This paper aims to identify the recent trends in retailing in municipalities of Chugoku and Shikoku regions. Data are collected from the Census of Commerce for 1988, 1991, 1994 and 1997. The study examines the changes in retail activities and their determination factors with five indices; attraction ratio of customers, density of stores, average size of store, service ratio of employee and turnover ratio of employee. The empirical analysis has revealed that several municipalities with low attraction ratio of customers showed sharp increases in the ratio during the study period. The changes seem to have been caused by the new location of shopping center in the municipalities. The study has also identified that the level of attraction ratio of customers was greatly influenced by two variables; service ratio of employee and the average size of store.