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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.

Lifestyle centres are emerging retail locations and yet have not been included in past studies of shopping centres. The purpose of this paper is to explore whether and how individual and retail characteristics impact consumers' patronage behaviours at three popular retail locations (i.e. central business districts, lifestyle centres, and traditional enclosed shopping malls) in the USA and understand consumers' perceptions of the three different retail locations.

A mail survey was conducted and 410 surveys were returned. Multiple regression analyses and t‐test were conducted to test proposed hypotheses.

This study revealed that shopping orientation, importance of retail attributes, and beliefs about retail attributes influence patronage behaviour (i.e. shopping frequency) at the three retail locations. Additionally, consumers' responses suggest that they did regard lifestyle centres differently from the central business district and the traditional enclosed shopping mall on many aspects of the retail attributes examined in this research.

This study is limited in that respondents were consumers of a specific geographic area with certain retail locations. Findings may not be generalizeable.

Understanding how consumers evaluate the three retail locations enables practitioners to develop and/or revise their retail strategies in order to be competitive in the current market.

This is the first study investigating consumers' perceptions of three major retail locations by including the newly emerging lifestyle centres in the USA.

It is well known that online shopping is growing, but recent reports have indicated that e‐retailers are failing to deliver. In this paper, the authors consider aspects of shopping and shopping styles, comparing e‐shopping with bricks and mortar. First, a small exploratory pilot study comparing Internet vs an exemplar shopping centre, and comparing the centre with an “ideal” centre is reported. In this initial stage, the respondents were selected as the “shoppers of tomorrow” – sixth‐form students – more Web‐literate than older age groups. Second, the results of a further small exploratory pilot study are reported with slightly more mature shoppers – university students. The qualitative findings from this stage of the research form the basis for our conclusions. Finally, we speculate on the possible future of shopping.

The purpose of this study is to explore the role played by digital channel integration in the town-centre shopping experience. It also explores how customers perceive the role of digital in the town-centres shopping journeys, improves shopping experiences and encourages positive future patronage behaviour. Ultimately, the aim is to identify the likely implications of a connected shopping experience on patronage intentions.

A qualitative research design using focus groups to explore customers' perceptions of connected town-centre shopping experiences was deployed. Then, data were analysed using thematic analysis to identify overarching themes.

Digital integration has the potential to serve discreetly different functions in the town-centre context: create interconnected information channels, facilitate improved connected shopping experiences, generate positive perceptions of a town, which subsequently shape future patronage intentions. The study also revealed expectations of digital integration are yet to be fully realised in the town-centre context and there are tensions between physical and digital domains to be overcome if digital integration is to positively influence patronage intentions.

The nature of exploratory research tends to pose questions and open out a problem rather than provide definitive answers. This study has sought to highlight key issues and also provide points of departure for future studies. The significance and generalisability of the results are limited by the size and nature of the sample.

This study provides theoretical contribution to the town-centre literature by expanding the understanding of consumers' perceptions of the role of digital integration in shopping journey experiences and unlocks insights into its potential impact on future patronage intentions. Practical considerations for integrating digital in the town centre to create more connected shopping experiences.

Presents research which explores tenant‐manager relationships in managed shopping centres. In order to address this issue a sample of 16 shopping centre managers and 45 clothing retailers within these centres was taken in the lower North Island of New Zealand. Clothing retailers were chosen because of their tendency to locate in centres. Results showed that most managers were located at the centre site ‐ which assists in manager‐tenant communications. Managers tended to set tenant rent based on the area and site to be leased. When it came to shopping centre managers selecting tenants, store credibility and willingness to take part in public relations activities were the most important factors. Once the tenants were selected, managers encouraged most of them to contribute to an in‐house marketing fund. When it came to specific relationship issues, managers tended to have more positive views of their relationship with the tenants than the tenants themselves. Concludes that, although the centres have enjoyed success in New Zealand until now, there is still a need for managers and retailers to strive to work together in order to benefit equally from the relationship they have.

