First Published in 1996. The authors define retail structure in a retail distribution context as a snapshot of the state of play in the competitive struggle between retail companies and businesses, each of which is seeking to not only survive but to grow. The studies in this volume were first published in The Service Industries Journal. Taken as a whole they serve two purposes: first, they introduce the concept and process of retail structure taken from the viewpoint of a continuing competitive struggle for market supremacy; and second, they serve as an introduction to the wider study of retail development.