Abstract: The emergence of shopping malls around the world as a major driver of social interaction and entertainment has left marketing managers faced with dynamic shoppers’ behavior in a competitive market environment. The study analyzed the locational pattern of shopping malls in the Federal Capital City (FCC), Abuja. The study covered the shopping malls in five districts of phase one of the FCC. A total of fifty-two malls were used for the analysis. Fifteen mall managers and some officials of Federal Capital Development Agency (FCDA) were also interviewed. The fifteen mall managers were cut across the five districts, representing three mall managers from each district. GPS and ArcGIS 10.3 were used in capturing and analysing the data on the spatial distribution of the shopping malls. The result of the analyses shows that Garki and Central district showed clustering of malls while Asokoro, Maitama and Wuse districts showed a more dispersed pattern. However, when the entire shopping malls in the study area were considered as a whole a clustered pattern emerged. The reason for this as identified by shopping malls managers and officials of the FCDA is the economic advantages of the agglomeration of shopping malls such as easy access to power, market, patronage, security, transportation and other social facilities as confirmed by the interview sessions. The study therefore recommends that the FCDA should ensure that further allocations of land for shopping malls are sited away from already existing ones.
Key words: Federal Capital City, Location pattern, Shopping malls