Many countries in Europe have launched policies and planning guidelines with a more restrictive attitude towards out-of-town establishments in grocery retailing. Two possible justifications for these policies are the risk that social dilemmas influence the households' choice of which stores to use, and that many consumers would favour a different situation. In order to find if there are any efficiency problems in this field of inquiry, a study was carried out which is discussed in this paper. The study combines a cost evaluation with a demand analysis for different store categories in grocery retailing. The data necessary for the demand analysis was generated by a postal questionnaire with hypothetical questions about households' choice of stores, together with questions about socio-economic conditions and actual purchasing behaviour. The result implies that the actual situation in grocery retailing in the investigated districts accommodates the preferences of a minority who prefer to make most of their grocery shopping in out-of-town establishments, while the large demand for high-quality local stores cannot be realised due to social dilemmas and spatially dispersed preference structures among residents. The large stores attract customers from the entire city, which implies a diminishing market for the smaller local stores in residential areas. It seems that town planning, and other institutional measures, should be activated to prevent a far-reaching dominance of out-of-town stores in grocery retailing and to support more variation in local retail service levels. For the covering abstract see ITRD E120462.
Abstract