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Foot traffic to retail corridors nationwide plummeted during the shelter-in-place restrictions of 2020, and recent data shows that visits have yet to fully recover to 2019 levels. While traffic has steadily improved each year since the pandemic lows, 2025 visits remain 11.7% below their pre-pandemic baseline.
What is holding the retail corridor recovery back? We dove into the data to find out.
Retail corridors are typically concentrated in downtown areas, featuring a mix of stores, restaurants, bars, and offices – and are often surrounded by even more office space. And comparing average visits per day of week in 2025 and 2019 suggests that the persistence of hybrid and remote work is likely driving much of the lag.
Monday through Thursday foot traffic to retail corridors was down between 16.3% and 17.3% in 2025 compared to 2019. The gap narrowed to 11.7% on Friday as activity began to shift toward the weekend, and nearly disappeared on Saturday (-2.8%) and Sunday (-4.2%).
The much larger weekday deficit suggests that reduced office attendance continues to weigh on downtown retail activity. With fewer workers commuting daily, there are fewer pre-work coffee stops, lunchtime errands, and spontaneous after-work visits that once fueled these corridors. So while leisure-driven weekend traffic has largely rebounded, the office-driven weekday ecosystem that historically sustained retail corridors has yet to fully return.
Hourly data reinforces the role that office attendance (or lack thereof) is playing in the retail corridor visit lag. The steepest declines are concentrated squarely within traditional workday hours: visits between 7 AM and 11 AM are down 23.7% compared to 2019, followed by a 19.2% decline from 11 AM to 3 PM. But the gap is much more moderate both earlier and later in the day (from 12 AM to 7 AM and 3 PM to 12 PM) in the day later in the day, with visits down 13.7% from 3 PM to 7 PM and just 9.6% after 7 PM. This suggests that the missing traffic is closely tied to reduced daily commuting – fewer morning coffee runs, lunch breaks, and midday errands – while evening and leisure-oriented visits have proven far more resilient. With more schedule flexibility, downtown businesses and civic stakeholders may need to focus on creating reasons for consumers to intentionally visit downtowns during slower weekday hours, rather than relying on routine commuter traffic to fill stores organically.
The retail corridor traffic data suggests that downtowns are facing a structural shift in when and why people visit. With fewer daily commuters, stakeholders may need to focus less on restoring a five-day office week and more on activating the days and hours that already show strength. Civic leaders can prioritize safety, cleanliness, transit reliability, and targeted weekday programming or events that encourage intentional trips downtown. Retailers and dining concepts can adapt hours, promotions, and experiences to better align with flexible work schedules. In a hybrid era, success may depend less on recreating old commuting patterns and more on making downtown a destination people choose – not just a place they pass through.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the US. The data is trusted by thousands of industry leaders who leverage Placer.ai for insights into foot traffic, demographic breakdowns, retail sale predictions, migration trends, site selection, and more.
Downtown Austin is navigating a period of unusual complexity. A convention center renovation and major highway construction have created significant disruption, while extreme summer heat and pullbacks in consumer spending are adding further pressure.
Yet despite these headwinds, visitation is nearing pre-pandemic levels. And a key factor driving Austin’s recovery has been its deliberate use of data to guide strategy, align stakeholders, and deploy resources where they can have the greatest impact.
Since 2022, Downtown Austin has been on a steady recovery trajectory. By 2025, non-resident and non-employee visits to the area reached 94.4% of 2019 levels – a milestone that becomes even more meaningful against the backdrop of this year’s intensely hot summer and the temporary closure of Austin’s convention center, which has remained offline since April 2025.
This data reveals resilience that might otherwise have gone unnoticed – critical framing when coordinating across agencies and reassuring stakeholders that downtown remains a reliable economic engine even during infrastructure transitions.
The composition of that visitation tells an equally important story. A growing share of visitors to downtown Austin are coming from within Texas – especially on weekends.
In an environment where consumers are more value-conscious and long-haul travel remains uneven, this regional draw has become a strategic asset. In-state travelers are more likely to make shorter, repeat trips, creating consistent demand for restaurants, entertainment venues, and retail corridors.
