Locational determinants and valuation of Vlach Rom (Gypsy) fortune-telling territories in the United States: An integrated application of economic and cultural logics and methods

Economic geography and the applied geography of retail site location have been historically driven by neo-classical market indicators; for example, population, income, and education levels. While distinct markets for ethnically-defined economic activities follow traditional market indicators, they are more complex in their establishment and organization. The purpose of this article is to examine the evolution of territorial locational determinants and efficiencies of ethnic niche economies, particularly the Vlach Romani fortune-telling business in the United States. Using self-appraised fortune-telling territory prices and a large georeferenced dataset of modern fortune-telling establishments (known as “offices” or ofisuria in their dialect of the Rromanes language) in New York City and Los Angeles, I test several hypotheses regarding the distribution and site-selection criterion of fortune-telling territories using Ordinary Least-Squares (OLS) and zero-inflated Poisson regression models fitted with a spatial regime. While only examining one culture group, this article demonstrates decision making and locational determinants associated with highly structured ethnic economic niches can be spatially analyzed, quantitatively modeled, and situated within a broader economic and urban narrative of spatial territorial adaptations of ethnic niche economies to dynamic demand markets.