Dan Greco

The impact of Wal-Mart stores on local economies has been a topic of contention in the academic and popular arenas. This study presents a different geographic area as most other studies are often based in the United States. As an initiative to provide insight into the impact of this massive discount retailer in a different marketplace, selected Wal-Mart Supercentres within the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) have been chosen for analysis. Through geocoding and buffering of the selected supercentres, trade areas have been delineated for the purpose of identifying consistent trends in the composition of the retail industry in the each of the selected supercentres’ trade areas. Also, property values from the Municipal Property Assessment Corporation (MPAC) have been collected for the duration of the study period to assess the impact that the stores have had on other commercial properties in the area. The findings indicate that the opening of, or conversion to, a supercentre increases the proportion of vacancies and decreases the proportion of stores in the apparel sector within three kilometres of the selected Wal-Marts. In addition, establishments in the restaurant and food service industry are adversely impacted, but only within one kilometre of the selected supercentres. Changes in property value are primarily dependent on whether the Wal-Mart is a newly constructed or converted location and on the “urbanity” of the location. Taking into consideration the drawbacks in this investigation, the findings of this study shed light on the impact that Wal-Supercentre stores have on their respective communities in a large metropolitan Canadian marketplace.