Managing the marketplace: reinventing shopping centres in post-war Australia

This book charts the history of Australian retail developments as well as examining the social and cultural dimensions of shopping in Australia.

In the second half of the twentieth century, the shopping centre spread from America around the world. Australia was a very early adopter, and produced a unique shopping centre model. Situating Australian retail developments within a broader international and historical context, Managing the Marketplace demonstrates the ways that local conditions shape global retail forms. Knowledge transfer from Europe and America to Australia was a consistent feature of the Australian retail industry across the twentieth century. By critically examining the strengths and weaknesses of Australian retail firms’ strategies across time, and drawing on the voices of both business elites and ordinary people, the book not only unearths the forgotten stories of Australian retail, it offers new insights into the opportunities and challenges that confront the sector today, both nationally and internationally.

This book will be of interest to all scholars and practitioners of retail, marketing, business history and economic geography, as well as social and cultural history.