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Christmas is a time for gathering at home, but it’s also an occasion when many Americans celebrate by treating themselves to a nice meal out with family and friends. So with the holiday season drawing to close, we dove into the data to see which dining segments benefited from the holiday cheer.
The holiday season is all about home-cooked meals, and most restaurants close on Christmas Day – so it may come as no surprise that visits to dining establishments dropped significantly on December 25th, 2024. Fast-casual and quick-service restaurants (QSRs) saw the steepest traffic declines of 92.7% and 83.2%, respectively, compared to a year-to-date (YTD) daily average. Meanwhile, full-service restaurants (FSRs), aided primarily by all-day breakfast chains (see below), saw visits dip by a relatively modest 58.0%.
On Christmas Eve, too, restaurant foot traffic slowed, with visits to fast-casual restaurants and QSRs dipping to 35.5% and 25.1%, respectively, below average levels. Once again, FSR led the pack with a smaller 11.0% visit decline. And on December 26th – the day after the holiday – full-service restaurants saw a 7.0% visit uptick, while QSRs and fast-casual saw visits hover just under daily averages.
But digging deeper into the data reveals a more nuanced picture of the Christmas dining scene. Throughout the holiday, some FSR segments and chains enjoy outsized visit spikes – cementing their roles as key holiday destinations for families seeking to ditch the kitchen chaos and enjoy a hassle-free, celebratory meal.
On Christmas Eve (December 24th, 2024), for example, visits to upscale and fine dining chains surged by a remarkable 54.4% compared to a YTD daily average – fueled by visit spikes at premium chains such as Ruth’s Chris Steak House (129.8%) and Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar (125.9%). Breakfast spots also enjoyed a significant 18.4% Christmas Eve visit bump, likely bolstered by seasonal offerings like Denny’s Holiday Turkey Bundle. Meanwhile, traffic at eatertainment chains and other casual dining restaurants slowed considerably – though some casual dining brands like experiential The Melting Pot and Benihana also bustled with activity.
On Christmas Day, it was breakfast chains that once again led the day – staying open to serve up hearty meals to those looking for an affordable holiday outing. Visits to leading breakfast spots, including segment leaders like Waffle House, IHOP, and Denny’s soared by 53.6% compared to a YTD daily average, with Waffle House in particular stealing the show with a 109.6% visit boost.
Still, Christmas Day diners also flocked to other full-service chains that kept their doors open. Fogo de Chão, which attracted celebrants with an indulgent seasonal menu, saw visits soar by 111.4%. And after increasing by 63.2% on Christmas Eve (see above), visits to Benihana surged by 103.9% on December 25th, reaffirming the restaurant’s place in holiday dining lore (“A Benihana Christmas”, it seems, isn’t just for fans of The Office).
On December 26th, all the analyzed FSR segments enjoyed visit bumps, as many Americans took the day off to extend the holiday cheer. But it was eatertainment chains that saw the most pronounced traffic boost (26.2%), buoyed by families and friends looking to unwind with good food and games – many armed with holiday gift cards.
But plenty of other FSRs also thrived on Boxing Day with impressive mid-week traffic increases, including perennial favorites like P.F. Chang’s (+35.2%), The Cheesecake Factory (+28.1%), and Buffalo Wild Wings (+26.1%).
Food remains at the heart of the holiday experience – with elevated dining, affordable comfort food, and eatertainment all adding to the festive spirit. And in 2024, restaurants delivered very merry results. How will the industry continue to perform in the new year?
Follow Placer.ai’s data-driven dining analyses to find out.
Insomnia Cookies, one of the first companies to innovate in the cookie retail space, is known for its late opening hours and classic cookie flavors. The company started in 2003 by selling fresh-baked cookies to college students and now operates over 300 locations globally. Meanwhile, Crumbl Cookies – known for its celebrity collaborations and intensely loyal social media fanbase – came onto the scene in 2017 and has since grown to over 1,000 franchised locations.
Both chains are expanding, and diving into the foot traffic data reveals that overall visits as well as average visits per location are still growing for both chains – indicating that the cookie craze is still going strong.
Analyzing visit growth at smaller cookie chains also highlights the strong demand for creative cookie concepts. Crave Cookies (established in 2022), Dirty Dough (2018), Chip Cookies (2016), and Chip City Cookies (2017) are all enjoying strong foot traffic growth relative to 2023, thanks in part to ongoing expansions. Like Crumbl and Insomnia, Crave Cookies, Dirty Dough, Chip Cookies, and Chip City Cookies are all growing their fleet – and the steady stream of store openings has driven consistent YoY visit growth.
The increasing visits to both the larger chains and the smaller cookie brands suggests that the demand for cookies has yet to peak and is likely to continue in 2025. And with these chains still looking to grow, how can location analytics uncover the best opportunities for growth?
