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An auto row or auto mall is a
An auto row or auto mall is a business cluster
A business cluster is a geographic concentration of interconnected businesses, suppliers, and associated institutions in a particular field. Clusters are considered to increase the productivity with which companies can compete, nationally and glo ...
with multiple car dealership
A car dealership, or car dealer, is a business that sells new or used cars, at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. Car dealerships also often sell spare parts and automotive maintena ...
s in a single neighborhood or road. Auto rows are distinct from car supermarkets which are a single, large dealership.
Economics
Auto rows, like mallfood courts
A food court (in Asia-Pacific also called food hall or hawker centre) is generally an indoor plaza or common area within a facility that is contiguous with the counters of multiple food vendors and provides a common area for self-serve dinner. ...
, are an example of the economies of agglomeration
One of the major subfields of urban economics, economies of agglomeration (or agglomeration effects) describes, in broad terms, how urban agglomeration occurs in locations where cost savings can naturally arise. Most often discussed in terms of ec ...
. Even though being grouped together increases immediate competition, the auto row becomes more of destination for consumers and benefits all the dealerships. Many consumers may want to test drive automobiles from multiple companies before making a purchase and the auto row provides one stop shopping. Competing dealerships also often share advertising costs to promote their single destination under an agreed-upon marketing name. Auto rows attract ancillary businesses including car washes, insurance offices, and body shops that benefit all of the dealerships.
Geography
Central Place Theory
Central place theory is an urban geographical theory that seeks to explain the number, size and range of market services in a commercial system or human settlements in a residential system.Goodall, B. (1987) The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geo ...
may explain why destination stores do better when centrally located.
Also, in some areas, local zoning
Zoning is a method of urban planning in which a municipality or other tier of government divides land into areas called zones, each of which has a set of regulations for new development that differs from other zones. Zones may be defined for a si ...
may exclude car dealerships from many retail districts so that locating in an auto row becomes less about market forces and more about government planning.
Traditionally, car dealership had small window front showrooms. Later, most car dealerships converted to large parking lot-based stores with integrated parts and service departments. In many case, an auto row is a vehicle-themed historic district rather than a current location to purchase cars.
Examples
* Automobile Alley Historic District,Mobile, Alabama
Mobile ( , ) is a city and the county seat of Mobile County, Alabama, United States. The population within the city limits was 187,041 at the 2020 census, down from 195,111 at the 2010 census. It is the fourth-most-populous city in Alabama, ...
* Automobile Alley, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, an ...
* Automobile Row (Omaha, Nebraska)
* 34 Avenue, Edmonton
The following is a list of the east–west arterial thoroughfares in the city of Edmonton, Alberta. Numbered avenues run east-west with avenues numbers increasing to the north. In 1982 a quadrant system was adopted. Quadrant Avenue (1 Avenue; only ...
, Alberta
Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Terri ...
* Broadway Auto Row, Oakland, California
Oakland's Broadway Auto Row is the area north of downtown Oakland along Broadway between Grand Avenue (Uptown) at the Southwest and I-580, 40th Street or even 51st Street to the Northeast. The strip has a history of car dealerships and other automo ...
* Capitol Expressway, San Jose, California
San Jose, officially San José (; ; ), is a major city in the U.S. state of California that is the cultural, financial, and political center of Silicon Valley and largest city in Northern California by both population and area. With a 2020 popu ...
* Cerritos Auto Square
The Cerritos Auto Square is an automobile retail center located in the city of Cerritos, California. Cerritos Auto Square states that it is the largest auto mall in the world with 29 import and domestic marques.
History
In 1979, the Cerritos ...
, Cerritos, California
Cerritos (Spanish for "Little hills") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, and is one of several cities that constitute the Gateway Cities of southeast Los Angeles County. It was incorporated on April 24, 1956. As of 201 ...
* Motor Row District
The Motor Row District is a historic district in Chicago's Near South Side community area. Motor Row includes buildings on Michigan Avenue between 2200 and 2500 south, directly west of McCormick Place convention center, and 1444, 1454, 1737, 1 ...
, Chicago, Illinois
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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* Driver's Village, built on the site of a dead mall
A dead mall (also known as a ghost mall, zombie mall, or abandoned mall) is a shopping mall with a high vacancy rate or a low consumer traffic level, or that is deteriorating in some manner.
Many malls in North America are considered "dead ...
in Syracuse, New York
Syracuse ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States. It is the fifth-most populous city in the state of New York following New York City, Buffalo, Yonkers, and Rochester.
At the 2020 census, the city's ...
See also
*Milwaukee Junction
Milwaukee Junction is an area in Detroit, Michigan, east of New Center. Located near the railroad junction of the Grand Trunk Western Railroad's predecessors Detroit, Grand Haven and Milwaukee Railway and the Chicago, Detroit and Canada Grand Tr ...
, a former agglomeration of auto manufacturers.
* List of historic filling stations
This is a list of historic filling stations and service stations, including a few tire service stations which did not have gas pumps. A number of these in the United States are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
They are of ...
References
{{commons cat Auto dealerships * Shopping districts and streets by type