Britain: An official handbook > 1993

FINANCE AND OTHER SERVICE INDUSTRIES
million, representing nearly 3 per cent of all
retail sales. The largest selling items sold by
the mail order companies are clothing,
footwear, furniture, household textiles,
televisions, radios and electrical goods.
Large Shopping Centres
Britain has a wide range of complementary
shopping facilities inside and outside town
and city centres. One of the most
significant trends in retailing is towards the
development of large supermarkets and
superstores in order to increase efficiency and
the range of goods available. However, the
nine largest multiple retailers have only
around one-quarter of retail turnover, partly
because there continues to be a demand for
the services provided by small, specialised
shops.
The main multiple grocery companies have
been steadily increasing the size of their
stores both in towns and cities and on
suburban and out-of-town sites. Also, retailers
of goods such as do-it-yourself (DIY)
products, furniture and electrical appliances
have built retail warehouses outside town and
city centres, particularly to attract
shoppers with cars. More recently, there
has been a trend towards the grouping of
retail warehouses into retail warehouse
parks. Many towns and cities have
purpose-built shopping centres.
A number of regional out-of-town
shopping centres have been established on
sites offering good access to large numbers
of customers with cars. One of the first
centres was the Metro Centre at
Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, which has
over 93,000 sq m (1 million sq ft) of
floorspace and is the largest of its kind in
Europe. Other centres include the
Meadowhall shopping centre in Sheffield
and the Lakeside centre at Thurrock in
Essex, both opened in 1990.
All new retail development requires
planning permission from the local
government planning authority. These
authorities must consult the appropriate
central government department before
granting permission for developments of
23,325 sq m (250,000 sq ft) or more. The
Government’s policy is to encourage the
provision of a broad range of shopping
Table 14.2: Retail Trade in Great Britain 1989a
Number of
businesses
Number
of outlets
Food retailers
Drink, confectionery and
tobacco retailers
Clothing, footwear and
leather goods retailers
Household goods retailers
Other non-food retailers
Mixed retail businesses
Hire and repair businesses
67,849
48,744
31,429
48,735
39,156
4,149
2,294
90,075
61,641
58,538
69,599
52,543
11,542
6,079
Number of
people
engaged
(’000s)
Turnover^
(l million)
Single-outlet retailers 215,736 215,736 837 33,551
Small multiple retailers 25,726 67,760 318 14,541
Large multiple retailers
(ten or more retail outlets) 894 66,520 1,307 75,464
845
328
304
319
248
383
35
43,562
12,061
12,252
20,371
11,323
22,704
1,283
Total retail trade
242,356
350,015
2,463
123,556
Source: Business Monitor SDA25. Retailing, 1989.
‘’Figures cover businesses registered for value added tax; it is estimated that the total number of retail businesses too
register for value added tax is about 30,000, but these businesses account for no more than 0-5 per cent of total retail
^Includes value added tax.
Note: Differences between totals and the sums of their component parts are due to rounding.
small to
turnover.
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