The location of food stores in urban areas: a case study in Glasgow

During the late 1990s there has been an increasing interest in the concept of “food deserts” (populated areas with little or no food retail provision). It has been suggested that they are more likely to be found in deprived areas; however there has been little systematic research on their prevalence and distribution. This paper describes a preliminary analysis of the location of food outlets in the Greater Glasgow Health Board Area. Data were collected as part of a project on spatial variations in the price and availability of food. Based on all 79 multiple stores, and a 1 in 9 sample (n = 246) of all non‐multiple stores in the area, we did not find any evidence for the existence of food deserts, and found that food stores were more numerous in the more deprived localities and postcode districts in the study site.