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So far, 2025 has completely shifted the retail industry away from its status quo. Sectors that appeared to be on the rise at the end of 2024 have seen a stall in momentum, while others that faced challenging terrain last year have found some new opportunities. Economic uncertainty and changes in consumer sentiment have pushed consumers to be even more value oriented than we observed over the last two years.
Consumers are also looking to prepare themselves appropriately for future headwinds; in many cases this change is reflected in the types of retailers shopped. One sector of non-discretionary retail that had been at the forefront of this trend over the past few years has been dollar & discount chains. This group of retailers benefited from increasing inflationary pressures and an enhanced consumer focus on value. Beyond changing consumer behaviors, the sector also expanded the number of store locations and range of communities covered across the country, which brought more value-centered options to shoppers beyond superstores.
Last year (2024) represented a shift in the dollar & discount category, with visitation decelerating throughout the year according to Placer’s foot traffic estimates. Market saturation, challenges within individual chains, and the constriction of buying power among lower income households all contributed to a year that wasn’t up to expectations. However, 2025 has proven to be a new opportunity for chains to regain their footing with consumers.
Year-to-date, the industry is running up 3% in visits compared to the same period last year; while this isn’t necessarily far off the trends in 2024, it certainly is outperforming other non-discretionary sectors. Looking at the performance by retail chain reveals that Dollar General, Dollar Tree and Five Below are all overperforming the total category as well.
One trend that has continued from 2024 for top performing chains is consumer loyalty. Dollar General and Dollar Tree have seen an increase in loyal visitors, defined as visiting three or more times per month, compared to last year. Dollar General specifically also has a very high level of loyal visitors, with 36% of visitors shopping three times per month. Dollar stores fill a distinct need in shoppers’ retail rolodex, and especially as chains focus on expanding their assortments, the value proposition for customers becomes further cemented.
Dollar chains are primed to be an asset to consumers as economic and financial uncertainty continues, but consumers may also continue to be more discerning overall. Dollar chains must continue to innovate and expand assortments, particularly in grocery, to stay competitive as warehouse clubs and superstores also vie for attention.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
The drugstore and pharmacy space has faced significant challenges in recent years, and recently, Rite Aid announced that it would be closing all its locations. We took a look at the location intelligence for Rite Aid and the chains buying its closing locations to see how this closure might affect visits to the other chains.
The past few years have seen a dramatic shift in the way people purchase their prescriptions and other health-related sundries – and Rite Aid, in particular, was heavily affected by this shift. The chain had made several attempts over the past few years to rightsize and restructure in hopes of turning around its fortunes. But in May 2025, amidst bankruptcy proceedings, the company announced it would be closing all of its remaining locations and selling its business – primarily to CVS Pharmacy, with some going to Walgreens, Albertsons, Kroger, and Giant Eagle.
Rite Aid had already spent much of 2023 and 2024 closing stores, a factor that certainly fueled its 37.2% year-over-year (YoY) dip in foot traffic in Q1 2025. Meanwhile, CVS – which has also been closing stores – saw its visits and visits per location grow in Q1 2025, by 2.6% and 5.1%, respectively. And Walgreens, in the midst of its own rightsizing moves, experienced relatively flat visit numbers, with only minor YoY dips.
CVS is poised to be a major beneficiary of Rite Aid’s closure, taking over business from hundreds of its locations. And a look at demographic and psychographic data shows that the move stands to offer CVS greater access to older consumers – a key demographic in the pharmacy space. Rite Aid’s stores also attract a more middle-income shopper, helping to broaden CVS’ customer base.
A look at geographic segmentation data shows that CVS’s assumption of Rite Aid business will also grant it greater inroads into semirural and urban audiences.
Rite Aid has its largest presence in California (347 stores), Pennsylvania (345 locations), and New York (178 stores). And data from Esri: Tapestry Segmentation highlights differences in where shoppers at the two drugstore chains tend to come from – both nationwide and in its major markets.