A closer look at the demographic makeup of visitors to the analyzed cookie chains suggests that some of these chains’ consistently strong performance may be due to the relative affluence of their consumer base: The STI: PopStats dataset reveals that all of the chains' captured markets – with the exception of Insomnia Cookies – have higher shares of wealthy consumer segments than their potential one. (A chain’s potential market is obtained by weighting each Census Block Group (CBG) in its trade area according to population size, thus reflecting the overall makeup of the chain’s trade area. A business’ captured market, on the other hand, is obtained by weighting each CBG according to its share of visits to the chain in question – and thus represents the profile of its actual visitor base).
Among the analyzed chains, Chip City Cookies attracted visitors from the highest-income areas, with a captured market median HHI of $117.3K – $16.0K higher than its potential market median HHI of $101.3K. Crumbl, Crave, Dirty Dough, Chip, and Chip City also drew visitors from higher-income areas relative to their potential market median HHI.
In contrast, Insomnia Cookies was the only chain with a lower median HHI in its captured market relative to its potential market, likely reflecting its positioning as a late-night snack option for college students.
The relatively high-income of cookie consumers may be partially due to the chains’ popularity with suburban segments: According to the Spatial.ai: PersonaLive dataset, almost all the analyzed chains saw a higher share of “Upper Suburban Diverse Families” and “Wealthy Suburban Families” in their captured markets compared to their potential market. Meanwhile, the shares of “Young Urban Singles” and “Young Professionals” were lower across nearly all the analyzed chains’ captured market relative to their potential markets.
And once again, Insomnia Cookies stood out – the company’s captured market included an outsized share of “Young Professionals” and “Young Urban Singles,” perhaps due to the company's positioning as a late-night college campus favorite.
Taken together, this data suggests that, unless a chain is focused on acquiring a specific audience segment – like Insomnia did when targeting younger, less affluent consumers such as college students – most cookie chains are most likely to thrive in affluent suburban markets.
The enjoyment provided by a sweet treat is universal – but will these cookie chains retain their edge as the dessert shop market grows increasingly crowded?
Visit Placer.ai to keep up-to-date with the latest data-driven dining insights.
Super Saturday, one of the busiest shopping days of the year, sees stores bustling with last-minute shoppers searching for gifts and holiday essentials. But how did this year's event measure up – and what trends and surprises emerged? We analyzed the data to find out.
On December 21st, 2024 retail foot traffic across the U.S. surged by 58.0% compared to the year-to-date daily average – reaffirming Super Saturday’s status as the ultimate day for eleventh-hour gift shopping. And in another sign that holiday season shopping has evolved into a multi-day affair, the pre-Christmas milestone once again outpaced Black Friday, with the shopping momentum extending throughout the weekend.
Despite this year’s strong performance, 2024’s Super Saturday spike didn’t quite match last year’s extraordinary showing (+74.4% above the 2023 daily average) – a predictable shortfall, given 2023’s unique confluence of circumstances, when Super Saturday coincided with “Christmas Eve Eve” (December 23rd). But with Sunday’s strong consumer turnout this year, and Monday, December 23rd offering even more opportunities for consumers to hit the stores, 2024’s pre-Christmas traffic could well surpass last year’s final tally.
Though Super Saturday outperformed Black Friday nationwide, the resonance of the milestone varied by region. In most of the Midwest – a traditional Black Friday hot spot – as well as Pennsylvania, Delaware, West Virginia, Kentucky, Alabama, and Tennessee, Black Friday drew bigger visit spikes than the Saturday before Christmas. But in the majority of states, including major Pacific and Mountain region markets, Super Saturday visits outpaced the post-Thanksgiving frenzy.
Diving into specific retail categories shows that Super Saturday’s impact also differed across segments.
Department stores emerged in 2024 as clear Super Saturday winners, with December 21st visits to the category soaring a remarkable 128.7% compared to an average Saturday this year – up from 119.4% in 2023 and 101.1% in 2022. Recreational & sporting goods, beauty & self care, hobbies, gifts & crafts, clothing, and shopping centers also delivered impressive Super Saturday performances, with relative visit boosts approaching, or in some cases even exceeding those seen last year.
Superstores, discount & dollar stores, and grocery stores, for their parts – all food-oriented segments that typically see significant visit boosts on the day before Christmas Eve – were especially impacted by last year’s Super Saturday/December 23rd “double whammy”. So unsurprisingly, their Super Saturday visit boosts were noticeably smaller this year. Electronics stores also saw a more moderate Super Saturday boost in 2024, perhaps due to this year’s more extended window for online shopping between Super Saturday and Christmas.
Still, all the analyzed categories saw bigger relative Super Saturday visit peaks than in 2022, when the milestone fell a full week before Christmas (December 17th), leaving shoppers plenty of time to place orders online or hit the stores during the following week.