The Downtown Austin Alliance uses this insight to refine both marketing and access strategies. Partnerships such as discounted ride programs within a 30-mile radius reduce friction for local visitors during the holiday season, while targeted programming ensures downtown remains competitive as a weekend destination.
At the policy level, this data strengthens the case that downtown’s success benefits the broader state economy. When a rising share of visitors originates within Texas, the dollars spent downtown circulate locally – supporting jobs, generating tax revenue, and reinforcing Austin’s role as an economic anchor.
Data also helps the Alliance optimize services around major events that drive tourism to Austin – such as the annual ACL Music Festival and Formula 1 Grand Prix – supporting operational precision. High-traffic areas receive intensified cleaning and hospitality services, while lower-traffic zones become candidates for murals, activations, and smaller-scale programming designed to distribute energy more evenly. Event-driven data also informs conversations with transportation partners as construction continues to reshape mobility routes.
The strategic use of data is also evident in the revitalization of East Sixth Street. Long known as a historic entertainment corridor with a late-night reputation, the district is now the focus of a coordinated effort to evolve its positioning and offerings.
And data has played an important role in getting people on board. Location analytics, for example, show that out-of-market visitors to the district are coming from more affluent areas, showing that spending power exists and is growing – and that the district’s offerings may have room to evolve alongside its audience.
For property owners and local businesses, this data provides a clearer picture of market potential. And for public-sector partners, it strengthens the case for infrastructure upgrades and placemaking investments.
Austin’s experience offers a broader lesson for cities navigating disruption. Infrastructure transitions, climate pressures, and evolving travel patterns present real challenges – but by grounding placemaking strategies in clear, measurable data, Austin is strengthening downtown’s economic foundation and aligning stakeholders around a shared vision.
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Amid a tightening job market, the list of employers requiring workers to show up in person – many now mandating five days a week – continues to grow. But how did the office recovery fare in February 2026, a month marked by heavy snowstorms across major Northeast markets?
We dove into the data to find out.
In February 2026, visits to the Placer.ai Nationwide Office Index were 31.9% below 2019 levels – marking the smallest February post-pandemic visit gap to date. Overall attendance even slightly outpaced February 2024, a leap year that benefited from 20 business days instead of the usual 19.
While this is hardly the most impressive RTO showing we’ve seen in recent months, February’s gains came in spite of meaningful headwinds.
A late-February blizzard disrupted major Northeast markets, driving a year-over-year (YoY) decline in New York City office visits and widening Manhattan’s post-pandemic gap to 21.3% below 2019 levels. Boston, also hit hard by snow, saw visits remain flat YoY, slipping behind San Francisco and Denver in overall recovery progress.
By contrast, cities in other regions posted clear gains, with San Francisco – still benefiting from AI-driven hiring and renewed tech activity – once again seeing some of the strongest growth at +11.9% YoY.
February’s performance underscores a familiar pattern of month-to-month fluctuation, even as the broader RTO trajectory continues its upward climb. Regional dynamics – from weather disruptions to sector-specific hiring cycles – are shaping local outcomes, but the national baseline for office utilization is steadily rising.
For more data driven CRE insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the US. The data is trusted by thousands of industry leaders who leverage Placer.ai for insights into foot traffic, demographic breakdowns, retail sale predictions, migration trends, site selection, and more.
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The bifurcated consumer trends established in the second half of 2025 have persisted. While higher-income shoppers maintain relatively stable spending habits, lower- and middle-income households continue to feel the squeeze on essential categories like groceries and fuel. These consumers have become increasingly selective and price-sensitive, actively pivoting away from traditional mid-market chains in favor of discount retailers and value-oriented brands. Because affordability remains a core focus, average households are spreading their visits across a wider number of non-discretionary stores to hunt for deals. For example, our data shows that grocery visit growth is currently being driven by low- and middle-income households, as elevated food costs necessitate more frequent, budget-conscious trips.
However, despite this intense focus on everyday value, it would be a mistake to count out the discretionary sector, where consumer visits have also been mostly positive year-over-year (YoY) since the start of 2026. Despite weather-driven volatility, we continue to see healthy demand for discretionary categories as consumers start to put their tax refunds to work, actively seeking affordable indulgences and high-end brands at a discount.
