Analysis of Distribution of Retail Stores Using the Location Potential by Population Distribution and by Major Roads

Abstract

This article aims at developing a new method to analyze the location potential distribution of retail stores, formed by population distribution and major road, and analyzes a case where a bypass exists in a local city to circumvent the urban area. The formulation of the potential using normal distributions, theoretical analysis and empirical application to Tateyama City in Chiba Prefecture showed the following results: not only population distribution but also traffic volume affects the distribution of the retail stores; the locations of the retail stores differ according to the relative relationship between the size and shape of the urban area and the traffic volume.