CVS sees higher shares of “Suburban Periphery” visitors in all the analyzed markets, while Rite Aid sees higher shares of “Semirural” visitor segments, both nationwide and across its largest markets. This reinforces that CVS stands to significantly expand its footprint in less dense, semi-rural communities by acquiring Rite Aid assets.
While some common threads can be seen across visitor types by state, there are also notable differences, highlighting the importance of diversification across geographic segments for comprehensive market coverage. For instance, in New York, Rite Aid holds a higher share of visitors from “Principal Urban Centers” (18.8%) than CVS (13.3%). This suggests CVS may be able to expand both its semirural and urban reach as it assumes Rite Aid's former customer base.
Rite Aid’s closure highlights the challenges facing the retail healthcare segment – but it also opens up new opportunities for other chains as they absorb these closed stores.
What will the retail pharmacy and healthcare segment look like in the coming months? Visit Placer.ai/anchor for the latest data-driven retail insights.
First Eataly opened introducing patrons to the delights of freshly made pasta, mozzarella, and delectable ragu. With its all-in-one grocery and food hall appeal, one could savor delicacies from different regions of Italy. Jose Andres also raised the bar with his Mercado Little Spain at Hudson Yards, transporting you to Spain with its jamon iberico, crowd favorite Jaleo, and a host of Spanish restaurants. Now we cross culinary continents over to Asia as Jagalchi Food Hall and Grocery Store opens at Serramonte Center in Daly City, to the joy of aficionados of Korean food.
At 75,000 sq ft, Jagalchi takes over a former JCPenney store. Inside, separate seafood, meat, and produce areas await. The butcher offers high-end meats like Japanese A5 wagyu ribeye. At the oyster bar, one can find oysters and sushi. For those wanting hot food, snacks like freshly fried Korean pancakes, fried potato swirls, rose tteokboki and mandu (meat dumplings) are available for purchase.
In the middle of the store is a Michelin starred restaurant, Pogu, where diners can choose from authentic Korean dishes with a contemporary twist, such as eel bibimbap, seafood and tofu hotpot, and buckwheat noodles.
To further enhance the feeling of a jaunt to Korea, K-pop music wafts through the air and a large selection of K-beauty is available to peruse. Shoppers note the modern interior and trendy vibe with some calling it the Erewhon of Korean grocery stores. To add to the experiential feeling, there are carts labeled with street food that give you that Asian night-market alley feeling. And to complete the culinary experience, Jagalchi offers a wide variety of sool, or Korean rice wines, such as makgeolli or soju.
No meal would be complete without dessert and Jagalchi has an onsite bakery, Basquia, which features rice-flour baked goodies. Crowd pleasers include strawberry sulpang, made of a special sweet and fluffy bread with hints of rice wine flavoring, as well as the latest viral sensation, Dubai chocolate. Another cross-cultural sweet treat is the Su Jeong Gwa latte w/oat milk, which basically is a Korean horchata.
Jagalchi opened on March 28, 2025 (Friday), and the first Saturday, March 29, 2025 resulted in a 60% visitation increase compared to Saturday, Jan 4, 2025. The hype has died down a bit, but overall traffic visitation levels are averaging at least 30% higher on Saturdays compared to pre-opening.
Whereas Serramonte Center was facing declining year-over-year visit trends in the first quarter of the year, the opening of Jagachi has provided a jolt of excitement for the shopping center, putting it into positive year-over-year traffic for the last month.
An additional benefit for Serramonte Center is that Jagachi is attracting a higher proportion of wealthy segments, such as Educated Urbanites and Ultra Wealthy Families, which could potentially result in additional cross-shopping among patrons with more disposable income.
In closing, as shopping centers experiment with new tenants for anchor closures for department stores, opportunity awaits with new brands and concepts such as experiential food halls and grocery stores.
For more data-driven retail and dining insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
Memorial Day – the unofficial start of the summer season – is typically accompanied by major retail promotions and movie releases. We dove into the visit data to see how consumers celebrated the holiday and see how brick-and-mortar retail traffic compared to last year's numbers.
