Generic Models Of European Shopping Centre Development

The broad characteristics of integrated shopping center development across Europe are examined. A wide variation in the distribution, composition, and locations of these forms of retail development can be discerned. Two peculiarly European developments are notable. The first is the growth of the French centres intercommunaux. Anchored by a hypermarket and possessing a range of specialist units, such developments have appeared in Spain, Portugal, and Italy as French hypermarket operators have extended their sphere of influence into these nations. The 2nd peculiarly European development has been the growth of the retail warehouse park, which accounted for much of the out-of-town growth in the UK during the late 1980s. There are estimated to be over 2,000 retail warehouses in the UK. The number of retail parks, planned clusterings of stores, increased from one in 1982 to 90 six years later. The bulk of the largest UK center development has occurred in town center locations