Specialty retail center's impact on downtown shopping, dining, and entertainment

Abstract

Purpose

To examine the impact of Baltimore, Maryland USA festival market called Harbor Place on area residents' shopping, dining, and entertainment behavior over a 23‐year period.

Design/methodology/approach

A longitudinal study utilizing a telephone survey of a random sample of Baltimore area residents in 1982, 1992, and 2005.

Findings

A significant decline in shopping for non‐food items at Harbor Place and the Inner Harbor after the initial excitement following the opening of Harbor Place in 1980. A substantial and stable percentage of area residents visited the Inner Harbor and Harbor Place in each wave of the study for dining and entertainment purposes.

Practical implications

The festival market attracts the recreational shopper/shopper tourist but is likely to attract the convenience shopper as more residential development occurs in areas adjacent to the Inner Harbor. The area is likely to continue attracting area residents for dining and entertainment.

Originality/value

The paper compares and discusses data about Baltimore's festival market areas for the past 23 years and shows that Baltimore area residents, like those in most cities, are more likely to patronize their suburban shopping malls and power centers, rather than downtown market places.

Citation

Maronick, T.J. (2007), "Specialty retail center's impact on downtown shopping, dining, and entertainment", International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, Vol. 35 No. 7, pp. 556-568. https://doi.org/10.1108/09590550710755930