Shopping perceptions of the inner city elderly

Abstract

This paper offers an exploratory investigation of two behavioural constructs of elderly shoppers: (i) spatial information fields and (ii) retail evaluation criteria. The constructs of the elderly are examined with reference to comparable responses of a baseline group of non-elderly consumers. The data are elicited from samples of elderly and non-elderly apartment dwellers in Winnipeg's central area. The results disclose that the spatial information fields of the elderly are relatively restricted, largely as a result of their lower levels of mobility. The problem of limited transport availability for the elderly is also expressed in terms of the higher levels of importance which they assign to accessibility factors in the decision on where to shop for groceries. In terms of other retail evaluation criteria, the elderly and non-elderly express different degrees of concern about various grocery outlet characteristics and commodity traits. It is concluded that the elderly represent a distinctive group of shoppers whose special characteristics may be relevant to the formulation of consumer spatial choice models.