Ken G. Jones
For the past twenty-five years Ken has been working on the interface between geography and the retail industry, teaching students how geography applies to business and persuading business people that business needs geography. He coauthored the textbook Location, Location, Location with Jim Simmons in 1987, “which presents the retail environment form the eyes of the retail location analyses”; this book and its later editions have been used in courses in geography departments and business schools internationally.
In 1993 Ken become the first Director of the Centre for the Study of Commercial Activity at Ryerson Polytechnic University. The Centre was Ken’s creation. It is a “non-profit organization, supported by its members, that facilitates research, innovation, and discussion into private-sector economic activities dealing directly with consumers.” The Centre has over 50 members, including most of the important actors on the retail scene in Canada. Over the past four years, it has obtained a major SSHRC grant, generated a stream of publications, and coordinated a multi-million dollar “Retail Strategy” project for the Ontario government. It is now the leading Canadian research facility in this important economic sector, and it is centred around geography and GIS.
Ken Jones is also the co-holder of the Eaton Chair in Retailing, and is currently a co-director of the Applied Geography Conferences, representing Canadian interests in these valuable annual conferences. In addition, his many talks to business organizations have built bridges that will benefit us all.
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