Location of Big Box Retailers and Its Accessibility for Minority and Low-income Communities: The Case of Austin, Texas, USA

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Despite its close proximity to downtown, East Austin is one of the underprivileged and under-developed areas in the City of Austin, Texas in the United States. Ethnic minorities and low-income persons in inner-city areas often lack access to big box retail due to the store being disproportionately located outside of their neighborhoods. The aim of this study is to identify the accessibility of big box retail for East Austin’s residents in order to confirm the potential impacts of big box retail growth on minority and low-income populations. Using GIS-based network analysis, it measures whether the residents in East Austin have equal access to big box retail stores, compared to the average of the city. The results of the analyses suggest that East Austin has less access to certain category of big box retail. Although residents in East Austin have greater accessibility to neighborhood-type retail like automotive part stores, drug stores, small-format value stores, and supermarkets, they have less accessibility to community-type big box retail like furniture store, home improvement stores, department stores, and large-format value stores. Socio-economic characteristics of East Austin neighborhoods include a high percentage of individuals living below the poverty line, high disability rates, low to no vehicle ownership, and high percentages of female headed households. Consequently, the persons in those neighborhoods of lesser accessibility are potentially hurt more by the location of big box retail establishments. However, the research found a denser development with mixed-use and mixed-income strategies might help fill retail gaps and significantly improve retail access for minority and low-income population.

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