E-commerce fulfillment centers are also seeing robust activity. Excluding a brief weather-related slump in late January, visits to these facilities are growing at a high-single to low-double-digit clip.
This surge in logistics activity is being driven by a perfect storm of consumer behavior and retail strategy: value-seeking shoppers, massive supply chain investments from giants like Walmart and Target, and the rise of frictionless "agentic" and social commerce. Furthermore, record-high product returns are forcing these centers to process a massive wave of reverse logistics, keeping facility utilization incredibly high.
As delayed tax refunds finally hit consumer bank accounts in the months ahead, we expect this strong e-commerce and fulfillment momentum to continue.
Manufacturing data has been highly volatile in early 2026. Placer.ai’s Industrial Manufacturing Index – which measures physical visits to manufacturing facilities across a wide range of verticals – showed an ebb and flow in the early weeks of the year. Severe winter storms heavily weighed on facility visits in late January, followed by a clear rebound in February.
This physical, on-the-ground improvement aligns with the latest macroeconomic indicators. According to the most recent ISM report, the U.S. manufacturing sector expanded for the second consecutive month in February, with the PMI registering a solid 52.4. Crucially, this growth is being driven by strong forward-looking demand, as the ISM New Orders Index remained firmly in expansion territory at 55.8. Ultimately, while underlying production and new orders show sustained momentum, unpredictable weather patterns continue to create short-term fluctuations in actual facility operations.
Looking ahead, volatility will likely be the baseline expectation for both the retail and manufacturing sectors throughout 2026. Unpredictable weather events, shifting supply chain dynamics, and the complexities of lapping 2025's macroeconomic hurdles will continue to create week-to-week fluctuations in physical foot traffic and industrial output.
Yet, beneath this turbulence lies a remarkably stable foundation: the American consumer. Despite the ongoing pressures of inflation and depleted household savings, shoppers remain incredibly resilient. They are highly strategic – pinching pennies on daily essentials and heavily utilizing value channels – precisely so they can continue to fund discretionary spending and lifestyle upgrades. The market may be volatile, but the 2026 consumer is proving that they are willing and able to spend when the value proposition is right.
Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the US. The data is trusted by thousands of industry leaders who leverage Placer.ai for insights into foot traffic, demographic breakdowns, retail sale predictions, migration trends, site selection, and more.
With its recent IPO, Bob’s Discount Furniture has officially entered a new chapter, stepping onto the public stage at a time when the home furnishings sector continues to face macroeconomic pressures. Yet despite these challenges, Bob’s has demonstrated notable momentum. This AI-powered data analysis takes a closer look at Bob’s performance, examining traffic trends, demographic positioning, and cross-shopping behavior to better understand what’s driving the company’s success.
Bob’s continued expansion supported year-over-year (YoY) visit increases throughout 2025 – but growth was not driven by footprint alone. Visits per location to the chain also climbed by 1.8% in 2025, indicating that existing stores captured incremental demand alongside new openings.
Analysis of Bob’s and the broader home furnishings category suggests that a favorable mix of value-oriented and affluent shoppers may be supporting the brand’s growth.
In 2025, the median household income of Bob’s captured market was $89.0K – below the category median of $92.5K, yet above the nationwide median of $79.6K. A similar pattern emerged when examining Bob’s audience by income groups. Among households earning under $100K and those earning over $150K, Bob’s share fell between the category benchmark and the national baseline.
This positioning suggests that while Bob’s resonates strongly with value-seeking consumers, its appeal is not limited to lower-income households – which could reflect the strength of its "Good, Better, Best" assortment strategy. As value-prioritization has gained traction across income levels, Bob’s appears to be attracting shoppers who are price-conscious yet still maintain discretionary spending power – a combination that is especially advantageous in a bigger-ticket category like furniture.
Reinforcing its position as a primary destination for furniture shoppers appears to be another factor fueling Bob’s growth.
AI-based location intelligence reveals that in 2025, the share of Bob’s visitors who also visited other major home furnishings chains declined compared to 2024. The shift was consistent across several key competitors, suggesting that fewer shoppers felt compelled to compare offerings at other chains before visiting Bob's Discount Furniture.
