News • 10.09.2020

How to help urban street commerce thrive

The science of stores, streets, and public space

Several store fronts in different houses in a city
Source: chuttersnap / Unsplash

It turns out the amount of urban street commerce is strikingly related to population size. The biggest metro areas in the U.S. have one retail, food, or service establishment for roughly every 120 people, while the smallest metro areas have roughly one for every 100 people.

Store types are strongly affected by how often we visit them: There is one restaurant for every 445 people in U.S. cities and towns, but it takes around 13,000 people to support a bookstore in a typical U.S. metro area. Of course, there are limits to these regularities. Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, has twice as many businesses as most places its size (thanks to tourists), while Brownsville, Texas, has many fewer. And plenty of neighborhoods within big cities either surprisingly lack shopping amenities or lose them over time.

In short, while urban commerce has clear patterns, it is still unpredictable and depends heavily on local conditions – including policies and planning.

"We now have the spatial science for understanding where retail clusters work and where they will do well," says Andres Sevtsuk, the Charles and Ann Spaulding Career Development Associate Professor of Urban Science and Planning in MIT's Department of Urban Studies and Planning. "However, this knowledge is not really absorbed into practice very much. City governments often still zone for commerce not really based on evidence about where it would work best."

In the book, Sevtsuk also makes the case that lively shopping areas do more than provide access to goods and services: They are civic and social spaces where people mingle and gain access to opportunities. "Commercial clusters are one of the few remaining places in contemporary cities where diverse sets of people can encounter each other," Sevtsuk says. "So they're also important venues for community building and for democracy."

And when retail clusters include locally owned businesses, Sevtsuk notes, "they really feed the local economy more than big box stores." Spending at a local business, rather than a chain store, keeps more money in the local economy, because local establishments source more of their own supplies and services locally.

Successful store clusters are more likely to crop up around spots of unusually good accessibility, such as street corners and intersections for small neighborhood clusters. Clusters of establishments are also more likely to develop at places that welcome them architecturally, featuring walkable streets that are easy to cross and ground floors of buildings that can be easily converted to retail spaces. And neighborhood clusters often benefit from larger anchor businesses like supermarkets, which produce a lot of foot traffic. "It is often to everyone's benefit to have a good supermarket or otherwise frequently attended establishment on the corner," Sevtsuk says. "Anchors produce a positive ripple effect on nearby stores. [Also] density sustains amenities. And for retail clusters to work, we do not need a uniform swath of density everywhere, but rather local density, immediately along commercial streets and transit corridors."

Ultimately Sevtsuk thinks there are several major lessons about helping street commerce flourish. Street commerce flourishes when city governments, civil society organizations and developers alike support and cherish it. But while a corporation such as Starbucks has its own dedicated resources to identify good store locations and suitable building types, and to detect contemporary clustering dynamics, towns and cities typically do not. For that reason, Sevtsuk hopes policymakers and town officials can absorb the lessons of research and apply them to their own locales.

"There are certainly many things that a public official or planner can do to nudge the course of street commerce and support it," Sevtsuk says. "If there is one good lesson from cities where street commerce has been successfully introduced, bolstered, or reinvented, […] it is that successful street commerce almost never emerges or survives as a result of pure market forces alone. Good street commerce usually also represents the fruits of conscious planning choices."

Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology

related articles:

popular articles:

Thumbnail-Photo: Valentines Day marketing: creative campaigns to make your heart sing...
18.01.2024   #brick and mortar retail #sustainability

Valentine's Day marketing: creative campaigns to make your heart sing

Examples of how you can score points on Valentine's Day

Zalando killed two birds with one stone in 2021: with the invitation to "campaign exchange the clothes after your ex", customers were shown ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Minimize mistakes, maximize success...
11.10.2023   #e-commerce #customer satisfaction

Black Friday and Cyber Monday: Minimize mistakes, maximize success

Mistakes you can avoid on promotion days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday

The promotion days on November 24 and 27 raise the sales hopes of many retailers. Despite the huge potential, these events can also be a challenge. Competition is fierce, customers are critical and expect exceptional deals. Mistakes in preparation ...

Thumbnail-Photo: For you: Retail marketing calendar 2024
08.01.2024   #marketing #sales promotion

For you: Retail marketing calendar 2024

You can use these phases and days for yourself and your business in the upcoming year

Birthdays, holidays, holidays ... We record all these days in calendars every year to plan our personal daily lives. But the financial year can also be planned. This can be particularly important for retailers. You can plan ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Tips: Optimal shopping experience for  Christmas...
22.11.2023   #online trading #artificial intelligence

Tips: Optimal shopping experience for Christmas

How to prepare for the shopping days as an Amazon retailer

The promotional days at the start of the Christmas...

Thumbnail-Photo: Social Commerce: Community sells?
04.10.2023   #online trading #sustainability

Social Commerce: Community sells?

Why the community approach is replacing fast delivery among customer demands and what that means for you.

For a long time it was said that fast or even "same day delivery is the key". For Fabian Mischler, this is no longer the only key to satisfied customers. In an interview, the CEO of the social commerce platform ooblee told us why community ...

Thumbnail-Photo: The quiet hour – A contribution to inclusion in retail?...
31.10.2023   #customer satisfaction #customer experience

The "quiet hour" – A contribution to inclusion in retail?

Finding calm in a busy world: supermarkets make their mark

The world of commerce is constantly looking for new ways to attract and retain customers...

Thumbnail-Photo: Turning customers into friends - heres how it works...
24.01.2024   #marketing #online marketing

Turning customers into friends - here's how it works

WhatsApp channels as a secret weapon in the marketing mix

In fall 2023, Meta launched WhatsApp channels, a completely new feature in 150 countries ...

Thumbnail-Photo: Christmas decorations: set the scene for your store!...
09.11.2023   #customer experience #shop decoration

Christmas decorations: set the scene for your store!

From the floor to the shelves and lights to the shop window - here's how to get your store ready for Christmas!

The weeks leading up to Christmas Eve are considered to be the busiest of the year....

Thumbnail-Photo: Veganuary 2024: Best sales strategies to reach the ‘no meat’...
11.01.2024   #brick and mortar retail #food retail

Veganuary 2024: Best sales strategies to reach the ‘no meat’

Why retailers should take advantage of the trend

Veganuary has begun its fourth year in Germany. Over 850 German companies are taking part in this global movement for a plant-based ...

Thumbnail-Photo: ISE 2024 - the future of retail
23.10.2023   #online trading #Tech in Retail

ISE 2024 - the future of retail

ISE will take place in Barcelona from 30 January to 2 February 2024

Since it began in 2004, Integrated Systems Europe (ISE) - the world's premier exhibition for professional audio visual (pro AV) and systems integration - has grown in size, strength and influence to become an industry-defining event. Every year, ...