Abstract

The unequal distribution of commerce in the region displaces purchase flows from the smaller centers to those with greater commercial facilities, thus causing the re-routing of commercial expenditure. To determine the effect of attraction and restriction variables on the purchase flows of food in the VIIIth, IXth and Xth Regions of Chile, the traditional gravitational model was used. Purchasing center attributes were population, monthly domestic income, number of business licenses and the commercial surface of establishments selling food. The time and distance of displacement were used as restriction variables. The consumers that travel outside their district of origin to buy food choose those interurban commercial centers with the greatest population where the homes with the greatest income are concentrated and whose commercial supply is greater when measured in the number of businesses or the amount of retail surface. Consumer income is not significant to interurban purchase flow as the small number of commercial facilities in the districts of origin force the consumers to travel