In a category where consumers frequently comparison-shop, declining cross-visitation may signal that Bob’s relaxed in-store environment – featuring the “Little Bob” sock-puppet and complementary cafés – is resonating with shoppers, reducing the incentive to look elsewhere.
These insights underscore Bob’s differentiated strategy within a volatile retail landscape. By combining disciplined expansion with broad cross-income appeal and brand loyalty, Bob’s is building both growth and resilience as it enters its public chapter.
Will Bob’s continue to find success in 2026? Visit Placer.ai/anchor to find out.
Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the US. The data is trusted by thousands of industry leaders who leverage Placer.ai for insights into foot traffic, demographic breakdowns, retail sale predictions, migration trends, site selection, and more.
Traffic to Darden banners remained relatively stable in 2025, with the company seeing an average increase of 1.2% in overall visits coupled with a slight dip of 0.3% in average visits per venue across its brands. Average visits per venue improved towards the end of the year relative to the annual average, growing 1.5% YoY in Q4 2025 – likely due to the closure of several Bahama Breeze restaurants in 2025, part of the company's plans to sunset the banner entirely by April 2026.
Analyzing traffic by banner points to clear resilience at the top of the market, with upscale casual and premium brands such as Yard House and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse generally showing the strongest and most consistent traffic growth. This pattern suggests that higher-income consumers remain relatively insulated and willing to spend, even amid broader volatility.
At the same time, LongHorn Steakhouse, one of Darden’s largest brands, also emerged as a standout performer, delivering steady positive traffic across multiple months. Given its scale within the portfolio, LongHorn likely made an outsized contribution to Darden’s overall positive traffic trends, helping to offset softness in other chains and reinforcing the company’s momentum.
Same-store YoY visit trends in recent months are very close to overall visit trends, suggesting that Darden’s traffic trends are largely same-store-driven rather than expansion-driven, with little evidence that unit growth is materially distorting overall traffic trends. Premium brands continue to perform well, and LongHorn is generating steady same-store growth across its large footprint, suggesting that Darden’s results are being driven by real consumer demand – especially among higher-income diners.
Darden’s results suggest that performance is being driven less by sheer scale and more by brand positioning, with concepts that offer either premium experiences or strong value perception (like LongHorn) capturing disproportionate demand. As consumer budgets remain tight, growth is likely to concentrate further in brands that clearly justify their price point – leaving middle-of-the-road concepts increasingly pressured to sharpen their value proposition or differentiate more meaningfully.
For up-to-date restaurant foot traffic, visit our free Industry Trends tool.
Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the US. The data is trusted by thousands of industry leaders who leverage Placer.ai for insights into foot traffic, demographic breakdowns, retail sale predictions, migration trends, site selection, and more.
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It’s been decades since the U.S. last hosted the World Cup, and anticipation continues to build. While the matches themselves will deliver thrilling moments for fans inside the stadium, a far broader audience is expected to engage from beyond the gates – gathering at bars, watch parties, and living rooms across the country.
Drawing on insights from recent sporting and cultural events, this analysis examines how the World Cup may impact consumer behavior and audiences across stadiums, host cities, and nationwide.
In 2025, MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ hosted a wide range of concerts and sporting events. And an examination of three – Kendrick Lamar & SZA’s tour stop, the FIFA Club World Cup Final, and a Week 17 New York Jets matchup against division rivals and the Super Bowl-bound New England Patriots – reveals clear differences in audience composition across event types.
Trade area analysis showed that the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup Final drew the largest share of single visitors and the highest median household income (HHI) of the three events – a pattern that could reflect the premium tickets and travel typically associated with a quadrennial championship match.
With the 2026 World Cup elevating the level of global competition, stadiums set to host matches this summer – including MetLife – may see even more dramatic shifts in their audience relative to other events.
While spectators attending World Cup matches are likely to differ from those drawn to other events throughout the year, audience shifts are likely to occur also within the tournament itself. As the competition progresses and the stakes rise, the visitor profile at host stadiums may trend progressively higher-income, as suggested by an analysis of Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, CA during the recent NFL season and Super Bowl.
