Space Wars: Wm Low and the ‘Auld Enemy’

Abstract

Food retailers in the United Kingdom in recent years have waged a battle for market share through their expansion plans. Their capital ‘grounding’ has (re)structured space in a real sense. Much discussion of this has been either at the micro level in terms of catchment areas and local competitive effects or at the national or supranational level through consideration of business strategies and investment and, in particular, internationalisation strategies. In this paper an intermediate-level approach is taken by looking at the attempts by a ‘Scottish’ retailer to conquer first its national space and then an ‘alien’ territory, before its ultimate demise at the hands of retailers representing the ‘auld enemy’. The discussion is presented within a framework of retail restructuring and spatial diffusion.