Spatial organization of retail activities

Abstract: This thesis is a compilation of four independent papers that examine the spatial process of retail location. The central question I ask is how changes in access to consumer demand affects retail in terms of size and survival. I empirically analyze these aspects on municipality, neighborhood and firm level using Swedish data from Statistics Sweden, HUI Research AB and Datscha Sweden.The first paper (co-authored with Sven-Olov Daunfeldt, Oana Mihaescu and Niklas Rudholm) examines the effect of durable goods big-box retailer IKEA entry on retail net turnover and employment in the municipalities of entry and their neighbors. In the second paper I assess the effect of IKEA entry on firm level net turnover and employment of retail, restaurants, and accommodation firms at varying distances from the new IKEA. The third paper (co-authored with Johan Klaesson) addresses the relationship between entry of out-of-town located shopping malls and the exit of incumbent stores. We examine how the probability of exit relates to the order of the goods that are sold by the retailers and how local density of demand influences the outcome. In the third paper I examine changes in food store access by proximity on the neighborhood level and how this is related to population density.