Rural retail trade industries can serve an export function for and contribute to the economic growth of a rural place. The importance of a retail trade industry to the economy of a rural place depends on its market area. Since those market areas often extend into a place’s hinterlands, retail...

Central place theory describes an orderly hierarchy of places, with particular retail services developing for lower-ordered places as they reach a threshold. Yet it is likely that nearby areas could serve simultaneously as a source of demand and a source of competing supply for retail stores in...