Pedestrian Movement and the Downtown Enclosed Shopping Center

Downtown enclosed shopping center projects have been criticized for the limited extent to which the economic benefits of such schemes are transmitted to surrounding conventional shopping streets. This paper tests this assertion through a case study of pedestrian movement of patrons of a downtown mall in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Analysis of route maps and records of purchasing activity of respondents reveals a significant bias toward the indoor shopping environment. Outside pedestrian movement of mall patrons is also shown to be spatially patterned. However, despite limited spillover of mall patrons, business on conventional shopping streets remained healthy in the postmall era, suggesting that the indoor and outdoor shopping environments serve different market segments.