Memorial Day weekend brought a visit boost to retail chains nationwide, with the holiday's impact already felt on Friday, May 23rd 2025 as traffic spiked 10.0% compared to the YTD (January 1st to May 26th) Friday average. But comparing the data with last year's numbers shows that year-over-year (YoY) visits remained essentially flat.
Critically, this stability in Memorial Day week retail visits follows several weeks of year-over-year (YoY) traffic increases, likely due to consumer pull-forward of demand. So the fact that consumers still came out to shop Memorial Day sales – even after weeks of increased activity – suggests that brick-and-mortar retail remains resilient despite the wider macroeconomic shifts.
Diving into the apparel industry reveals that traditional apparel received a healthy Memorial Boost. And sportswear and athleisure – which may carry a slightly higher price point – saw the largest Memorial Day spikes compared to the year-to-date (YTD) average as shoppers took advantage of holiday promotions.
Meanwhile, off-price retailers saw relatively muted boosts compared to the YTD numbers, perhaps because shoppers prioritized time-sensitive bargains over the off-price segment's regular discounts. But the category saw a substantial increase in YoY visits, demonstrating consumers' ongoing value orientation.
Memorial Day is also a time for getting together with family and friends – often over a barbecue, picnic, or other food-forward events. As a result, grocery stores, BevAlc retailers, discount & dollar stores, and superstores all received traffic boosts compared to the YTD average, with BevAlc seeing the largest spike in visits.
Grocery stores, BevAlc retailers, and discount & dollar stores also saw YoY visit increases – perhaps suggesting an increase in Memorial Day socializing compared to 2024.
While several retail categories saw significant Memorial Day-driven visit boosts, the largest increase in traffic by a long shot went to movie theaters. Combined visits to AMC, Regal, and Cinemark were up 423.6% on Monday, May 26th 2025 compared to the YTD Sunday average, with combined weekly visits to the three chains up 92.4% for the week.
The Memorial Day visit spikes – likely driven by the success of new releases such as Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and Lilo & Stitch follow weeks of high traffic as films including A Minecraft Movie and Sinners drove significant traffic increases at movie theaters nationwide.
This ongoing movie theater momentum suggests that, despite past concerns about streaming and changing consumer habits, the theatrical experience continues to hold significant appeal.
Overall, the Memorial Day 2025 data paints a picture of a resilient consumer ready to engage with both retail promotions and entertainment experiences. The data also suggests that, while brick-and-mortar retail continues to attract consumers on retail milestones, entertainment is reclaiming its role as a powerful draw for holiday spending.
For more data-driven consumer insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
When we reviewed March 2025 visitation data for industrial manufacturing facilities across the U.S. – encompassing visits from both employees and logistics partners – our data indicated an uptick in activity. Notably, many industrial manufacturers, particularly in sectors like aerospace, automotive, and packaging, increased activity as they proactively ramped up production in anticipation of potential tariff-related disruptions.
While the official U.S. Census Bureau data on manufacturing new orders for April and May 2025 is not yet available (with April's full M3 report expected around June 3rd and May's around July 3rd), visitation data from our industrial manufacturing composite for April 2025 was reflective of the evolving tariff landscape that many manufacturers have faced the past several weeks. Overall, our industrial manufacturing composite for April and early May 2025 indicates that visits to manufacturing facilities have decreased year-over-year.
Several factors could contribute to this decrease: (1) general consumer uncertainty about the economy, which has impacted retail visits this year and may be dampening industrial demand; and (2) previously announced extensions to some tariff implementation dates, which might have led businesses to pause or adjust orders. Separately, the tariff environment saw a new development with the temporary reduction in certain U.S.-China tariffs enacted in mid-May; this change may lead to shifts in activity going forward but would not explain the decrease observed in April and early May.
Were there manufacturing categories that saw greater year-over-year visitation trends than others? Unsurprisingly, categories that are potentially impacted by tariff activity – such as metals (including steel and aluminum) and electrical equipment – continued to see the greatest year-over-year increase in visits in April as manufacturers accelerated production ahead of tariff implementations or companies switched to goods produced in the United States (as shown below). General Dynamics, Howmet Aeropace, U.S. Steel, Nucor, and Powell Industries were among the manufacturers that stood out with respect to visit activity during April 2025.
