shopper, rather than
28 | P a g e the utilitarian shopper (Howard, 2007), meaning that these retailers can enhance the purchasing experience by turning shopping into an event and entertainment (Dennis, Harris, and Sandhu, 2002) and creating a “destination store mind set” (Katros, 2000, p.76). The relative disadvantages of high streets compared with out-of-town shopping includes for example, availability and cost of car parking (Portas, 2011). As such, traditional local shopping centres are being displaced by retail parks and superstores in decentralised locations with easy car access (Jones and Livingstone, 2018).
The concept of retail agglomeration can be used to define “a group of retail stores in close proximity, which cooperate and compete with each other simultaneously” (Sanyal and Ghoash, 2017, p.1). Retail agglomerations are an omnipresent feature of the urban environment in both developed and developing nations and are therefore an important element of the urban place product (Whyatt, 2004; Short and Kim, 1998). These store clusters are a reaction to the increasing competition among urban places such as districts, towns and cities (Teller and Reutterer, 2008). They also function as attractors for multiple place user groups such as prospective and existing residents, tourists, visitors, consumers and employees (Shaw and Williams, 1992). Hence, retailers have an influence on the attractiveness of an urban place from the visitor perspective (Warnaby and Davies, 1997). Created agglomerations are the product of an explicit process of planning and design, which could include shopping centres located on the outskirts of towns and cities (Teller and Elms, 2012). Evolved retail agglomerations including shopping streets and other kinds of urban store clusters are an integral part of the urban fabric (Teller and Elms, 2012). Retailers located in urban retail agglomerations can benefit from using infrastructural services (e.g. parking facilities, traffic infrastructure, provision of cash dispensers, public toilets, etc.) that they might not have themselves (Teller and Elms, 2010). Additionally, retailers can benefit from customer streams, which occur naturally within an urban place such as residents, tourists or employees (Teller and Elms, 2012). Indeed, retailers intentionally cooperate in order to gain a larger share of consumer visits to agglomerations within their relevant choice set (Howard, 1997; Teller, 2008).
In town centres, entire creative quarters are identified as important contributors to vibrant and successful places, and have created opportunities for small-scale retail, independent
29 | P a g e and often creator-owned shops, accompanied by cafés bars and restaurants, which serve the creative community and through their association with design, they attract a wider market (Alexander and Kent, 2017). Such quarters have created opportunities for small-scale retail, independent and often creator-owned shops, accompanied by cafés bars and restaurants (Alexander and Kent, 2017). They serve the creative community and through their association with design, they attract a wider market (Alexander and Kent, 2017).
Town centres must compete with other towns and out-of-town developments that have the same aim to attract visitor income (Harris, 2012). However, retailing in urban places suffers from not being embedded within purpose-built shopping environments (Teller and Elms, 2010) and compared to created retail agglomerations (e.g. shopping centres), an evolved retail agglomeration (i.e. city/town centre) can be more challenging to manage efficiently (Teller, 2008). To market an urban environment, which retail agglomeration is an integral part of, it is crucial to understand a place’s characteristics relative to its competitors and to identify the different place user groups that inhabit it (Hospers, 2006).
Although many town centres are large, size is not the necessarily the key attraction for visitors, it is about providing something different that catches the public’s imagination (Harris, 2012). Revitalising the main streets and historic areas can be used to attract foot traffic for retailers and encourage shoppers to spend money (Kim et al., 2007). These centres attract a critical mass of consumers and provide activities in a distinct environment (Filion et al., 2004).
From a marketing perspective, retailing has become a part of many towns image (Findlay and Sparks, 2008). British shops are major draws for international visitors and are included in most holiday visits and especially in Northern cities, shopping is one of the popular activities that attracts short breaks (Visit Britain, 2013). Additionally, those visiting friends or relatives (VFR), study visitors and business visitors are often likely to participate in easily accessible or sociable activities such as shopping (Visit Britain, 2013).