Supermarket operating hours and distance to crime

Chomali, Laura (2025): Supermarket operating hours and distance to crime.

Abstract

Household chores, particularly those related to food—such as meal preparation and grocery shopping—continue to reflect significant gender disparities. Supermarkets, by reducing the distance between consumers and food purchases while leveraging economies of scale to offer affordable and diverse options, are often associated with food security. However, it remains unclear how the establishment of these businesses impacts their surroundings, especially in comparison to other security measures, such as addressing crime. This study examines how the operating hours and proximity of supermarkets affect local crime levels in Chicago, USA, over a one-year period (September 2023–August 2024). By combining three georeferenced datasets from the Chicago Police Department, Google Maps, and weather information to create a database and applying three negative binomial regression models. Results indicate that open supermarkets are generally linked to slightly lower crime rates, though this effect fluctuates throughout the day—reducing crime in early hours but increasing it during peak periods. While proximity alone shows no strong correlation with crime, open supermarkets exhibit a localized deterrent effect.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Crime, operating hours, supermarket, supermarket proximity
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D0 - General; H - Public Economics > H0 - General; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R0 - General; R - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics > R0 - General > R00 - General

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