| Summary: | 碩士 === 國立臺灣師範大學 === 地理研究所 === 91 === Taichung, the third largest city, is the center of middle Taiwan. Regarded as the third largest city, Taichung has been renowned for its prosperous development of the department stores. In fact, the development of Taichung’s department stores has far surpassed that of Kaohsiung’s department stores, thus ranking second in Taiwan. This research is focused upon Taichung’s department stores, attempting to analyze the connection between the development of the department stores and their location. I would like to construct the picture of the change of the business types and the trading areas of the department stores. The following is the abstract of the result of the research.
I. The Significance of the Transformation of the Location Change of the Department Stores:
In terms of the urban geography, old downtown used to be the most bustling area in Taichung because it was the beginning as well as the terminal of the railroad and the highway. Old downtown used to be the hub of the traffic and the commerce. In the developing stage of old downtown, the construction sites of Taichung’s department stores have much to do with the flowing of the crowd. When the crowd was combined with the original commercial areas, accelerating development phase was then influenced by urbanization; more and more people were moving out of downtown to the suburban district. For this reason, department stores began to appear in the traffic-convenient spots. Since the late 1980s, as more and more citizens are capable of purchasing private cars and motorcycles in Taichung, many of the department stores have been set up at the major arterial routes or interceptor rings, where numerous suburban inhabitants dwell. The suburban inhabitants (consumers) have stopped going downtown for shopping; thus the downtown business has been severely influenced. Ultimately, In the stage of muti-ncleus start to be built in the suburban areas because the department stores simply can not survive in old downtown. Owing to the set-up of the numerous large department stores, more and more people are swarming into these areas. We can predict that in the future only in the appropriate location can the department stores survive.
The position of old downtown has been transformed from the prosperous era to the declining time, during which several large department stores are set up at the intersection of the important boulevards. These new department stores have gradually choked the pulse of the downtown department stores. The long and short of it is that Taichung department stores have several characteristics:
1. They are large enough to intercept the business of the downtown counterpart.
2. The intercepting rings and the interception of the boulevards are the most suitable location for the set-up of the department stores. However, the department stores do not show up in each intercepting ring or the interception of the boulevards.
3.In contrast with Detroit’s chained department stores, the newly founded department stores in Taichung have much to with the real estates.
4. The east and south of Taichung are obviously affected by the running through of the railway.
Taichung is the most typical example whose old downtown has seriously declined as a result of the shifting of the business areas to the suburban boulevards. Given the space and time development of Taichung’s department stores, we should be able to learn a lesson: in a city/town whose denizens can afford to purchase the sedans and tend to live in the suburban areas, the government should be aware of the problem of Taichung: marginalization of old downtown and urbanization of the new settlements.
II. The effects of the traditional and large department stores upon the economic activity of the immediate commercial areas:
During the developing stage of old downtown, the clustering of the department stores has the multiplying effects. On the contrary, after the stage of muti-ncleus, the clustering of the super-large department stores have negative effects because the consumers tend to buy what they need in the same shopping mall. Therefore, large department stores do not influence the economic activity of the immediate commercial areas greatly.
III. The changing of the consumer’s purchasing habits has resulted in the transformation of the large department stores into the shopping mall, where the amusement facilities play an important role.
IV. The development of Taichung’s department stores is chiefly influenced by economic progress and urban projects. The development has been spreading from the middle downtown to the northwestern settlements.
V. During the holiday, Taichung’s department store’s trading areas mainly include Taichung City and Taichung County, Chung-hua City, Ho-mei Township, Yun-lin Township, Nan-tou City, and Tsou-tuan Township.
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