ABSTRACT
Just as the arrangement of shopping centres within a central-place system may be said to reflect the pattern of centrality so the arrangement of shops within centres may be ascribed basically to the pattern of accessibility. A retailer desirous of maximising his profits would wish to be located with maximum accessibility to the greatest number of potential customers. His ability to compete for such a site will depend not only on his type of trade but also among other things on the internal economies accruing to his type of organisation and the external economies he would derive from being located in a particular association of shops relative to pedestrian flows. But his selection of a retail site will further depend on the structure of the market and the behaviour of competing outlets. In this chapter we shall for the most part assume the market, competition, and internal economies to be given. We shall limit discussion to questions of rent and external economies, both of which involve, if only partially, considerations of accessibility.