Indeed, despite competing with last year’s “double whammy”, several department store brands saw significant year-over-year (YoY) Super Saturday visit growth – including Nordstrom (8.8%), Bloomingdales (4.7%), and JCPenney (1.3%). And the fun wasn’t limited to the department store sector: Other important gift-buying destinations, such as Ollie’s Bargain Outlet (7.3%), T.J. Maxx (4.6%), and Five Below (4.2%), also saw substantial YoY foot traffic increases – underscoring retail’s resilience in what remains a challenging environment.
While Black Friday remains the traditional kickoff for the holiday shopping frenzy, Super Saturday has carved out a prestigious role of its own. With strong national foot traffic, standout regional performances, and category-specific surprises, it’s clear that Super Saturday is more than just an encore – it’s a headliner in its own right. How will retail foot traffic continue to unfold during the tail end of 2024?
Follow Placer.ai’s data driven retail analyses to find out.
As prime destinations for everything from ready-made meals to affordable treats, today’s c-stores are a far cry from the pit stops of yesteryear. But how has the segment performed in recent months – and what lies ahead for it in 2025? We dove into the data to find out.
The c-store segment has undergone a transformation in recent years as many category leaders significantly elevated their food, beverage, and experiential offerings, leaning into growing demand for affordable, convenient groceries and takeaway. Today, convenience stores can often be exciting destinations in their own rights – and eager customers are paying attention.
Analyzing visitation trends to c-stores highlights just how successful this reinvention has been for the category. Monthly c-store visits have surged past the segment’s pre-pandemic baseline, with November 2024 c-store traffic 15.5% higher than in November 2018.
Still, the data also indicates that growth has plateaued – year-over-year (YoY) traffic for the c-store segment has remained relatively flat in 2024, with November 2024 visits down 3.3% YoY. But diving into the individual chains’ visitation patterns reveals that many chains, including Buc-ee’s, Circle K, Kwik Trip, Maverik, and are outperforming the wider segment and continuing to see impressive YoY growth – in large part thanks to aggressive expansions.
Looking at the most visited c-store chain in each CBSAs out of the chains analyzed in the graph above reveals that most CBSAs are home to a growing c-store chain. Maverik gets the most visits in the Southwest, while Kwik Trip’s is more popular in the Midwest. Buc-ees has a stronghold on the Dallas-Fort Worth metro area, while Circle K receives traffic all over the country. This suggests that demand for c-store offerings are growing nationwide – despite the plateauing of category-wide visits – and that c-store brands that can offer consumers innovative products and experiences are well-positioned to continue thriving in 2025 and beyond.
C-stores have demonstrated incredible resilience and adaptability, cementing their roles as key destinations for price-conscious shoppers eager to stretch their dollars – without compromising on quality. With regional markets still brimming with opportunities, which chains will lead the way in redefining convenience for 2025?
For more data-driven consumer insights, visit placer.ai.
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A decade after declaring bankruptcy, Detroit is coming back to life. The city is experiencing a resurgence that is bringing new energy to its streets – and an increase in the population of the wider CBSA.
We took a look at some of the data points highlighting the return of the Motor City to better understand what is driving the city’s growth.
Detroit is making a comeback – undergoing a transformation from a depressed city to a viable and exciting place to live and work. Between July 2022 and July 2023, the city’s population grew for the first time in 66 years, likely thanks to economic revitalization efforts, a thriving tech scene, and a newfound “cool factor” driving inbound migration. And looking at more recent numbers for the wider CBSA indicates that the trend is continuing – net migration to the Detroit-Warren-Dearborne CBSA was either neutral or positive every month between January and August 2024.
This sustained net migration suggests that this growth is not a one-off – Detroit is increasingly becoming a place recognized for the opportunities it offers, economic and otherwise.
Diving into the CBSAs feeding Detroit’s domestic migration boom reveals that many of the Motor City’s newest residents are coming from other areas in Michigan. Between May 2023 and May 2024, the top five feeder CBSAs for migration to Detroit were located in the Wolverine State, accounting for over a third (35.4%) of new Detroit residents. The influx of Michiganders into Detroit may mean that Detroit’s new residents come with an already strong regional identity and are invested in continuing to revitalize Detroit.
The data also reveals that many of Detroit’s new residents came from areas with higher median household incomes (HHI) than the city’s: Around 33.8% of incoming residents came from areas where the median HHI was $100K and up, compared to just 31.6% of Detroit residents in that HHI bracket. The influx of higher-income residents to the area highlights just how well Detroit has reinvented itself, becoming an increasingly desirable destination for wealthier individuals – a positive feedback loop that could continue driving its economic growth.
Detroit has been known by many names over the years – Motown, Detroit Rock City, The Paris of the West – and today, it’s earning a new title: the Comeback City. With a positive economic outlook, steady population growth, and a thriving cultural scene, the future looks bright for Detroit.
