PATTERNS OF TENANT MIX VARIETY IN REGIONAL SHOPPING CENTRES: AN EXAMINATION ON THE CONSISTENCY BETWEEN UK AND US CASES

"In the retail hierarchy, the usual role of the regional shopping centre is to fulfill the highest ranked consumer demands. Therefore, the combination of the variety of the mix and the quality of tenants within that mix in a regional shopping centre will be a key element in maximizing shopping centre synergies and optimizing operational performance. Previous research on UK regional shopping centres, (Yuo, et al. 2003; 2004; Yuo, 2004), found patterns based on a ""core and periphery"" relationship between retail brands and variety that fed into differences in shopping centre rents. This work complements and extends prior studies of shopping centre attraction (for example, Mejia & Benjamin, 2002; Des Rosiers, Theriault & Menetrier, 2005). However, the consistency of the results and the principles of retail agglomeration they imply should be examined in other retail markets. Information from 148 UK regional shopping centres used in the UK research is augmented by use of full tenant lists data collected from 170 US regional shopping centres owned by the Simon Property Group (the largest US shopping centre REIT). These data are analysed using exploratory statistical techniques. The results from factor analyses show that the ore and periphery retail categories are rather different between the UK and the US market. This suggests that the functioning of consumer demand in regional shopping centres in these two markets is distinct. This implies that there may be difficulties in forming ""standardised"" tenant mix strategies for different countries. Given the growth in activity of global shopping centre owners operating in different countries and continents, this has interesting implications for management strategies of such firms."