The Impact of covered out of town shopping centres on the central business district. Case Study: Trafford Centre Vs Manchester City Centre

Abstract

The aim of this investigation is to establish the effect of The Trafford Centre on
Manchester City Centre. The importance of the research is due to the damaging effect
out of town shopping centre have had on neighbouring inner city centres, causing
them to fall into decline. To determine whether Manchester city centre is less
appealing to consumers than The Trafford Centre, research was conducted in the form
of a survey, the quantitative results were then presented in graphs with a brief
description, the qualitative data was analysed, illustrating any trends found.
The results found that Manchester city centre was the preferred city centre, and the
discussion uses the data to try and understand why this may be, when ordinarily the
out of town shopping centres are more favourable to the consumers. Using data from
the research and any unique historical facts that may make Manchester different from
towns that neighbour out of town shopping centre’s.
Further research is suggested to understand why this result has occurred, as the
original research was not designed with Manchester city being the favoured shopping
centre. However the research obtained from the survey did go a long way in helping
to understand why Manchester is more commonly preferred and what type of
shopping occurs during these visits. Leisure shopping, is the main focus for both
shopping centres researched.