tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post8669292389562676210..comments2024-03-17T00:10:44.022+00:00Comments on From Arse To Elbow: The Modern AgoraDavid Timoneyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03568348438980023320noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-58218734152503799212015-04-28T12:32:47.303+01:002015-04-28T12:32:47.303+01:00I think the 'dying high street' idea is tr...I think the 'dying high street' idea is true in certain places, but obviously not in others. In large cities there seem to be as many shops as ever, just dominated a lot more by chain stores and some 'premium' independents, and I agree that there are a lot more convenience stores in city centres now. In Leeds ten years ago there was one supermarket/general store in the entire city centre, now there must be more than a dozen.<br />In medium and small towns I think the opposite is the case, and many smaller town centres would be practically moribund without Poundland and charity shops. I think this is probably more due to the out-of-town supermarkets than internet shopping. <br />Pubs and bars seem to have followed a very similar pattern. In Leeds a lot of real ale pubs have opened in the past ten years, but in some suburbs you can walk for miles without seeing one, though you might well pass a few derelict lots and converted flats where a pub once was. Even the market places of small towns that thronged with pubs and acted as an open air midnight boxing ring for years are looking pretty depleted these days. <br />Igor Belanovnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-71872363813709917712015-04-28T11:56:08.794+01:002015-04-28T11:56:08.794+01:00Shops (or more broadly "outlets" - a sho...Shops (or more broadly "outlets" - a shop is just one form) can be thought of as an optimisation strategy for connecting producers and consumers. The shop is a nexus. There are two sides to this: establishing the consumers needs and distributing goods. A store provides a way of efficiently dealing with product selection (all goods on display in one place) and dividing the cost of storage and distribution (between producer to store and consumer to home). As these costs fall, the optimum nexus (in terms of the number of products and customers) shrinks. It becomes more personalised and product-specific. <br /><br />From the late 19th century, the number of shops increased due to the growth in commodities and disposable incomes. However, there was also a countervailing trend towards concentration (first department stores, then superstores and malls), which was due to the advance in transport and the fall in urban density after WW2 (which shifted activity to bigger outlets in car-friendly suburbs). That countervailing trend has weakened since the 90s, as much because of increased urban density as the growth of online shopping.<br /><br />The "dying high street" trope suggests that the number of shops is in decline, but this ignores both dispersion in urban areas with growing density (e.g. many convenience stores now occupy the ground floor of new tower blocks - the equivalent of old end-of-terrace shops) and the enormous impact of the Internet in creating whole new categories of outlet. The "dying village" trope reflects the way that these settlements have become exurban middle-class dormitories<br /><br />The Internet means that small businesses that would have historically rented a shop can now be wholly online (and the owners can live in a village and complain about the dearth of decent butchers). It has also made it easier for customers to shop around - i.e. visit more outlets (and not just multiple retailers but manufacturers and price copmparison sites that wouldn't previously have been easily accessible). If you think of outlets, rather than bricks-n-mortar, there is a profusion because the cost of a "shop" has fallen.David Timoneyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03568348438980023320noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5312853715123370916.post-86404453269153679362015-04-28T08:56:04.765+01:002015-04-28T08:56:04.765+01:00I can understand more shelf space, but are you sur...I can understand more shelf space, but are you sure about more shops? I'm thinking about some redeveloped housing areas, where shops on the corner of every terraced street have been replaced by one shop on the estate, and villages where a dozen shops have been whittled down to one.Igor Belanovnoreply@blogger.com