Spatial Economics of Shopping Malls

The purpose of this research is to bridge the gap between retail research results on customer movement in shopping centers and importance of space syntax analysis in predicting indoor navigation pattern for better understanding of store space allocation, store location and tenanting decision making in shopping malls. A bid-rent model is specified and solved under the condition of profit maximization of individual stores to examine the impact of customer density in predicting store space allocation and rental decision making. To predict the importance of visibility in customer density distribution, data were collected through recording navigational preferences of individuals in computer generated situations of shopping mall junctions. The research, being the first of its kind, integrates retail research wisdom and syntactic measures to illustrate the efficacy of space design as a strategic decision making tool, instead of just an accommodator of functions.