Abstract

Understanding the changing spatial structure of ethnic grocery retailing in Canadian urban regions can provide insights into ethnic business development and the well-being of residents, particularly relating to the availability of healthy food and risk of nutrition-related illnesses. This study explores this through a case study of Chinese and South Asian grocery retailing in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA). In particular, the changing spatial relationship between ethnic grocery business distribution, ethnic residential patterns, and spatial accessibility is examined between 2001 and 2016. A combination of location quotients and global and local indicators of spatial autocorrelation were utilized to assess the relationship between ethnic groups while measures of spatial central tendency and a nearest neighbor analysis assessed the distribution of grocery retailers. An integrated marginalization-accessibility index was then developed to highlight any spatial mismatch between the level of material deprivation and grocery store access, highlighting patterns of inequality throughout the CMA. The results of the study reveal that Chinese and South Asian grocery retailers and residents have suburbanized over the study period. Index results also indicate that some census tracts (CTs) experienced limited access to both mainstream and ethnic grocery stores, particularly among the South Asian community. Finally, there is a growing number of CTs that are well-serviced to Chinese and South Asian grocery stores but are under-serviced to mainstream retailers, potentially identifying areas where ethnic grocers are filling gaps in service. Key words: ethnic grocery retailing, ethnic residential patterns, accessibility, healthy food provision, marginalized neighbourhoods, Toronto Census Metropolitan Area

Highlights

  • Ethnic retailing plays an important role in the development of Canada’s metropolitan regions

  • Discussion, limitations, and future research Understanding the changing spatial structure of ethnic grocery retailing in Canadian urban metropolitan regions is increasingly important as immigration levels continue to rise and ethnic economies become more complex

  • This paper aimed to address these gaps in the literature through a case study of Chinese and South Asian grocery businesses and residential patterns in the Toronto Census Metropolitan Area (CMA) between 2001 and 2016

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Summary

Introduction

Ethnic retailing plays an important role in the development of Canada’s metropolitan regions. Ethnic businesses and consumers make up an increasingly large portion of the urban economy and have a growing influence on the goods and services provided within commercial systems (Wang, 2004). As immigration continues to be the main source of population growth, the ethnic retailing sector is expected to further expand and transform (Morency et al, 2017). Changes to immigration policies in recent decades have altered the ethnic composition of immigration, where the majority of contemporary immigrants are migrating from Asia, rather than Europe (Zhuang and Hernandez, 2009; Statistics Canada, 2016a). Chinese and South Asian communities are the two largest recent immigrant groups, comprising nearly 29% of immigration between 2011 and 2016 (2016 Canadian Census). Many Canadian cities have seen an increase in the number of businesses and consumers from these communities, strengthening their presence among the ethnic retailing sector

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