Over the past decade the property manager has had to learn to adapt to many new factors affecting his everyday thinking. Computerised management, the effects of inflation, energy cost and efficiency, new technology in building services, and new thinking on rent reviews have all done much to change the job description and the thinking of the property manager. All the signs suggest that the next ten years will bring even more change and he or she should be devoting time for attitudinal and educational preparation for the traumas yet to come. With this preparation in mind, this article is directed particularly at those responsible for the strategic management of shopping centres.

Economic, socio-cultural and demographic changes in Famagusta have altered consumers’ shopping expectations; they expect good architectural quality as well as various functions and activities besides shopping. The concept of shopping has moved away from being purely a necessity towards being part of the urban lifestyle. Accordingly, recently developed shopping centres try to satisfy these new demands in a variety of ways. The new Lemar shopping centre in Famagusta, Northern Cyprus, is an example of such a centre. This study aimed to measure user satisfaction and identifies the impact of the Lemar shopping centre on the immediate local context by surveying 104 randomly selected consumers, local residents and shopkeepers. Statistical analysis of the resulting data was used to determine Lemar’s physical qualities, functions and activities as well as its general impact on its close urban context and the wider city. Survey data is supplemented with on-site observations. This study reveals that the majority of respondents perceive the shopping centre as a positive contribution to the area, as an attractive building with a contemporary style and pleasant indoor spaces. On the other hand, it has increased the traffic on the high street, the area has become more crowded and air pollution has increased. This study suggests that consumers’ and citizens’ viewpoints should be considered in planning decisions in order to contribute to the success of shopping centres.

This paper explores the potential benefits of siting public libraries within retail developments. Evidence is based on a literature review and five case studies in the UK that involved interviews with librarians, shopping centre managers and shop managers. The greatest benefit of the presence of a public library in retail centres is increased footfall. Shopping centre locations also benefit the library, and this is often perceived as being more significant than the library’s impact on the shops. Recommendations are made as to how libraries could maximise the awareness of their value and the benefits they provide.

The aim of this paper is to investigate the link between store managers’ evaluation of how customers assess a shopping centre and their own evaluation of the centre and, based on that, the relevance of store managers in reflecting on and informing the management and marketing practices of the local shopping centre management.

A conceptual model is developed based on the network and boundary-spanning theories. The model is tested using a Web-based survey of 217 managers, representing stores located in shopping malls, and by applying covariance-based structural equation modelling.

The study reveals store managers to be engaging in a significant information-processing pathway, from customers’ evaluation of the shopping centre (as perceived by the store manager) to their own evaluation of the centre in terms of managerial satisfaction and loyalty.

The empirical study focuses exclusively on shopping malls and thus does not consider other shopping centre forms such as town centres and retail parks.

This paper concludes that store managers have the potential to be informational boundary spanners and, thus, valuable resources to inform and give feedback to shopping centre management.

The contribution of this paper is to provide a more complete understanding of the role of the store manager as an integral actor in the shopping centre in terms of informational boundary spanning between the retail organisation, the customers and local shopping centre management.

Trust is the basis of business relationships. The purpose of this paper is to explore the antecedents of trust in the context of the relationship between shopping centre management and retail tenants, primarily from the retailer perspective, as a first test of trust in such business‐to‐business relationships. A contrast is made between neighbourhood and regional centres to determine if centre size affects trust development.

Quantitative research methods are used. The focus is a sample of 201 retail tenants in Australian shopping centres. Psychometric properties were assessed for all multi‐item scales used to capture variables of interest. Multiple regression analysis is used to explain trust in terms of five key influences: power of the centre manager (as a negative relationship), empowerment of the retailer, flexibility, responsiveness and the shopping centre brand.

Empowerment, restraint of power and responsiveness are the main determinants of trust. Power is especially critical in regional shopping centres. The shopping centre brand and flexibility play important support roles in neighbourhood centres.

The lack of comparable studies limits the generalizability of the results to other countries.

Centre managers, in larger planned shopping centres, who want greater retail tenant trust, should not demonstrate their power overtly in, say, rent negotiations. They could also learn from small centres about being flexible and projecting a more unified centre brand.

This empirical study probes the antecedents of trust in Australian shopping centres, a previously neglected area in the shopping centre literature. The paper is unique because it contrasts neighbourhood and regional shopping centres.