Our previous analysis of Ford and General Motors manufacturing facilities indicated an uptick in visitation during late March and early April 2025. This surge likely reflected an effort by these automakers to accelerate production and build inventory ahead of significant tariff changes, including the 25% tariffs on imported vehicles that took effect on April 3rd and anticipated levies on auto parts.
However, in subsequent weeks, our visitation data indicated a return to more typical visitation levels for both manufacturers. These more subdued year-over-year visit trends likely indicate a period of adjustment and caution, aligning with the broader market uncertainty. The considerable financial impact from tariffs also led both Ford and General Motors to revise their 2025 financial guidance in early May, despite some discussions around partial tariff relief measures during that period.
Given the fluid and constantly evolving landscape for industrial manufacturers, what are the key takeaways? Our data shows a clear pull-forward in demand among manufacturers during March, as they ramped up production schedules ahead of tariff implementations, especially in sectors like metals and aerospace. However, this initial surge was followed by a cooling off in activity during April and early May, likely stemming from general tariff uncertainty.
Keep up with The Anchor to see where industrial manufacturing activity heads next.
Discount and dollar stores have enjoyed unprecedented success over the past few years as economic uncertainty continues to weigh on consumers’ minds – and wallets. We took a look at two discount players, Five Below and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, to see where the two are holding as the first half of 2025 draws to a close.
Five Below and Ollie’s were major winners in 2024, with visits to both chains elevated on a consistent basis. Both chains also aggressively expanded their footprints: Ollie's Bargain Outlet acquired around 40 leases from Big Lots, while Five Below opened a remarkable 227 new stores in 2024, with plans for another 150 in 2025.
Their strong positions were clearly reflected in Q1 2025 visit data. Five Below saw foot traffic climb 6.1% YoY, and Ollie's visits grew by 12.4%. Average visits per location were more mixed: Five Below's dipped by 4.6%, while Ollie's Bargain Market maintained momentum with a 4.6% YoY increase.
As its name suggests, Five Below primarily sells items for $5 or less, offering strong value at a time of rising prices – and customers are clearly responding. Five Below's monthly visits remained elevated throughout 2025, peaking in April with a 20.4% YoY increase. Monthly visits per location experienced more fluctuation, dipping in February and March while remaining elevated in January (+1.6%) and April (+10.1%).
Diving into the geographic segments as defined by Esri offers insight into the type of visitor that comes to Five Below – and what it might mean as the chain continues its expansion plans. Between Q1 2019 and Q1 2025, the share of visitors coming to Five Below from "Rural" and "Semi-Rural" areas increased, while the share from "Suburban Periphery" areas declined. This trend aligns with Five Below's deliberate focus on rural and semi-rural locations – a strategic choice likely influenced by existing customer behavior patterns – and might inform where the chain chooses to open its new locations in the coming years.
Foot traffic to Ollie’s Bargain Outlet was elevated for the first few months of 2025. Monthly visits experienced consistent YoY growth, and while average visits per location declined slightly in February 2025, they picked up immediately, ending April 2025 with 8.9% more visits per location than in April 2024. Some of this growth may be coming from its recent expansions – the chain opened 50 new stores in 2024.
While Ollie's differs from Five Below in terms of its product selection and price points, both chains share similarities in the demographic makeup of their visitors. The share of visitors coming from rural trade areas across the income spectrum, as defined by the Spatial.ai: PersonaLive dataset, was higher in Ollie’s captured markets than in its potential markets*. Meanwhile, the share of “Young Urban Singles” and “Upper Suburban Diverse Families” was lower in Ollie’s captured market than in its potential market.
This highlights the strength that the chain has among all kinds of rural visitor segments, and can help inform the chains’ expansion strategy as it grows its footprint in 2025 and beyond.
*A chain’s captured market is obtained by weighting each Census Block Group (CBG) in its trade area according to the CBG’s share of visits to the chain – and so reflects the population that actually visits the chain in practice.