During the Super Bowl, the stadium’s captured market median HHI surpassed that of every 49ers home game during the 2025-26 season – a pattern consistent with the event’s premium ticket pricing, national draw, and high levels of out-of-market travel.
And since the World Cup only takes place every four years, and necessitates international travel for die-hard fans, attendees are likely to be even more affluent than Super Bowl go-ers. Moreover, as the tournament reaches its later stages, each match becomes more significant and carries the potential to drive an even more affluent in-person audience.
Diving deeper into last year’s FIFA Club World Cup Final and Semifinal matches at MetLife Stadium provides further insight into the significance of the in-person audience that doesn’t make it into the stands. While FIFA generally places restrictions on tailgating, the behavior was still observed at MetLife and several other tournament venues in 2025. To put the phenomenon into perspective, location intelligence indicates that on the day of the Club World Cup final, combined visits to MetLife and its parking lots were 24.8% higher than visits to the stadium alone.
AI-powered trade area analysis further contextualizes the economic significance of this audience. During the semifinal matches, MetLife Stadium’s captured market median HHI remained nearly identical – just over $100K – with and without parking lot visitors. A similar pattern held for the Final, where median HHI for both the stadium-only and combined stadium-plus-parking visitors both rose above $115K, with the stadium-only figure only marginally higher.
This suggests that tailgaters represent a significant cohort with discretionary income to spend on the broader match-day experience, even if they opt out of spending big money on tickets.
With tailgating during the 2026 World Cup likely to remain limited due to FIFA regulations, the spending power of fans just outside the stadiums could create opportunities for alternative forms of engagement. Fan zones and other nearby hospitality events may offer effective ways to capture demand.
Nearby dining and entertainment venues are among the most accessible experiences for fans in the stadium area, and these stand to benefit significantly from elevated game-day foot traffic.
Analysis of recent FIFA Club World Cup matches reveals the impact of match-day activity on local businesses. Visitor journey data from the June 25th, 2025 matchup between Inter Milan and River Plate at Seattle’s Lumen Field, and the June 28th, 2025 meeting between Palmeiras and Botafogo at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia reveals that a significant share of stadium visitors also stopped at nearby dining and recreation venues on the day. Location intelligence also shows that, on the day of the match, each stadium-adjacent venue received a significant visit boost compared to its 2025 daily average.
This pattern underscores the potential impact of the World Cup on the surrounding commercial ecosystem. The stadium may anchor the experience, but fan engagement will likely spill into adjacent areas – creating opportunities for both organizers and local businesses. To take full advantage, restaurants and bars can position themselves as fan-friendly destinations through watch parties, extended hours, and even mobile or outdoor offerings in stadium corridors.
Previous major sporting events – including the Super Bowl – demonstrate that the impact of large-scale sporting moments often extends beyond the immediate stadium vicinity into the broader regional economy.
In the weeks leading up to the latest Super Bowl in Santa Clara, CA on February 8th, 2026, both the San Francisco-Oakland-Berkley and San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara CBSAs saw a notable uptick in year-over-year dining traffic – outperforming the nationwide average. The timing suggests that early-arriving travellers combined with locals enjoying pre-event concerts and events helped fuel demand. In contrast, nationwide dining traffic saw a more pronounced lift the following week – likely tied to Valentine’s Day on February 14.
This pattern indicates that regions hosting – or located near – World Cup 2026 matches could experience similar pre-event dining tailwinds. As out-of-town visitors arrive and local engagement builds in the days and weeks leading up to key matches, restaurants and hospitality may benefit from elevated demand – particularly when supported by ancillary events and fan experiences.
Other recent examples suggest that cities hosting major events like the World Cup stand to benefit from an influx of out-of-town visitors – particularly those with higher spending power.
Since the beginning of 2025, New Orleans has hosted a series of popular events that drove significant non-local traffic. AI-powered trade area data indicates that during these periods, out-of-market visitors consistently exhibited a higher median HHI than both local residents and typical commuters into the city.
As expected, the 2025 Super Bowl generated the most pronounced spike in out-of-market visitor median HHI among the events analyzed, but the pattern extends beyond one-time spectacles. Recurring events like Mardi Gras and major music festivals also attracted high-income visitors to the city – likely benefitting the local hospitality, dining, and retail industries.
