Bulletin of Geography. Socio-economic Series

Title:
Food and non-food retail change in a post-communist country: A case study of the Gemer region in Slovakia

Authors

Kristína Bilková - Slovak Academy of Sciences, Institute of Geography, Štefánikova 49, 814 73 Bratislava, Slovakia, phone: +421 257 510 182, e-mail: kristina.bilkova@savba.sk

František Križan - Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Regional Geography, Protection and Planning of the Landscape, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia, phone: +421 260 296 622, e-mail: frantisek.krizan@uniba.sk

Marcel Horňák - Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Human Geography and Demography, Mlynský dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia, phone: +421 260 296 641, e-mail: marcel.hornak@uniba.sk (corresponding author)

Peter Barlík - Market Locator SK, s. r. o., 29. Augusta 36/A, 811 09 Bratislava, Slovakia, phone: +421 907 082 838, e-mail: barlikp@gmail.com

Gabriel Zubriczký - Comenius University in Bratislava, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Department of Regional Geography, Protection and Planning of the Landscape, Mlynská dolina, Ilkovičova 6, 842 15 Bratislava, Slovakia, phone: +421 260 296 621, e-mail: gabriel.zubrizcky@uniba.sk

Keywords
food retail, non-food retail, spatial changes, Slovakia

Abstract
The retailing sector seems to be rather sensitive to social and economic developments in a society. In contrast to global retail network trends, specific processes may be observed in some lagging regions in post-communist countries. In the article attention is paid to spatial changes in food and non-food retailing locations in the region of Gemer, one of the least developed regions of post-communist Slovakia. The retailing network transformation between 1996 and 2012 was measured by applying retail capacity calculations for surplus or deficit, related to the population size of municipalities within the region. In the article, we examine food and non-food retail locations in the Gemer region with a special focus on spatial changes (urban vs rural) as well as temporal and trends based on retail capacity growth indices. In conclusion, the findings suggest that rural food and non-food retailing businesses have gone through considerable change and that it is not in harmony with the globalisation processes visible in the urban environment. Specifically, retail capacities (both food and nonfood) in the Gemer region are witnessing a period of growth.

Pages:
7-20

DOI:
10.2478/bog-2018-0001

BGSS No. 39 (2018)