metropolitan statistical area

a core urban area containing a population of more than 50,000, together with adjacent communities that have a high degree of economic and social integration with the core community. Can consist of more than 1 county. ex: Dallas, NYC, KC, Little Rock and a

micropolitan statistical area

Has at least one urban cluster of at least 10,000 but less than 50,000 and adjacent territory has a high degree of social and economic integration

decision 1

evaluating specific areas for locations
- economic conditions
- competition
- strategic fit with target market
- operating costs

decision 2

number of stores in an area
- economies of scale
- cannibalization

decision 3

evaluating the potential of specific sites in the general area
- site characteristics: traffic flow, accessibility, natural barriers, artificial barriers
- location characteristics: parking, visibility, adjacent tenants

principle of cumulative attraction

a cluster of similar and complementary retailing activities will generally have greater drawing power than isolated stores that engage in the same retailing activities

trading area

contiguous geographic area that accounts for the majority of a firm's customers and sales

primary trading area

geographic area where the store derives 50 - 70% of its customers (very center - more like 60/65%). these are most important to the retailer

secondary trading area

geographic area generating about 20 - 30% of a store's sales

tertiary trading area

outermost area includes the remaining, leftover customers who shop at the store but come from widely dispersed areas
- people driving long ways to get to our stores - you have a specialty item, they're probably loyal
- biggest reason: they aren't any othe

parasite stores

does not create it's own traffic, and it's trade area is determined by the dominant retailer in the shopping center or retail area. ex: dry cleaner next to Walmart, they tend to stop there on the way to/from Walmart - so its business is derived from WM -

geographic information system

a system of hardware and software used to store, retrieve, map and analyze geographic data along with the operating personnel and the data that goes into the system.
- Identified with a coordinate system (latitude and longitude)
- includes spatial feature