ABSTRACT
I t is the retailers who are the pivotal elements of general merchandise distribution in the United States. Their decisionmaking, rules of the game in store siting and basic game strategy are central to the future. While the role of the shopping center developer per se is of enormous importance-and increasingly so-it is financing which makes development possible. And it is the approval by retailers, in their commitment to longterm leases, which is the sina qua non of financing-and with it the realization of the developers’ concept.