Five Below and Ollie’s are holding onto their 2024 gains thus far into 2025. With dozens of stores slated to open in the coming months, will the two retailers continue to grow their foot traffic?
Visit Placer.ai/anchor for the latest data-driven retail insights.
The COVID-19 pandemic – and the subsequent shift to remote work – has fundamentally redefined where and how people live and work, creating new opportunities for smaller cities to thrive.
But where are relocators going in 2024 – and what are they looking for? This post dives into the data for several CBSAs with populations ranging from 500K to 2.5 million that have seen positive net domestic migration over the past several years – where population inflow outpaces outflow. Who is moving to these hubs, and what is drawing them?
The past few years have seen a shift in where people are moving. While major metropolitan areas like New York still attract newcomers, smaller cities, which offer a balance of affordability, livability, and career opportunities, are becoming attractive alternatives for those looking to relocate.
Between July 2020 and July 2024, for example, the Austin-Round Rock-Georgetown, TX CBSA, saw net domestic migration of 3.6% – not surprising, given the city of Austin’s ranking among U.S. News and World Report’s top places to live in 2024-5. Raleigh-Cary, NC, which also made the list, experienced net population inflow of 2.6%. And other metro areas, including Fayetteville-Springdale-Rogers, AR (3.3%), Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA (1.4%), Oklahoma City, OK (1.1%), and Madison, WI (0.6%) have seen more domestic relocators moving in than out over the past four years.
All of these CBSAs have also continued to see positive net migration over the past 12 months – highlighting their continued appeal into 2024.
What is driving domestic migration to these hubs? While these metropolitan areas span various regions of the country, they share a common characteristic: They all attract residents coming, on average, from CBSAs with younger and less affluent populations.
Between July 2020 and July 2024, for example, relocators to high-income Raleigh, NC – where the median household income (HHI) stands at $84K – tended to hail from CBSAs with a significantly lower weighted median HHI ($66.9K). Similarly, those moving to Austin, TX – where the median HHI is $85.4K – tended to come from regions with a median HHI of $69.9K. This pattern suggests that these cities offer newcomers an aspirational leap in both career and financial prospects.
Moreover, most of these CBSAs are drawing residents with a younger weighted median age than that of their existing residents, reinforcing their appeal as destinations for those still establishing and growing their careers. Des Moines and Oklahoma City, in particular, saw the largest gaps between the median age of newcomers and that of the existing population.
Career opportunities and affordable housing are major drivers of migration, and data from Niche’s Neighborhood Grades suggests that these CBSAs attract newcomers due to their strong performance in both areas. All of the analyzed CBSAs had better "Jobs" and "Housing" grades compared to the regions from which people migrated. For example, Austin, Texas received the highest "Jobs" rating with an A-, while most new arrivals came from areas where the "Jobs" grade was a B.
While the other analyzed CBSAs showed smaller improvements in job ratings, the combination of improvements in both “Jobs” and “Housing” make them appealing destinations for those seeking better economic opportunities and affordability.
Young professionals may be more open than ever to living in smaller metro areas, offering opportunities for cities like Austin and Raleigh to thrive. And the demographic analysis of newcomers to these CBSAs underscores their appeal to individuals seeking job opportunities and upward mobility.
Will these CBSAs continue to attract newcomers and cement their status as vibrant, opportunity-rich hubs for young professionals? And how will this new mix of population impact these growing markets?
Visit Placer.ai to keep up with the latest data-driven civic news.
Convenience stores, or c-stores, have been one of the more exciting retail categories to watch over the past few years. The segment has undergone significant shifts, embracing more diverse offerings like fresh food and expanded dining options, while also exploring new markets and adapting to changing consumer needs. We looked at the recent foot traffic data to see what this category's successes reveal about the current state of brick-and-mortar retail.
Convenience stores are increasingly viewed not only as places to fuel up, but as affordable destinations for quick meals, snacks, and other necessities. And analyzing monthly visits to the category shows that it is continuing to benefit from its positioning as a stop for food, fuel, and in some cases, tourism.
