Selected aspects of changes in trade network in the period 1995-2003 from the perspective of Polish small towns

Abstract

In the following article the author attempts to analyze changes in the domestic trade, and more precisely, the qualitative and quantitative fluctuations in reference to retail shops found in Polish towns in 1995 and in 2003. The towns taken into consideration remained below 20,000 dwellers. Throughout the analysis the author was searching for regularities in the changes of the numbers of retailers as well as for the reasons of those fluctuations in individual towns and in groups of towns classified according to their size. Another aspect taken into consideration was the spatial positioning of the analyzed differences. Accessibility of shops, both in time and space, for town dwellers was also examined in detail. Finally the author offers a prediction of the future development of the domestic trade, a significant elements of the national economy.