Clone town

Formation

Clone towns are formed as a natural result of the economic expansion of the largest chain stores. As lots become available in town centres, the larger firms outbid interested independents, and then provide difficult competition for any other local stores in the same area of business. If those local stores go out of business as a result, a further lot becomes available and the process can continue.

More controversially, clone towns can be created by deliberate processes. For example, it is well known that retailers will pay a premium for a site adjacent to or opposite a well-known and popular store because of the potential for increased exposure. Some landlords therefore optimise the profit they make on their land by selling only to existing, established stores, ensuring that every one of their lots will benefit in this way. Many estate agents also allow larger firms to place "advance orders" for any available retail lot in a town centre, thus purchasing it before it even enters the market for other businesses.

(An example of such practice has been observed in Reading, whose Oracle shopping centre is documented as having turned down independent retailers, even those who could afford to purchase sites, in order to maximise walk-through premiums as described above.)

Controversy

The creation of clone towns is a controversial issue. Detractors argue that they restrict consumer choice, and robs regions of their local colour by replacing smaller local businesses with branches of identical chains. It is also argued that they harm free enterprise as a whole: if all available retail space is occupied by chain stores, meaningful competition is eliminated per se without potential competitors even having a chance to enter the market; furthermore, the ability of suppliers to realistically bring their products to market is then in the hands of the few firms who control the chain stores.

The converse argument is that large chain stores have grown big because their products are desirable to large numbers of people, and thus their arrival in towns provides convenient access to the products that the population might want. Why - it is asked - should local people be required to travel to other towns to buy the popular products they want, just so that visitors from out of town can have variety? Furthermore, because they are wealthy businesses they are more likely to consume large amounts of local services and to employ local people, thus energising the local economy.

A further converse argument is that, even if the creation of clone towns is seen as undesirable, it is not clear how it can be prevented without unacceptable government intervention in the expansion of successful businesses. A 2006 review of land use planning by economist Kate Barker for HM Treasury suggested that restrictions on out-of-town retailing had driven up town centre rents, hindered the ability of small independent retailers to compete, and thereby exacerbated the "clone town" effect.

Examples

The 2005 survey rated Exeter as the worst example of a clone town in the UK, with only a single independent store in the city's high street, and less diversity (in terms of different categories of shop) than any other town surveyed. Other extreme clone towns in England include Stafford, Middlesbrough, Weston-super-Mare and Winchester.

In Scotland, the major provincial towns such as Paisley, Clydebank, Greenock, Ayr, East Kilbride, Stirling and Falkirk all suffer from clone town syndrome with their identical array of chain stores and coffee shops in gaudy polar white shopping malls.

Notably, in spite of having the highest property prices in the country, London is not even close to becoming a clone town: even in the central areas of the city, a huge diversity of businesses exists, largely as a result of the city's relatively large size and cosmopolitan population.

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