Despite lapping a strong H1 2023, visits to the category either exceeded last year’s levels or held steady during all but one of the first eight months of 2024 – highlighting the segment’s ongoing strength. Only in January 2024 did C-stores see a slight YoY dip, likely reflecting a weather-induced exaggeration of the segment’s normal seasonality.
Indeed, examining monthly fluctuations in visits to c-stores (compared to a January 2021 baseline) shows that foot traffic to the category tends to peak in summer months – perhaps driven by summer road trips and vacations – and slow down significantly in winter. Given summer’s importance for convenience stores, the category’s August YoY visit bump is a particularly promising indication of c-stores’ robust positioning this year.
While some C-store chains, like 7-Eleven, have a nationwide presence, others are concentrated in specific areas of the country. But as the popularity of C-stores continues to grow, regional chains like Wawa, Buc-ee’s, and Sheetz are expanding into new territories, broadening their reach.
Wawa, a beloved brand with roots in Pennsylvania, has become synonymous with its fresh sandwiches, coffee, and a highly loyal customer base. Wawa has been a major player in the c-store space in recent years, with a revamped menu driving ever-stronger foot traffic to its Mid-Atlantic region stores. Between January and August 2024, YoY visits to the chain were mostly elevated. And the chain is now venturing into states like Florida – where its store count has grown significantly over the past few years – as well as Georgia and Alabama.
Meanwhile, Texas favorite Buc-ee’s, though known for its enormous stores and mind boggling array of dining options, has a relatively small footprint – but that might be changing. The chain, which also outpaced its already-strong 2023 performance this year, is opening locations in Arkansas and North Carolina, further building on its reputation as a destination for travelers. And Sheetz, another regional chain with a strong presence in Pennsylvania, is also expanding, with plans to open locations in Southern states like North Carolina and Tennessee.
This trend toward regional expansion offers significant opportunities for growth, not only by increasing store count, but also by reaching new consumer bases and target audiences. Customer behavior differs between markets – and by expanding into new areas, c-stores can tap into unique local visitation patterns.
One metric that highlights local differences in consumer behavior is dwell time, or the amount of time a customer spends inside a convenience store per visit. In some regions, visitors tend to move in and out quickly, while in others, customers linger for longer periods of time.
Analyzing convenience store dwell times by state highlights substantial differences in visitor behavior. During the first eight months of 2024, coastal states (with the exception of Oregon) tended to see shorter average dwell times (between 7.5 and 11.8 minutes). On the other hand, in states like Wyoming, Montana, and North Dakota, average dwell times ranged between 21.2 and 28.2 minutes.
Interestingly, the states with the longest dwell times also have some of the highest percentages of truck traffic on interstate highways – suggesting that these longer stops are perhaps made by long-haul truckers looking for a place to shower, relax, and grab a bite to eat.
Even as regional favorites expand their reach, nationwide classic 7-Eleven is taking steps to further cement its growing role as a prime grab-and-go food and beverage destination. And like other dining destinations, the chain relies on limited-time offers (LTOs) to fuel excitement – and visits.
One of the most iconic, and beloved c-store LTOs is 7-Eleven’s Slurpee Day, which falls each year on July 11th. The event, during which all 7-Eleven locations hand out free slurpees, tends to drive significant upticks in foot traffic – and this year was no exception. Visits to the convenience store jumped by a whopping 127.3% on July 11th, 2024 relative to the YTD daily visit average – proving that good deals will bring customers in the door.
The convenience store sector continues building on the impressive growth seen in 2023. As many chains double down on expanding both their regional presence and their offerings, will they continue to drive growth in the coming years?
Visit Placer.ai to keep up with the latest data-driven convenience store updates.
Grocery chains in the United States are increasingly investing in on-site healthcare clinics, transforming their stores into hubs for both food and wellness. While grocery stores have long featured pharmacies and some basic healthcare services like vaccinations, recent years have seen a shift towards more extensive healthcare offerings.
Today, many grocery stores offer a range of services – from primary and urgent care to dental and mental health care. In addition to providing an important community service, grocery-anchored healthcare clinics can boost foot traffic at chains, help health providers reach more patients, and allow shoppers to manage their health and home needs in one convenient trip.
