Most European countries have experienced a significant rise in number of out of town large scale retail units over the last two decades. Today some businesses like home improvement stores (Figure 1), which are the focus of this paper, hardly exist in any other format. Such stores and their surroundings are designed to be cost-effective and efficient in layout, construction and maintenance, reflecting the fact that the retail price of the goods sold inside the store is the key driver for their competitiveness.
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