Necessity for diversity of commercial facilities for daily shopping in residential planning a

Abstract

Since the 1990s, the government administrations have thought that supermarkets could replace traditional retail markets as the commercial facilities for daily shopping in Taiwan. However, traditional retail markets remained prosperous. This paper aims to investigate the followings: 1) whether traditional retail markets still play an important role in residents' daily shopping and 2) whether supermarkets and traditional retail markets are actually complementary rather than competitive as commercial facilities for daily shopping. The examination is based on the data regarding married women's daily shopping behaviours in a planned residential area in Taipei from a questionnaire carried out in 2007. Several things are concluded below. First, consumers do not definitely choose the new types of facilities for daily shopping. Second, supermarkets in residential areas may be complementary to traditional retail markets in residents' daily shopping. Third, traditional retail market plays a role beyond acting as the exchange space for goods. Fourth, even though cars are popular in Taiwan, married women still prefer to conduct their daily shopping inside or nearby their neighbourhood unit by walking. This paper suggests it is necessary to maintain diversity rather than to anticipate or limit the type of commercial facilities available for daily shopping in residential planning.