Retail and service change: the decentralisation of retailing to out-of-town sites, the growth of online shopping, the impact on the high street and town centres, and changing service provision in rural and urban areas.

What this dot point is asking

This is part of Eduqas GCSE Geography A (C111) Theme 2, Rural-urban Links, assessed in Component 1. Eduqas expects you to explain the decentralisation of retailing to out-of-town sites, the growth of online shopping, the impacts on the high street and town centres, and how service provision is changing in rural and urban areas.

The decentralisation of retailing

For decades, shopping has been moving out of town.

• Out-of-town retail parks, superstores and shopping centres offer cheap, plentiful land on the edge of town, so large stores and big car parks can be built.
• They have good road access and free parking, which suits high car ownership and one-trip bulk shopping.
• Rents and rates are lower than in the congested, expensive town centre.

This shift of retailing away from the centre is called decentralisation, and it is pulled by the advantages of the edge and pushed by the congestion and cost of the centre.

The growth of online shopping

A second shift is online shopping (e-commerce).

• The internet, smartphones and reliable delivery let people buy anything from home, at any time, often more cheaply.
• Online retailing has grown rapidly, taking a large and rising share of total sales, especially for clothing, electronics and groceries.
• It needs distribution warehouses near motorways rather than shops in town, changing where retail jobs are.

The impact on town centres

These changes have hit the high street hard.

• Shop closures leave empty units and a run-down look, sometimes a "clone town" of the same chains or a row of charity and discount shops.
• Footfall falls, so remaining shops, cafes and services lose trade too, in a spiral of decline.
• Jobs are lost and the council collects less in business rates, reducing money for local services.

How town centres are responding

Town centres are adapting rather than competing on goods alone.

• Becoming experience and service centres: cafes, restaurants, leisure, gyms, markets and events that online shopping cannot replace.
• Pedestrianisation, better public spaces and a cleaner environment to make visiting pleasant.
• Click-and-collect points that combine online ordering with a trip to town.
• Mixed use: turning empty shops into homes, offices or services.

Eduqas rewards recognising this two-sided story of decline and adaptation.

Changing service provision

Beyond retailing, services are changing differently in town and country.

• In rural areas, banks, post offices, shops, GP surgeries and bus services are closing as populations fall and online and out-of-town alternatives grow, deepening rural deprivation.
• In urban areas, services concentrate where the people and money are, so the gap along the urban-rural continuum widens. This is why the theme stresses the links between rural and urban change.

Try this

Q1. Define decentralisation of retailing. [2 marks]

• Cue. The movement of shops and retailing out of the town centre to out-of-town sites such as retail parks and superstores.

Q2. Explain one way a town centre can respond to competition from out-of-town and online shopping. [4 marks]

• Cue. It can become an experience and service centre (cafes, leisure, markets, events) and add click-and-collect and pedestrianisation, offering what online cannot.