Welsh Journals

Issnes and developments hi Planning in Wales Edited by P.Cooke Department of Town Planning, U.W.I.S.T., Cardiff. Retail Warehouse Operatíons In Wales P.JONES Department of Town PlaØg, U.W.I. S.T., Cardiff. introductíon During the post war years there have been many changes in the nature and the organisation of retail provision in all the western capitalist countries but arguably the most important locational change has been the increasing suburbanisation of retail activity. A number of authors have suggested that this process represents the retailers' response to the changing demands of an increasingly mobile and suburban population. Thus Dawson 2 has argued that the primary factor responsible for the growth of suburban retail activity is the decentralisation of demand." However, Walker's 3 work in the U.S.A. has led him to suggest that while retailing origin- ally played a "follow the leader role behind residences" it has now become a leading factor in the process of urban decentralisation. In Britain, strict planning controls have limited the scale of new retail investment outside existing shopping centres but in recent years retail warehouse developments have become an important element in the process of retail suburbanisation. Empirical investi- gations of the development strategies adopted by retail warehouse operators may help to shed some light on the competing theoretical explanations of locational change within the retail sector of the economy (see Jones 4 ). However, the aim of this paper 5 is less ambitious in that it seeks to describe some of the major character- istics of retail warehouse operations, to outline the pattern of retail warehouses in Wales and to discuss some of the planning issues raised by these developments. RetallWarehouses The term 'retail warehouse' is generally used to refer to single storey retail stores selling non-food goods, with a minimum of l,000m2 of uoorspace, occupying a warehouse type building and having on-site car parking facilities. While these stores often occupy warehouse and industrial style premises they are clearly retail outlets selling airectly to the public and as such they can be distinguished from storage depots that do not sell to the public, and from wholesale