IS THERE A LINK BETWEEN SPATIAL THEORIES AND RETAIL PROPERTY INVESTMENTS WITHIN THE URBAN AREA? THE SITUATION OF GERMAN DISCOUNTERS

Retail property is generally associated with Shopping Centres or Real Estates in the CBD, which are much more prestigious than big boxes in the suburbs. But from a quantitative point of view, the impact of Retail Properties like supermarkets, discounters or hypermar-kets has been increasing for the last 30 years. Spatial based theories on retail locations as stated by Agergaard and Lange, which explain the retailersí siteselection assuming a rising income and increasing mobility on part of the consumers in addition to a permanent en-hancement of operational forms, predicted a relocation of retail properties to suburban ar-eas. However, these theories disregarded the characteristics of real estate markets. The following article shows, exemplified by the German discounter-market, how characteris-tics and protagonists of real estates submarkets influence the retailersí siteselection. There-fore, economic elements of real estate appraisal and spatial analysis are combined in a theo-retical approach in order to account for retailersí future siteselection within the urban area based on economic and spatial facts.