There are two purposes of this special issue. The first is to introduce the current state of local commerce and new activities, to define the associated problems, and to provide opportunities to think about solutions. We hope that this special issue will inform readers on both the positive and negative aspects of current regional commerce and will promote thoughts and ideas on commerce and town development. The second is promotion of academic research. Rather than focus only on new phenomena, there is an opportunity for researchers to think about the underlying mechanisms and problems. Through this process, we hope to see further progress in regional commercial research.
