Changes in a Shopping Street Area in the Center of a Major Metropolis: A Case Study of the Suidosuji Shopping Arcade in Nada Ward, Kobe

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Other Title
  • 大都市圏中心都市における地域型商店街の変容
  • 大都市圏中心都市における地域型商店街の変容 : 神戸市灘区水道筋商店街を事例に
  • ダイトシケン チュウシン トシ ニ オケル チイキガタ ショウテンガイ ノ ヘンヨウ : コウベシナダク スイドウキン ショウテンガイ オ ジレイ ニ
  • ――神戸市灘区水道筋商店街を事例に――

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<p>In this paper, we provide a case study of the Suidosuji shopping arcade in a shopping area of Nada Ward in Kobe. We look at developments in the commercial environment. Based on that, we clarify changes in the composition of shops in the Suidosuji arcade.</p><p>The Suidosuji shopping arcade is currently composed of about 300 shops, and a large number of pedestrians pass through the arcade daily. However, even though the population and the number of households around the Suidosuji shopping arcade have trended upward since the year 2000, large stores have been moving not into the arcade, but into the area surrounding the arcade. So, the annual sales of goods in the arcade has continued to decrease. We confirmed that with these changes an expansion of the commercial functions of the shopping arcade took place. Yet we also confirmed that the gap between the amount of business in the arcade and the larger amount of business in the surrounding area increased even more. In other words, the expansion of the former—the arcade's commercial functions— can be attributed to an increase in personal service shops, restaurants, and drinking establishments and a decrease in specialty stores and stores for large-purchase items; on the other hand, the increase in the latter—the gap between the amount of sales in the arcade and that in the surrounding area— can be attributed to an increase in the ratio of vacant stores in the arcade and a relative increase in the number of chain stores opening in the surrounding area, as compared to the arcade.</p><p>In addition, the change in the composition of the shops in the Suidosuji shopping arcade has meant that supermarkets have moved there, the number of personal service shops and restaurants has increased, and new chain stores have located there. Furthermore, the arcade has become a place where local residents can buy convenience goods, which has led them to regard the arcade quite favorably. In addition, we think that the role of the Suidosuji shopping arcade is changing from that of an area shopping district to that of a neighborhood shopping district, and this change in its role is related to its commercial survival.</p>

Journal

  • GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCES

    GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCES 73 (2), 66-80, 2018-06-28

    THE JAPANESE SOCIETY FOR GEOGRAPHICAL SCIENCES

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