Retailing and Consumption..."Let's goooooo SHOOOOOPPPPIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!"

If anyone has told you they hated shopping....they lied. The fact that you can walk down a street and meet every store possible AT REASONABLE prices to suit your taste, that can be very heartwarming. Urban areas provide these amenities to individuals on a budget. It takes skilled planning to develop a retail area concentrated in a specific part of the city. 

Stores on Frederick street

Stores on Frederick Street

 "urban retail is clusters of stores, offering neighborhood goods and services, 

accessible by surrounding 

residential areas within walking 

distance and often drawing 

from a wider market area" (Griffin, 2011) 

The convenience of open air and short walking distances from store to store adds to the very local or neighborly feel which urban spaces usually lack, especially in the midst of goods that are generally foreign. Additionally, there are vendors along the roadside that engage in their share of retailing as part of the informal industry. Some sell mainstream goods such as clothes and shoes while others settle for something more local such as craft and jewelry.

Local craft (leather shoes above and jewelry below)

In any case, the urban zones cater for both formal AND informal industries of retailing though some informal businesses get shut down by the council for squatting.  In Port of Spain, this is usually concentrated in areas closer to the highway/city gate as further up is mostly government buildings. 

The issue in my opinion lies in overcrowding. How long will the city be able to keep up the growing numbers of stores and informal stalls that are now beginning to crowd up the sidewalk?