Micro-Spatial Analysis of Tenants within Large-Scale Retail Properties in Taiwan: A GIS Approach

The mixture of tenants in a large-scale retail property is not simply putting tenants together because each retailer and service provider has its own characteristics and demands in operation. The type, size, number and placement of tenants are the four key elements of tenant mix. In previous research (Yuo, T. S., Crosby, N., Lizieri, C. and McCann, P. 2003, 2004, 2005), we focused on solving the type problem of tenant mix. However, the placement issue is far more complex because it is the location and allocation of space for each tenant. In Taiwan, large-scale retail properties (over 360,000 sq ft) tend to built more vertically then those in the UK and US. The floor levels normally over 6-10 levels comparing to the UKís maximum 4 floor levels (2002). Furthermore, the competition between large department stores and shopping centres also make the distribution of floor space more flexible but increasing the difficulty in management. With the help of Geography Information System (GIS), this paper digitized four different forms of large-scale retail properties in Taiwan, 1) standard full-line department store, 2) department store enlarge to the scale of regional shopping centre (over 1 million sq ft.), 3) standard regional shopping centre, and 4) regional shopping centre but use the operation system of department stores. In this paper, several aspects of the efficiency usage for total floor space of large-scale retail properties are discussed and some spatial definition standards were also suggested.