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Retail has evolved over the past century alongside megatrends such as urbanization, consumerism and digitalization. To contribute to existing knowledge on patterns of retail form evolution, the purpose of this paper is to investigate when and how novel retail forms have evolved in the Swedish sporting goods market.

An evolutionary approach that encompasses population thinking is used to interpret the history of sporting goods retailing in Sweden from the interwar era onwards. Drawing on archival data and interviews, the focus in the historical analysis is on the evolution of retail form variation in terms of size, strategy, product range and retail channel (online/offline).

The paper suggests that evolutionary mechanisms cumulatively have changed the sports retail population from a rather homogenous set of smaller generalist stores toward a larger variety and specialization in mainly two directions: one trajectory toward small and service-focused niche specialists and the other toward high-volume sales outlets.

The paper provides a detailed empirical account of sports retail history in Sweden and an application of theoretical concepts contributing to an integrated investigation of empirical issues and theoretical positions. It concludes that being able to attain “closures” – finding ways to close off a section of the market and avoid direct competition – has historically been a crucial capability for individual retailers to thrive.

Studies concerning Soviet taxation demonstrate a diversity of opinions on the nature of turnover taxes. Four major views on the subject have emerged: (1) turnover taxes are simply a sales (excise) tax on articles' of consumption sold to the Soviet consumer; (2) not all turnover taxes are a sales tax, some of them are a substitute for rent on production of certain industrial materials; (3) in addition to being a sales (excise) tax on consumer goods and rent on some industrial materials, there exists a third type of turnover tax which is levied on agricultural production of the peasantry; (4) turnover taxes are a portion of the surplus product produced in industry and agriculture.

The paper seeks to review dynamic forms of rural retailing, by location, that have innovated through a mixture of actions leading to growth, adaptation, diversification and differentiation.

Reviews relevant academic literature and draws upon contemporary policy‐related material that details recent innovation within the sector. A rural retail typology by location is presented: retailing within market towns, village shops and stand‐alone retailing forms (farm shops and speciality rural retail outlets).

Since, the nature together with form of what characterises dynamic and innovative rural retailing differs by location, the typology is based on the above schema. First, market towns have used growth and differentiation opportunities as strategic foci. Second, innovative village shops have applied strategies that seek to counter their structural weaknesses, harness the community and yield new revenue streams. Third, the manner in which stand‐alone retailing forms, such as farm shops together with speciality rural retail outlets, have grown and developed is reviewed.

Reviewing dynamic forms of rural retailing allows for a greater understanding of the operational needs for success. A lack of relevant research is cited together with examples.

Stereotyping rural retailing is erroneous since marginalised enterprises are juxtaposed against more innovative forms. Contrary to perceptions of rural decline, the sector is multi‐faceted with prospering sub‐sectors. The paper focuses on these more dynamic and innovative forms of rural retailing. Much of the previous focus in this sector has been on negative issues and decline. A synthesis of the key contributory phenomena is presented.

The unconventional concept of leasing temporary retail space has taken the retailing world by storm in the past decade. In addition to permanent retail space (in‐line stores), many shopping centre management staff have leased temporary retail space as a form of maximizing the net lettable area of the shopping malls, thus hoping to reap better returns for the real estate investors. Using Singapore as the study area, this paper aims to investigate shoppers' perceptions of in‐line stores (permanent retail space) and comparing them to their perceptions of retail carts (temporary retail space) in shopping centres.

To examine shoppers' perceptions of in‐line stores and retail carts, the paper adopts a mixed method sequential design by way of qualitative/quantitative sequence.

In terms of image structures, in‐line stores and retail carts share three common image dimensions, namely, “atmosphere”, “variety of product” and “service quality”. In‐line stores recorded an additional factor, “value”. However, the shoppers displayed better perception ratings towards all retail space attributes and factors of in‐line stores relative to that of the retail carts. In addition, the data also revealed that age of the shoppers has a direct influence on shoppers' perceptions of retail carts and in‐line stores.

