Place: the physical store Location and Layout

Location Traditional thinking suggests that a good location in a high traffic are will get people into a store Once the store has customers, the quality of products and services will get customers to return Recently, however, people are willing to travel further in order to save money This trend can be seen in the rise of warehouse stores, mega- malls, outlet malls, and other large stores frequently found outside of city limits Furthermore, the ability to shop online has also changed this trend

The central business district The Central Business District is normally the hub of retailing activity in the heart of the downtown core The area usually contains the major financial, cultural, entertainment, and retailing facilities of the city For more obvious examples, look at big cities such as Vancouver The downtown core of Vancouver has a high number of restaurants and stores and is dominated by the Pacific Center Downfalls of this area include busy traffic, little parking, and high prices due to inflated rent prices

Suburban malls Located in the built up areas beyond the core of the city To look at Vancouver again, once you leave the main city, you will find Metro Town Shopping Center in Burnaby These stores are heavily shopped at by local people or those willing to drive a little further to avoid Central Business Districts Large Suburban Malls are usually full of stores (often upwards of 100) and have large anchor stores at either end of the mall These anchor stores create traffic to go from one end of the mall to the other and bypass all the smaller stores

Outlet malls Outlet Malls have been rising in popularity over the last few years and are a good example that people will drive longer distances to get deals Outlet Stores started as stores attached to company factories in the 1930s in order to get rid of damaged or excess goods The first Outlet Mall was created in 1974 in Reading, Pennsylvania More recently, companies have begun making special lower quality goods for Outlet Malls rather than using them for their original purposes

Strip malls Strip Malls are often found in the same areas as suburban malls but have their own unique challenges and advantages Strip malls do not have the same control over the stores that are inside them as they are essentially attached independent stores Strip malls also do not have a layout developed to keep shoppers in the mall and to continue shopping Strip malls do, however, have the unique ability to adapt and change faster because of these apparent disadvantages

Power malls and freestanding stores Freestanding stores are stores that are not attached to other stores and are usually located on busy streets With no other stores around, freestanding stores must rely on heavy traffic and popularity in order to have customers Power malls on the other hand are a variety of freestanding or joined stores that share a single parking lot Power malls often houses a number of category leaders so that customers can get everything they want in one location Common leaders include Home Depot (Household products), BestBuy (Electronics), Sportschek (Sporting goods), Sears (Furniture)

LAYOUT Just as crucial to the location of a store is the way it is laid out While it is important to get customers into a store, marketers have studied for decades just how to make customers spend as much money as possible The following article will share their findings: http://www.economist.com/node/12792420