The analysis of retail business trends at small college towns in Iowa: as a case study of town and gown relationship
Date
1998
Authors
Ono, Masafumi
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Advisor
Knox, Jerry
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Abstract
The study focused on retail business environment at small college towns in Iowa, in order to find if rural small towns had prevented their economic decline by the presence of higher educational institutions. Eleven small towns with four-year private colleges were selected as research objects. Besides these college towns, small non-college towns were also selected to make a comparison. The established hypothesis was that the performance of retail business in college towns has been better than non-college towns for the last 20 years. Five variables, the number of retail establishments, retail employment, pull factors of total retail sales, pull factors of sales of convenience goods, and pull factors of sales of services, were analyzed by statistical test. Results showed significant differences between college towns and non-college towns in terms of their retail business trends.
All five variables for college towns were higher than non-college towns. These results could be predicted when the demographic trends for the last decades were compared between college towns and non-college towns. While rural small towns have generally faced a loss of population, the population of these 11 college towns has increased. The presence of higher educational institutions brings demographic advantages to their surrounding communities. It enhances a community's economy.
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