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ABSTRACT Shopping mall development in regional towns typically comes with the promise of increases in economic activity and local employment. In contemporary Australia they are often welcomed because of this, and the brands, chain stores, glamour and/or cheaper prices they bring. Nevertheless, there is a thesis that that disputes these purported benefits. Advocates and defenders of endogenous dynamism and traditional town precincts argue shopping malls sideline local entrepreneurship and innovation with negative repercussions for local economic activity and employment. This research provides new empirical research into the short and long term effects of shopping malls on Australian regional towns. It does so by testing the claims of both shopping centre advocates and detractors by comparing ABS Workplace data before and after the opening of major malls in three Australia regional towns, and then between nine towns that have had either shopping malls or traditional town centres for over 20 years. The research showed no evidence of increases in economic activity over the short term following the opening of a major shopping mall and evidence of diminished economic activity and employment over the long term.
KEY WORDS: Shopping Malls, Towns, Retail, Employment, Activity Centres, Small Business, Australia.
1.INTRODUCTION
A major discourse in the wider discussion of sprawl, place and placelessness has been between the merits or otherwise of the shopping centre in its various manifestations in comparison to the traditional neighbourhood, town or civic commons, (traditional high streets, main streets, town and city precincts) (Childs 2004). In particular, the detrimental effects the opening of a new major shopping centre can have on the traditional commons and the businesses within them (Kowinski, 2002; Staeheli and Mitchell, 2006; Dovey, 2010; Mitchell, 2006).
The shopping centre exists in three basic types. Shopping malls, neighbourhood centres of one or two anchor supermarkets and a few stores, and single store hypermarkets, superstores and bulky goods outlets. The latter two use a car park rather than a pedestrian environment as the primary organising element of uses and are functional environments, dedicated to the instrumental distribution of goods and to a lesser extent services (Casazza et al., 1985). On the other hand, the mall offers an alternative to the instrumentality of the neighbourhood centre and superstore because it attempts to create...