Looking ahead to the 2026 World Cup, host cities are likely to experience a similar dynamic. The tournament’s global draw will likely bring affluent travelers with discretionary dollars to the host regions – visitors that will spend not only on match tickets, but also on accommodation, dining, and shopping. By sponsoring tournament-related festivals, concerts, and experiences in or near retail corridors, cities can amplify the economic impact of the World Cup beyond the stadium.
The impact of the 2026 World Cup is unlikely to be confined to the select cities hosting matches. Major sporting events drive large-scale at-home viewership, generating ripple effects nationwide.
The Super Bowl offers a useful benchmark. In the days leading up to February 8th, 2026, visits to grocery stores and pizza chains rose above day-of-week averages for 2025, ultimately peaking on the day of the big game day as households appeared to pick up last-minute fixings and takeout for their watch parties.
This pattern indicates that the World Cup – with its extended schedule and multiple high-stakes matchups – could drive repeated waves of elevated grocery and take-out demand as fans gather together throughout the tournament.
Of course, at-home viewing is just one piece of the match-day equation. Many fans opt for a more communal experience – gathering at sports bars across the country to watch the game alongside fellow supporters.
Recent highly-anticipated soccer matches offer a clear signal of this behavior. During the recent Allstate Continental Clásico, MLS Cup Final, and SheBelieves Cup Final, top sports bars in key markets like Los Angeles and Miami recorded visit spikes above day-of-week averages.
Not every World Cup fan will be able to attend in-person or travel to a host city, but previous match-day lifts in sports bar traffic demonstrate that fans nationwide will participate in the tournament experience.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is set to engage a wide spectrum of fans – from casual viewers at home to dedicated supporters traveling to stadiums – shaping how and where demand emerges.
As a result, the tournament’s impact will be felt across multiple layers of retail, dining, and tourism. Stadium-centered spending, activity in surrounding corridors, host-city consumer demand, and gatherings of spectators nationwide all point to a broad and interconnected World Cup effect that is likely to shape both audience composition and behavior at scale.
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Indoor malls and open-air centers have posted consistent YoY visit growth, outlet declines have been modest, and early 2026 data shows renewed momentum across all three formats.
Growth in short visits and extended stays – alongside declines in mid-length trips – shows that consumers are gravitating toward trips with a clear purpose, favoring either efficiency or immersion.
Rising dwell times and strong engagement from younger, contemporary households position indoor malls as leading destinations for longer, experience-driven trips.
A higher share of short, weekday visits – along with strong appeal among affluent families – underscores their role as convenient, essential retail hubs.
As off-price and online alternatives erode their treasure-hunt advantage and long-distance visitation softens, outlets face a strategic choice between deepening local relevance and reinvesting in destination appeal.
The malls that thrive will be those that intentionally optimize for convenience, experience, or a disciplined integration of both.
Despite economic headwinds, intensifying e-commerce competition, and fragile consumer confidence, shopping centers continue to defy the “dead mall” narrative – reinventing themselves and, in many cases, thriving.
What can location analytics tell us about the state of the mall in 2026? Which trends and audiences are driving their performance – and how can operators and retailers best capitalize on the opportunities within the category?
Over the past two years, both indoor malls and open-air shopping centers have posted consistent year-over-year (YoY) traffic growth. And while outlet malls experienced slight declines, the pullback was modest – signaling a period of stability rather than erosion.
Early 2026 data also points to continued momentum, with all three mall formats recording mid-single-digit YoY traffic gains in the first two months of the year. Although it’s still early days – and YoY comparisons in 2026 were boosted by an additional Saturday – the positive start suggests that the industry is entering the year on a solid footing.
With e-commerce always within reach, hybrid work anchoring more consumers at home, and ongoing economic uncertainty influencing spending decisions, trips to physical stores are becoming more intentional. Shopping center visit data reflects this shift as well, with growth in both quick convenience visits and extended experiential outings – alongside a decline in mid-length trips.
