Regional malls in Broward County, Florida

The objective of this thesis is to understand and describe the geographic properties of regional malls in Broward County, Florida. The paper investigates the unique character of regional malls and defines regional malls in South Florida as atypical of the industry standard. First, the various definitions of "regional mall" are presented. The history of the diffusion of shopping centers in the United States and the expansion of malls in Southeast Florida is described. A review of the principal theories of central place systems and the location and classification of malls is provided. The shopping centers in Broward County and their market area characteristics are discussed. The internal store placement within each mall is examined. Broward regional malls are much larger for their trade areas than the industry standard.