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Abstract
During the 1980's, the network of supermarkets became much more dense, particularly in rural areas, involving an increasingly complex geographical pattern of retail competition. This complexity is insufficiently understood in market studies preceding the creation or enlargement of a supermarket Evaluations of customer catchment areas are clearly approximative and do not really take account of the spatial organization of the competition. In these circumstances, retail efficiency and organization problems are spatial management problems too, these market studies serving those responsible for supermarkets as well as 'département committees of retailing infrastructure.