In 2025, quick trips (under 30 minutes) increased across all formats, underscoring malls’ growing role as convenient, high-utility destinations for picking up an online order, grabbing a quick bite, or making a targeted purchase. At the same time, extended visits of more than 75 minutes increased at indoor malls and open-air centers, reflecting sustained appetite for immersive, experiential outings.
Meanwhile, mid-length visits (between 30 and 75 minutes) lagged across formats – falling indoor malls and outlet malls and remaining flat at open-air centers – suggesting shoppers are losing patience with undifferentiated trips that lack a clear purpose.
Still, although short visits increased year over year across all mall types, and long visits increased for both indoor malls and open-air centers, the distribution of dwell time varies by format. Short visits make up a larger share of traffic at open-air shopping centers, for example, while longer visits account for a greater share at indoor malls. This divergence underscores the need for format-specific strategies, with operators clearly defining the core shoppers and missions they are best suited to serve and aligning tenant mix, amenities, and marketing accordingly.
Indoor malls, for instance, have increasingly positioned themselves as experiential hubs – particularly for younger consumers. Recent survey data shows that 57% of shoppers aged 18 to 34 report visiting a mall frequently or often, and they are more likely than older cohorts to arrive without a specific purchase in mind.
Foot traffic patterns reinforce this experiential appeal. In 2025, 37.6% of indoor mall visits lasted more than 75 minutes, compared to 33.4% for open-air centers and 34.6% for outlets. Indoor malls also captured the largest share of visits from the young-skewing “contemporary households” segment – singles, non-family households, and young couples without children – indicating strong resonance with younger audiences.
As indoor malls expand their experiential offerings, visit durations are rising even further – even as they hold steady or even slightly decline at other formats. For operators, this shift highlights a significant opportunity for indoor malls to deepen their role as climate-controlled third places. And for brands, it means high-impact access to Gen Z consumers in discovery mode – top-of-funnel engagement that is increasingly difficult and expensive to replicate through digital channels alone.
If indoor malls excel at capturing extended, social visits, open-air centers are finding success through convenience. In 2025, open-air centers had the highest shares of both weekday visits (64.0%) and short, sub-30 minutes (36.8%) among the three formats. Grocery anchors, superstores, and essential-service tenants like gyms – more common at open-air centers than at other formats – help drive steady, non-discretionary traffic.
Demographically, open-air centers drew the highest share of affluent families, a key demographic for daily errands. This alignment with higher-income households, combined with weekday consistency, positions open-air centers as reliable errand hubs embedded in community life.
Outlet malls, for their part, have historically differentiated themselves by offering something shoppers couldn’t find elsewhere: an experiential treasure hunt featuring brand-name merchandise at compelling prices. But the decline in long visits shown above suggests that this positioning may be coming under pressure – likely from the rise of off-price and discount chains as well as other low-cost, convenient treasure-hunt alternatives like thrift stores. When shoppers can score attractive deals online or browse for bargains at a nearby T.J. Maxx or Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, the incentive to dedicate time and travel to an outlet trip may no longer feel as compelling – especially for outlet malls’ core audience, which includes meaningful contingents of middle and lower-income consumers with families.
And data points to a subtle but steady erosion in the share of visitors willing to go the extra mile to visit outlet malls. Since 2023, the share of outlet visits from consumers traveling more than 30 miles has slipped from 33.1% to 31.8%, even as long-distance visits to other mall formats have remained relatively stable. This softening of destination demand may be contributing to outlets’ recent traffic lags.
Still, despite these lags in foot traffic, major outlet companies continue to see YoY increases in same-center tenant sales per square foot. The format’s strong visit start to 2026 also suggests that outlets still have significant draw – and that with the right strategy, they could reinvigorate their traffic trends.
One option is for outlet malls to lean further into their immediate trade areas: Nearly 20% of visits to outlets already originate within five miles – a share that edged up from 19.4% in 2023 to 19.9% in 2025. These closer shoppers may be largely responsible for the segment’s rise in short visits, pointing to an opportunity to further augment BOPIS offerings and select essential-use tenants.
