By Jim Simmons, Sara Simmons and David Tenenbaum

 With this paper, the CSCA continues the sequence of analyses describing the National Commercial Structure (NCS).  NCS is best described as the extension of the commercial structure of the Greater Toronto Area across the entire country.  As such it attempts to disaggregate Canada's commercial activity by sector (SIC), by location (regions, urban areas, commercial concentrations), and by firm (formats, mega-chains, etc.). Not only will we be able to describe the commercial structure of various cities across Canada, but we also hope to be able to compare them with each other.

The first paper in this series described the major retail concentrations in Canada and their dynamics, focusing on the amount of retail sales.  This paper explores the degree of specialization within these concentrations, by type of business activity and by format or brand name.  It is based on the aggregation of CSCA's format file to the 3-digit postal code (FSA).