This white paper examines the impact these in-store clinics have on grocery chain visitation patterns and trade area characteristics. Are shoppers more or less likely to make repeat visits to grocery stores with healthcare services? And how does the addition of a clinic affect the demographic profile of a grocery store’s captured market? The report examines these questions and more, offering insights for stakeholders across the grocery and healthcare industries.
Analyzing foot traffic to grocery stores with and without in-store clinics shows the positive impact of these services: Across chains, locations with on-site healthcare offerings drew more visits in H1 2024 than their chain-wide averages.
The Kroger Co., which operates numerous regional banners as well as its own eponymous chain, has been a leader in in-store healthcare services since the early aughts. The company introduced its in-store medical center, The Little Clinic in 2003 – and today operates over 225 Little Clinic locations across its Kroger banner, as well as regional chains Dillons, Jay C Food Stores, Fry’s, and King Soopers.
And in H1 2024, the eight Dillons locations with clinics saw, on average, 93.0% more visits per location than the chain’s banner-wide average. Jay C, which offers two in-store clinics, also saw visits to these venues outpace the H1 2024 banner-wide average by 92.9%. For both chains, relatively small overall footprints may contribute to their outsize visit differences: Indiana-focused Jay C operates just 22 locations, all in the Hoosier State, while Kansas-based Dillons has some 64 locations.
But similar patterns, if somewhat less pronounced, could be observed at Kroger (43.0%), Fry’s (19.2%), and King Soopers (16.5%) – as well as at H-E-B (14.5%), which boasts its own expanding network of in-store clinics.
Analyzing the trade areas of grocery stores with healthcare clinics shows that these services tend to draw more affluent visitors from within the stores’ trade areas.
For some chains, including King Soopers, H-E-B, and Jay C, the clinics are positioned to begin with in areas serving higher-income communities. The median household income (HHI) of King Soopers’ in-store clinic’s potential markets, for example, came in at $92.3K in H1 2024 – significantly above the chain’s overall potential market median HHI of $88.1K. Similarly, the potential markets of H-E-B and Jay C Food Stores with clinics had higher median HHIs than the chains’ overall averages.
And for all three chains, stores with clinics tended to attract visitors from captured markets with even higher median HHIs – showing that within these affluent communities, it is the more well-to-do customers that tend to frequent these venues. (A chain or store’s potential market is obtained by weighting each CBG in its trade area according to the size of the population – thus reflecting the general composition of the community it serves. A chain or store’s captured market, on the other hand, is obtained by weighting each CBG according to its share of visits to the business in question – and thus represents the population that actually visits it in practice.)
Other brands, including Fry’s, Kroger, and Dillons, have positioned clinics in stores with potential market median HHIs slightly below chain-wide averages. But within these markets, too, it is the more affluent consumers that are visiting these stores, pushing up the median HHI of their captured markets.
These patterns highlight that, for now, grocery store clinics tend to attract consumers on the upper ends of local income spectrums. This information can be utilized by healthcare professionals and grocery store owners to pinpoint neighborhoods that may be open to grocery-anchored clinics, or to take steps to increase penetration in other areas.
Supermarket giant Kroger is a major player in the world of grocery-anchored healthcare, offering visitors access to pharmacies, clinics, and telehealth options via its grocery stores. What impact has the company’s embrace of healthcare had on visits and loyalty?
An analysis of household compositions across the potential and captured markets of Kroger-owned stores with and without Little Clinic offerings suggests that families with children are extremely receptive to these services.
In H1 2024, Kroger, King Soopers, Fry’s, Jay C, and Dillons all featured captured markets with higher shares of STI: PopStats’ “Households With Children” segment than their potential ones – highlighting the chains’ appeal for families. But the share of parental households in those stores with Little Clinics jumped significantly higher for all five banners.
The share of families with children in King Soopers’ overall captured market stood at 28.3% in H1 2024, higher than the 27.2% in its potential one. But the households with children in the captured markets of King Soopers locations with Little Clinics was significantly higher – 30.6% – and similar patterns emerged at Jay C, Dillons, Kroger, and Fry’s.
