The Analysis of Spatial Distribution in Chain Stores of Rasht using mixed AHP and SWOT Models

The appropriate distribution of chain stores plays a significant role in reducing the cost of shipping, fast delivery of goods and services, convenient access to parking, and other complementary municipal services. A chain store is formed of several retail stores that are under common and centralized ownership. This paper aimed to review the decision-making components for applying spatial distribution in chain stores of Rasht based on strategic SWOT-AHP model. The findings showed that the strengths with a total value of 0.617 and the threats with a total value of 0.055 have the lowest score among the four main criteria. The proper distribution of chain stores for quick, easy, and cheap access to wider and confident stores with a total value of 0.266 was the most influential factor in spatial analysis. Also, the findings showed that the chain stores did not have a good spatial distribution; by moving from central areas to around of city, the number of chain stores was reduced. Therefore, considering the increase of land prices, limited parking, and the spatial distribution of population, the traditional patterns should change and new patterns should be used for locating the distribution of chain stores.