Another option is to strengthen outlets’ destination appeal with distinctive retail, dining, and experiential offerings that resonate with value-oriented, larger-household shoppers. But whether they focus on convenience or on justifying the journey – or attempt to balance both – success will depend on identifying who their shoppers are and which missions they are best positioned to own.
As in other areas of retail, shopping center success increasingly depends on strategic clarity. The malls that thrive will be those that clearly define their role in their customers’ lives and execute against it with intention – whether by decisively optimizing for efficiency, fully investing in experience, or thoughtfully integrating both.
Commercial real estate in 2026 is characterized by differentiated performance across markets and asset types. Office recovery trajectories vary meaningfully by metro, retail performance reflects format-specific resilience, and domestic migration patterns continue to influence long-term demand fundamentals.
Many higher-income metros continue to trail 2019 benchmarks but drive the strongest Year-over-year gains, signaling a potential inflection in office utilization trends.
• Sunbelt markets along with New York, NY are closest to pre-pandemic office visit levels, while many coastal gateway and tech-heavy markets trail 2019 benchmarks.
• Many of the metros still furthest below pre-pandemic levels are now posting the strongest year-over-year gains.
• Leasing velocity may accelerate in coastal markets – particularly in high-quality assets – even if full recovery remains distant. The expansion of AI-driven firms and innovation-focused employers could support incremental demand in these ecosystems, reinforcing a bifurcation between top-tier buildings and the broader office inventory.
• Higher-income metros such as San Francisco show deeper structural gaps vs 2019, perhaps due to their higher concentration of hybrid-eligible workers – yet those same metros are driving the strongest YoY recovery in 2025.
• Accelerating growth in 2025 suggests that shifting employer policies, workplace enhancements, or broader labor dynamics may be beginning to drive increased in-office activity.
• Office performance in higher-income markets will increasingly depend on workplace quality and policy alignment. Assets that support premium amenities, modern design, and tenants implementing clear in-office expectations are likely to influence sustained office visits and leasing velocity in these metros.
Retail traffic is broadly improving across states, though performance varies by region and format.
• Retail traffic growth is broad-based, with the majority of states showing year-over-year gains in shopping center traffic in 2025.
• Still, even as many states are posting gains, pockets of softer performance remain – specifically in parts of the Southeast and Midwest.
• Broad-based traffic gains indicate consumer demand is more durable than anticipated. In growth states, operators can shift from defensive stabilization to capturing upside – pushing rents, upgrading tenant quality, and accelerating leasing while momentum holds. In softer markets, the focus should remain on protecting traffic through strong anchors and necessity-driven tenancy.
• Convenience-oriented formats are leading traffic growth, with strip/convenience centers materially outperforming all other shopping center types, and neighborhood and community centers also posting gains. This reinforces the strength of proximity-driven, daily-needs retail.
• Destination retail formats, including regional malls and factory outlets, continue to lag, while super-regional malls were essentially flat. Larger-format, discretionary-driven centers are not capturing the same momentum as convenience-based formats.
• The data suggests that consumer behavior continues to favor convenience, frequency, and necessity over destination-based shopping. Operators should lean into service-oriented and daily-needs tenancy in strip and neighborhood formats, while mall operators may need to further reposition assets toward experiential, mixed-use, or non-retail uses to stabilize traffic.
Domestic migration continues to reshape state-level demand, with gains clustering in select growth corridors.
• Domestic migration drove population gains in parts of the Southeast and Northern Plains, while several Western and Northeastern states show flat or negative migration.
• Some previously strong in-migration states in the South and West, including Texas and Utah, are showing softer movement, while other established migration leaders such as Florida and the Carolinas continue to attract net inbound residents.
• Migration flows are shifting relative to prior years. Operators should temper growth assumptions in states where inflows are slowing and prioritize markets where inbound demand remains strong.
• Florida dominates metro-level migration growth, with eight of the top ten U.S. metros for net domestic migration are in Florida.
• The markets with the strongest domestic migration-driven population gains are not major gateway cities but smaller, often retirement- or lifestyle-oriented metros, suggesting that migration-driven demand is increasingly flowing to secondary markets.
• CRE operators should prioritize expansion, leasing, and site selection in high-growth secondary metros where population inflows can directly translate into retail spending, housing absorption, and service demand.
