By Jim Simmons and Shizue Kamikihara

This report, the first of a two part series, provides a detailed case study of power retailing in Victoria, British Columbia. Using comprehensive transport (origin-destination) survey data it asks the seemingly simple question 'Who shops power retail'? Surprisingly, this is an area of research that has not received as much academic attention as one would expect given the scale and extent of power retailing across Canada. The majority of research to date has focused on the supply of power retail, as opposed to the demand. The findings highlight the auto-dependency of power retailing and the demographic profile of power retail shoppers in Victoria. The research report also outlines a method to ascertain shopper characteristics based on transport survey data.