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In this study, we examine whether, and to what extent, chain affiliation within regional and super-regional shopping centers affects store rent levels. The rent impact of chain affiliation is assessed in interaction with store prestige. Our database includes 1,367 retail leases in the 2000-2003 period for 11 regional and super-regional shopping centers in Montreal and Quebec City, Canada. The findings suggest that, when compared with independent and local chain-affiliated stores selling low-end goods, middle and high-end goods chain stores operating at upper levels of affiliation are charged a rent premium. Such a profit-sharing scheme between major, high-end chain stores and mall owners, it is argued, will occur under a regulatory environment that limits the local supply of top retail space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 1990s, big box stores have profoundly modified the retail structure of Canadian cities. This entails multiple consequences, beyond the mere competition between establishments, for the evolving relationships between diversity of retail forms, consumer behaviour and urban planning. These relationships are explored in the Québec Metropolitan Community, using detailed databases, including establishment directories, mobility surveys and a virtual road network, integrated into a regional GIS. Trade areas of commercial streets, shopping centers and big box stores are delineated and analyzed. Consumers' attributes, such as age, gender, type of household, mode of transport, which putatively influence the probability of patronizing one type of retail cluster compared to another type, are modelled using logistic regression. The influence of the relative location of cluster types on their capacity to attract consumers is also modelled in order to gain some understanding of the competition among and between types. The analysis suggests that, by and large, the growing number of big box stores has more negative consequences for shopping centres than they have for commercial streets. The study also clearly reveals the growing importance of shopping trips in the mobility profile of households and provides a knowledge base useful for urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Focuses on the usability of origin-destination surveys for determining retail trade areas and assessing local economic potential and spatial competition among stores in Quebec, Quebec. Retail activities in the city; Number of shopping centers, neighborhood, and community; Conduction of the survey by the Ministry of Transport of Quebec and Quebec City Transit Authority.