The findings not only add to the current retail literature, but will also aid retail industry players in improving their marketing and overall tenant‐mix structures for more successful leasing strategies. This will maximize the usage of retail real estate space that may in turn result in higher returns for real estate investors.

Changing market and economic conditions, inflation, and Government controls are commonplace problems facing every business, and most managers, including retail management. But, amid all the panaceas proposed, the exhortations and guidelines of Government and the solutions developed by managers, many retailers are still left with an uncomfortable feeling that the current situation may be bigger than their capacity to handle it, and that past experience offers little guide to the appropriate actions to be taken in the future. There is a growing feeling that retail management at this time is facing a significant change of form, if not a change of life itself. This article attempts to present an overview of the current situation facing the retailing industry and to identify for retail management the critical forces affecting their businesses and the major areas of impact. This will help to indicate the appropriate areas for priority management attention at this time, and possible actions that should be taken if future profitability and growth is to be safeguarded, and the process of change is to be successfully managed.

One of the more engrossing facets of marketing in the United States is the metamorphosis of retail institutional form. For well over 100 years, many historians and marketers have been fascinated by the successful entry of new types of retail organisations into the market and the gradual demise of the old. This interest has resulted in an extensive literature describing these changes and, in more recent years, a succession of theories to explain the process.

The paper examines the role that potentially could be played by the retailing sector in the economic and social transformation in Russia. The move towards a consumer goods society, by its very definition, necessitates the developments of channels whereby consumer goods can reach their end customer and consumer. In this context various models of relating evolution are considered as well as an examination of the possible methods by which retailing will develop over time. The potential for inward investments is examined but the paper concludes that inward investment by retailers from the western European states will take the form of skills investment rather than financial and operational investment. The most important element in the future evolution of retailing will be the development of the multiple format as well as the procurement from indigenous consumer goods suppliers “driven” by the multiple retailers.

This paper aims to join a growing movement in marketing history to include the voices of consumers in historical research on retail environments. It aims to show that consumer perspectives offer new insights to the emergence and reception of large-scale, pre-planned shopping centers in Australia during the 1960s, and allow one to write a history of this retail form from below, in contrast to the top-down approach that is characteristic of the broader literature on shopping mall development.

Written testimonies by consumers were gathered using a qualitative online questionnaire. The methodology is related to oral history, in that it seeks to capture the subjective experiences of participants, has the capacity to create new archives, to fill or explain gaps in existing repositories and provide a voice to those frequently lost to the historical record.

The written testimonies gathered for this project provide an important contribution to the understanding of shopping centers in Australia and, particularly Sydney, during the 1960s, the ways that they were envisaged and used and insights into their reception and success.

As with oral history, written testimony has limitations as a methodology due to its reliance on memory, requiring both sophisticated and cautious readings of the data.

The methodology used in this paper is unique in this context and provides new understandings of Australian retail property development. For current marketers, the historically constituted relationship between people and place offers potential for community targeted promotional campaigns.

Despite, or perhaps even because of, the economic uncertainties of the period, the 1970s witnessed a radical transformation of the British distributive system. Most of the changes which occurred were similar to those experienced elsewhere in the Western world, and in a review of developments in EEC countries, Dawson has suggested that the impact of these changes on society could be similar to that produced by the Industrial Revolution. In Britain at least, the changes in distribution were, and remain, a result of very marked changes in society: most notably the change in consumption patterns brought about by endemic inflation, increasing unemployment and periodic world energy crises. The result has been increased competition, a search for greater efficiency and diversification of traditional product lines. Thus the British distribution system throughout the 1970s was dominated by the trend to mass merchandising, by the emergence of large firms and a consequent increase of corporate power and by the appearance of new distribution forms. While many of the conditions and developments experienced in the 1970s are expected to continue into the 1980s, it has been predicted (Distributive Industry Training Board 1980) that by the 1990s further revolutionary changes are likely to have occurred, particularly as a result of widespread automation involving new technology. The industry is, therefore, in the middle of a period of very rapid change.