THE LOCATION PATTERNS OF BRANCH SHOPS AND QUALITATIVE CHANGES IN THE CENTRAL SHOPPING STREET IN SENDAI, THE REGIONAL CAPITAL CITY OF THE TOHOKU REGION, JAPAN

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  • 支店の立地動向からみた仙台市中心部における小売業の変容
  • シテン ノ リッチ ドウコウ カラ ミタ センダイシ チュウシンブ ニ オケル

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Many commercial geographers in Japan take a great interest in the width of shop frontages and the arrangement of shops in central shopping streets. In recent years, many retail shops with main stores in the heartland of Japan (in and around Tokyo, Osaka, or Nagoya) have tended to establish their branch shops in local cities. There seems to be a close relationship between this phenomenon and the reorganization of the urban system in Japan. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the location patterns of the branch shops and qualitative changes in the central shopping street in Sendai City.<br> The results are summarized as follows.<br> 1. The branch shops are divided into five types (A though E) according to the locations of their main branches and their control functions.<br> 2. Both type A and type B shops are branches of main stores located in Tokyo, Osaka, or Nagoya. The branch shops of type A exercise general control over other branch shops in the Tohoku Region. Type B branch shops in Sendai City are the only branches of their stores in the Tohoku Region, so if the number of branch shops in the Tohoku Region is increased, this type of branch shop will become type A shops.<br> 3. Both type C and type D shops are branches of main stores located in Sendai City. Type C shops are widely distributed in and around the Tohoku Region, while branch shops of type D are distributed only in Sendai City. Branch shops of type E have their main store neither in Sendai City nor in the major heartland cities.<br> 4. The number of branch shops has increased since 1972, when the big stores were established in Sendai City one after another. This means that there is a close relationship between the number of branch shops and the number of big stores.<br> 5. The main stores of more than half of the branch shops in the central shopping street are in Sendai City. But in the case of major supermarkets, department stores, and clothing shops, the main stores of more than half of branch shops are in Tokyo, Osaka, or Nagoya, and the number of these branch shops has tended to increase. These shops have improved the appearance of the shopping street, and Sendai's central shopping street has achieved its full potential in terms of function and appearance.<br> 6. Many main stores in Sendai City set up branch shops in and around Miyagi Prefecture. This is the “billiard phenomenon”: the establishment of branch shops whose main stores are in the heartland of Japan. The same phenomenon seems to occur in the central shopping streets of many other cities.<br> 7. These changes in the location patterns of the branch shops in Sendai City help us to understand the reorganization of the retail urban system in Japan.

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