Small town shopping decline: dependence and inconvenience for the disadvanged

Abstract

Current patterns of shopping behaviour in a small Welsh town which has experienced a major decline in retail facilities are examined. Those inhabitants who continue to shop in-town are disproportionately drawn from the careless, the elderly and poorer households, and can be described as disadvanged. Their dependence on the local center appears to reflect constraint rather than choice. While the local shopping center is widely viewed as inconvenient and unattractive, those who rely on the centre are particularly critical of access and the general shopping environment. Planning intervention is necessary to enhance the shopping facilities of such small towns and to stem the retail decline.