The evolving landscape of Istanbul's coffee shops: Navigating disruption in a changing urban environment

Abstract

During the final quarter of the last century, Istanbul experienced rapid population growth with increases in income, an expanded free trade economy, and the influence of greater globalization. Together, these stimulated an increase in the demands for new services. One of these demands was answered by an influx of coffee shop chains, and this effected both the growth patterns of traditional coffee houses and introduced a new lifestyle. Despite the closure of many businesses due to economic crises, coffee shops are increasing in number. This paper investigates the spatial distribution of coffee shops with respect to the socio-economic and demographic characteristics of several selected districts by using regression analysis. The number of coffee shops is taken as the dependent variable and the social life index and the proportion of the population aged over 65 are used as independent variables. These were chosen through an evaluation of several characteristics of the districts under discussion. According to the results, the location of coffee shops in Istanbul is affected more by a district’s social life index and by the proportion of its population which is aged over 65 than the other characteristics of the districts. The impact of the multi-center development on the distribution of coffee shops is explained. the balanced distribution of coffee shops with respect to other small businesses is suggested for further research.