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In the light of increasing concern over home-shopping traffic growth generated by food superstores in the UK and elsewhere and their possible role in reinforcing a 'food desert' effect, this study introduces an empirical framework to help underpin subsequent policy decisions. A trip attraction model is estimated by ordinary least squares (OLS) for food superstores in the UK using a composite dataset constructed from data from the UK Census of Population, the UK National Online Manpower Information System (NOMIS), and the Trip Rate Information Computer System (TRICS).

It is found that traffic to a given food superstore, other things being equal, increases with car ownership, parking provision, retail floor space, distance to the nearest competitor and, perhaps surprisingly, increased public transport provision. The latter effect is discussed in the light of a possible explanation linked to the 'food deserts' debate, along with the associated implications for effective (inner-urban) sustainable development. Increases in household size are found to be associated with a fall in vehicle traffic to a site, due to household economies of scope and scale, which may also perpetuate use of less sustainable modes of transport.