Traditional small retail shops vs. emerging supermarkets and shopping malls in a Sri Lankan city

Abstract

Street retail shops are an emblematic image of the Sri Lankan urban landscape. Retail shops vary in size, sell a diversity of household, mechanical and convenience items and appear as an integral part of urban form. While retails shops provide essential services to a variety of consumers generate employment and make urban streets vibrant, there have been few investigations into the nature of retail form in Sri Lanka. It appears that the global spread of supermarkets and shopping malls are transforming the retail space in Sri Lankan cities. Utilizing field observation data, this study investigates the extent to which traditional retail outlets dominate the retail form in the urban landscape, creates employment, and attracts customers. This study also examines to what extent city retail outlets are retained as shop houses. Results show that while Sri Lankan traditional small retail shops form a greater number of retail shops and continue to be an emblem of the urban landscape, the development of a few new shopping malls and supermarkets have impacted the daily shopping behaviour of people and are slowly transforming the retail form as well as urban landscape.