Retail saturation: Inevitable or irrelevant?

Retail saturation has become a prevalent theme of discussions within the re tailing and shopping center development sectors. The concept also has recen tly begun to attract the attention of the academic community. This paper be gins by considering the definition of retail saturation and some of the pro blematic issues in determining if the condition exists. Causes of the rapid growth in retail supply are discussed, including the availability of capit al, the competitiveness of key players, and the dynamic nature of the retai ling and shopping center development sectors. Indicators of saturation are reviewed and a number of escape mechanisms are noted. The paper concludes b y considering avenues for further research, the impact of Internet retailin g, public policy issues related to saturation, and the appropriateness of t he saturation concept for describing the retail environment.