Access to supermarkets in Melbourne

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, panic buying of various household items, such as toilet paper and pasta, was rampant. Social and mainstream media were full of images of people buying large amounts of toilet paper and the resulting empty supermarket shelves. Although the supply chain has largely been restored, it did pique my interest. Where I live, there are at least six major supermarkets within a 10-minute walk from my house. No toilet paper at my preferred supermarket? Not a problem, I made my way to another. Many people in Melbourne were not so lucky. How did these households manage, particularly when they didn't have the options I did?

This blog will look at the spatial distribution of supermarkets in metropolitan Melbourne. Love 'em or hate 'em, they do provide households with a vast array of good and services. However a lack of access to supermarkets may be more symptomatic of wide disadvantage, particularly in these unprecedented times.

What is a supermarket?

This seems like a simple question, but in order to map their location some definitions were required. Supermarkets come in a range of sizes and shapes. Coles and Woolworths are the major supermarkets in Australia, accounting for 60% of the grocery market in 2019. IGA and Aldi account for another 20% of the grocery market.  Costco, which has a slightly different business model on account of its membership requirement, is another important player. These five supermarkets are defined here as large supermarkets.

But supermarkets have diversified their offering in recent years. Woolworths and IGA have a smaller version - Woolworths Metro and IGA Express - which are targetted at shoppers who want to purchase fewer items eg on their way home from work. In many ways, they are a step up from a convenience store. They have been included here as small supermarkets. Minor supermarkets such as Foodworks and Friendly Grocers have also been included in this category.

It is recognised that there are some well known independent supermarkets in Melbourne, but these have not been included here. Similarly, speciality grocers eg gourmet, ethnic stores are also not included, though they have an important role to play in their communities. Inclusion of these supermarkets would provide a more complete picture, but regardless, around 80% of the market is included in the analysis.

Supermarket locations in Melbourne

The location and spatial pattern of supermarkets in Melbourne reflects an interplay between urban planning, suitable lots, settlement pattern and historical legacy. The map below shows the location of supermarkets in metropolitan Melbourne. Green and orange dots represent the large and small supermarkets respectively. Overall, around 720 supermarkets are represented on this map.

While supermarkets are scattered across the metropolitan area, there are some patterns. Large supermarkets are represented in most suburbs, and they also tend to cluster in regional shopping centres. For instance, Chadstone has three supermarkets, and most shopping centres have at least two. A critical element for large supermarkets is the availability of parking and as such they require large parcels of land. Leveraging off the location of other major retailers in a shopping centre environment allows some economies of scale but there's no denying the scale and wide regional catchment of major suburban shopping centres.

Small supermarkets show more discernable spatial patterns. Most are located in the inner city, particularly in the CBD where their smaller footprint is more suited to the built form and lot sizes. In recent years, many small supermarkets have opened on the ground floor of new apartment buildings, offering a 21st-century version of the corner milk bar.

Small supermarkets are also scattered through middle ring suburbs, outer suburbs and in peri-urban areas. In some areas, they tend to be located in small suburban shopping strips. In peri-urban areas, they are sometimes the sole supermarket in the wider region.

While most parts of Melbourne have good access to one or two supermarkets, there are some areas where the nearest supermarket is more distant. Parts of the western suburbs stand out in this regard - an enlarged version of the previous map is shown below. Compare the sparse spatial pattern in the western suburbs compared to the CBD and surrounds. For instance, there is no supermarket in the greenfield suburb of Truganina, despite the growing population. There are fewer supermarkets in more established suburbs such as Laverton, Altona Meadows and Ardeer.

Altona Meadows is typical of suburbs developed in the 1980s and 1990s that are primarily residential areas with small commercial cores. The separation of functions in these suburbs means that the supermarkets are located in the small commercial core. This means there are large areas in each suburb that are more distant to a supermarket, precluding walkability. Other examples of these suburbs include Endeavour Hills (in the south-east) and Mill Park (in the north). This settlement pattern entrenches car dependence and presents a barrier to achieving sustainability outcomes.

Supermarket access and vulnerability

So what's the relationship between supermarket access and vulnerability? You might be thinking, most people drive to the supermarket, what's the big deal? As with most things, it's not that simple. There are a range of social impacts as a result of this uneven access:

• it highlights issues of food security in areas with no supermarkets. This is particularly true for those without a car and have to rely on public transport - which is not always available or reliable, particularly in the outer suburbs. 
• elderly populations can be particularly vulnerable, and this was highlighted in the early days of the pandemic when panic buying was rampant. Many elderly people were unable to buy grocery items and didn't always have alternative options. The IGA supermarket in Altona instigated a "community hour" whereby elderly people could do their shopping, an initiative that was later picked up by other major supermarkets.
• the tendency for supermarkets to cluster in shopping centres, as well as their large footprints creates congestion and precludes walkability. Public transport alleviates some of this but in many outer suburbs the options are limited, particularly on weekends.
• liveable neighbourhoods are created in a variety of ways but access to goods and services is a critical element. This is embedded in the 20 minute neighbourhood concept, one of the principles in Plan Melbourne, the metropolitan strategy. Local sustainability is improved when people can access what they need close to where they live.

The simple solution would be to build more supermarkets, particularly in areas that have fewer options available. But it's not a silver bullet. I'm not going to second guess the business model involved in determining supermarket locations, but population size, growth, composition and spending patterns are likely to be factors, as well as institutional factors such as the planning system. However a goal should be to contribute to liveable and sustainable communities and the planning system plays a critical role in this respect.

21st-century solutions such as online delivery and pick up models (eg Coles "click and collect") are a partial solution. Their success relies on take up rates, cost and convenience, as well as access to the internet. But they are not an option for everyone, particularly vulnerable populations that may not be able to afford the delivery fee.

Summary

The recent spate of panic buying highlighted issues associated with access to supermarkets in Melbourne. Around 720 supermarkets were geocoded in this exercise, revealing a pattern that showed most suburbs have access to at least one supermarket. There is a greater concentration of supermarkets, particularly smaller ones, in the inner city. Some parts of the western suburbs, as well as suburbs developed in the 1980s and 1990s, are characterised by having fewer supermarkets. Resolving issues of supermarket access - large or small - would reduce vulnerability in unprecedented times such as global pandemics.