This special draw is likely linked to the clinics' focus on family health services like physicals, nutrition plans, and vaccines. The convenience of being able to take care of healthcare, grocery shopping, and pharmacy needs all in one go makes these stores particularly attractive to parents. And this jump in foot traffic shows the strategic advantage of incorporating healthcare services into the retail environment.
Providing essential healthcare services at the supermarket can establish a grocery chain as a crucial part of a shopper's daily life, enhancing visitor loyalty, and helping nurture long-term customer relationships. Indeed, in-store clinics offer a unique opportunity for grocery providers to connect with customers on a level that extends beyond the transactional.
An analysis of several Kroger-branded locations in the Cincinnati metro area showcases the profound impact in-store clinics can have on customer loyalty. In H1 2024, stores with Little Clinics had significantly higher shares of repeat visitors – defined as those making six or more stops at the store during the analyzed period – than those without.
For instance, 36.4% of visitors to a Kroger Marketplace store with an in-store clinic in Harrison, Ohio, frequented the location at least six times during the first half of 2024. But over the same period, only 29.0% of visitors stopped by at least six times to a nearby Kroger location in Cleves, Ohio – just ten miles away. Similarly, 30.7% of visitors to the Beechmont Ave. Kroger Food & Drug location with a clinic visited at least six times in H1 2024, compared to 23.0% for the nearby Ohio Pike Kroger store.
This trend was consistent across the analyzed locations, with those offering in-store clinics attracting significantly higher shares of loyal visitors. These metrics support the value of offering additional services as a draw for frequent visitors, while also providing the clinics themselves with the visitor volume needed to operate profitably.
Texan grocery chain H-E-B is beloved across the state – and though the chain isn’t new to the healthcare scene, it has been doubling down on wellness. In 2022, H-E-B launched H-E-B Wellness, a healthcare platform that offers patrons a variety of medical services, including – as of today – some 12 primary care clinics, many of them inside stores.
H-E-B stores with primary care clinics are helping to cement the grocer’s role as a convenient one-stop for local residents – allowing them to drop in to a nearby location for both daily grocery needs and wellness care.
H-E-B has always placed a premium on community, stepping up to help local residents in times of need. And though the chain as a whole draws an overwhelming majority of its visitors from nearby areas, those with clinics do so even more effectively. In H1 2024, some 83.6% of visitors to H-E-B came from less than 10 miles away. But for locations with primary care clinics, this share increased to 88.0%.
This suggests that wellness services are particularly appealing to nearby residents, strengthening H-E-B’s connection with local consumers even further. And for a grocery store centered on community engagement, the integration of health services into its offerings is proving to be a winning strategy.
H-E-B has been steadily expanding its primary care offerings since it launched the Wellness concept, adding two primary clinics at locations in Cypress, TX and Katy, TX in June 2023. Following the opening of these clinics – which operate Mondays through Fridays – both locations saw marked increases in the share of “Urban Cliff Dwellers” in their weekday captured markets. This STI: Landscape segment group encompasses families both with and without children, earning modest incomes and enjoying middle-class pleasantries.
Between June 2022 - May 2023, the share of “Urban Cliff Dwellers” in the weekday captured markets of the Cypress and Katy locations stood at 9.5% and 7.2%, respectively. But once the stores had clinics in place, those numbers jumped to 12.4% and 11.0%, respectively.
This increase in the stores’ reach among “Urban Cliff Dwellers” immediately following the clinics’ openings suggests that in addition to more affluent consumers, middle-class families also harbor considerable interest in these services. As more retailers continue making inroads into the healthcare sector, they may find similar success in attracting diverse groups of convenience-seeking shoppers.
As grocery stores lean into healthcare, they are transforming into multifaceted hubs that offer both essential health services and everyday shopping needs. Retailers like Kroger and H-E-B are reaping the benefits of boosted foot traffic, higher-income visitors, and strengthened community ties – while offering their shoppers convenience that helps streamline their daily routines.
