In the 90's the establishment of external trade centers had a strong growth in Sweden, primarily in large and medium cities. Gradually took smaller towns by this development. In larger cities with larger and growing customer base than in small towns were not affected by the trade centers heavily, but in the smaller towns where the customer base was smaller, there was a risk that it created a negative competitive relationship between external trade center and trade in the citycenter. In some cases, competition is a positive development for both the citycenter and external trade areas, but in some cases there was a risk that the center became impoverished. In such situation there are theories that the different variety of different types of goods should be at the center and in external trade center could lead to a balanced trade relationship.