The impact of a planned regional shopping centre on three existing centres in the south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne

The form and function of shopping centres react sensitively to variations in the demand for goods and services and, occasionally, to innovations in a variety of fields, such as the economics of retailing and the relative availability of different forms of public and private transport. Such changes are occurring currently in Australian cities with the development of supermarkets and self-service stores designed to boost productivity within the industry, a decentralization of shopping facilities to meet the needs of the sprawling suburbs, and the rapid growth in car ownership. Thus, new forms, functions, and consumer responses are emerging. While these newer developments are being established, however, the older retailing facilities and patterns of behaviour persist because of the time-lag between the introduction of a new system and its complete adoption by shoppers. An opportunity exists, therefore, for a comparative study of new retail forms and their predecessors