Retail vitality and specialization in the countryside, implications for small towns and their role within regional settlement systems

Abstract

Small town retail vitality and specialization and its impact on the structure and functioning of regional settlement systems are explored in this research. Using a methodology established by Dahms (1980a), outsized functions (used to index retail specialization) are identified in the Counties of Huron, Perth and the Regional Municipality of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada on a decennial basis from 1901 to 1991. Historical evidence of the region's retail structure reveals that specialization has been a persistent, varied, and geographically widespread phenomenon. Outsized functions have existed throughout the twentieth century among diverse retail types. in a variety of rural and urbanizing small towns. For the most part specialization conforms to a hierarchical arrangement. with outsized function numbers and types being associated with the settlement population. This association breaks down among mid-sized towns in the rural countryside of Huron County.

Contemporary analyses of consumer behaviour obtained from a sample of households located within portions of the Regional Municipality of Waterloo and Huron County also reveal the presence of outsized functions and of retail specialization. Consumers living in an urbanizing portion of the countryside (Wilmot Township) adjacent to the cities of Kitchener and Waterloo overwhelmingly utilize the cities for the majority of goods and services. The availability of choice, in terms of the number of different stores present in the metropolitan area and of the in-store stock available, act to draw consumers from all over Wilmot Township. Generally speaking, local small towns are bypassed except for the most basic of goods and services. Consequently, very little evidence of outsized functions is found outside of Kitchener-Waterloo although a popular clothing store exists in the Township's largest settlement of New Hamburg.

Much more evidence of outsized functions exists in the rural countryside (Morris and Hullett Townships, Huron County). Like Wilmot consumers. Morris and Hullett consumers shop locally. Unlike Wilmot consumers, rural shoppers rely on several different surrounding towns and villages. While towns maintain exclusive market areas for several goods. many towns contain at least one business that is able to attract consumers from all over the two townships. Many consumers visit Clinton to purchase appliances, Blyth to watch a theatrical play, Clinton to use medical services, Westfield to have their automobile serviced, and Walton to acquire fanning supplies.

The findings suggest that many urbanizing small towns have had their retail role usurped by expanding cities while rural small towns show much more evidence of retail vitality. Evidence of retail specialization is also found in the rural countryside, suggesting that these settlements exist in what may be termed a "dispersed city in the countryside." However, elements of other systems, most notably central place systems, also manifest themselves. The result is the coexistence of two. complementary systems in the rural countryside.