Stay up to date with the latest data-driven civic insights at Placer.ai.
Chicken restaurants have seen a huge surge in popularity over the past few years, from the epic Chicken Wars of 2021 to the impressive stateside success of international chains. And analyzing recent data indicates that fried chicken concepts are likely to continue as a top growth segment in 2025 as well.
We dove into the visit numbers to see how the segment is faring and highlighted some of the chains making the biggest splash.
In a dining segment that’s faced its fair share of challenges of late, chicken restaurant chains are standing out. Visits to QSR and fast-casual chicken chains consistently outperformed the wider fast-casual and QSR segments in terms of YoY visits, with the chicken category seeing a 4.3% YoY traffic boost in Q3 2024.
As diners continue to prioritize convenient and affordable meals in the face of continued economic uncertainty, chicken-centric restaurants – which offer both value and speed – seem well-positioned to continue thriving.
Diving into the visitation data for some of the category’s chicken leaders reveals that many of the bigger names in the game are not only growing their storefleet – they’re also continuing to drive more visits to each location.
Dave’s Hot Chicken, Raising Cane’s Chicken Fingers, and Church’s Texas Chicken each attract millions of visits to their brick-and-mortar location every month – and traffic is steadily growing thanks to the three chains' expanding footprint. And location analytics reveal that these brands are also seeing strong growth in monthly visits per location – highlighting the impressive demand for fried chicken and showcasing these companies’ ability to grow their consumer base through fleet expansions.
Another indication of the fried chicken market’s continued growth potential comes from the success of smaller brands flourishing alongside the category leaders. Chains like Pollo Campero, Urban Bird Hot Chicken, Layne’s Chicken Fingers, and Super Chix may not be competing with industry leaders yet – but their impressive YoY visit growth highlights consumers’ current appetite for fried chicken franchises.
The four analyzed chains enjoyed strong monthly visits in 2024 relative to 2023, with November 2024 visits elevated between 13.1% and 29.1% YoY.
Whether these smaller chains are fueling their growth by offering an innovative twist on the traditional fried bird or benefiting from homegrown loyalty, the bottom line remains clear. Despite operating in a market that's getting more crowded by the day, there's ample opportunity for new players to throw their feathered caps in the ring.
The fried chicken segment remains a high-demand category, evidenced by the segment’s strong visit performance over the past year. With fried chicken chains continuing to expand across the country, will they maintain their visit dominance? Or will the cluck stop somewhere?
Visit Placer.ai to stay up-to-date with the latest data-driven dining insights.
The positive retail momentum observed in Q1 2024 continued into Q2 – as stabilizing prices and a strong job market fostered cautious optimism among consumers. Year-over-year (YoY) retail foot traffic remained elevated throughout the quarter, with June in particular seeing significant weekly visit boosts ranging from 4.7% to 8.5%.
The robustness of the retail sector in Q2 was also highlighted by positive visit growth during the quarter’s special calendar occasions, including Mother’s Day (the week of May 6th) and Memorial Day (the week of May 27th). And though consumer spending may moderate as the year wears on, retail’s strong Q2 showing offers plenty of room for optimism ahead of back-to-school sales and other summer milestones.
On a quarterly basis, overall retail visits rose 4.2% in Q2. And diving into specific categories shows that value continued to reign supreme, with discount and dollar stores seeing the most robust YoY visit growth (11.2%) of any analyzed category.
Other essential goods purveyors, such as grocery store chains (7.6%) and superstores (4.6%), also outperformed the overall retail baseline. And fitness – a category deemed essential by many health-conscious consumers – outpaced overall retail with a substantial 6.0% YoY foot traffic increase.
The decidedly more discretionary home improvement industry performed less well than overall retail in Q2 – but in another sign of consumer resilience, it too experienced a YoY visit uptick. And overall restaurant foot traffic increased 2.6% YoY.
Discount and dollar stores enjoyed a strong Q2 2024, maintaining YoY visit growth above 10.0% for six out of the quarter’s 13 weeks. Only during the week of April 1st did the category see a temporary decline, likely the result of an Easter calendar shift. (The week of April 1st 2024 is being compared to the week of April 3rd, 2023, which included the run-up to Easter)
Some of this growth can be attributed to the continued expansion of segment leaders like Dollar General. But the category has also been bolstered by the emphasis consumers continue to place on value in the face of still-high prices and economic uncertainty.
Dollar General, which has been expanding both its store count and its grocery offerings, saw YoY visits increase between 9.1% and 15.9% throughout the quarter. Affordable-indulgence-oriented Five Below, which has also been adding locations at a brisk clip, saw YoY visits increase between 4.9% and 18.8%.
And though Dollar Tree has taken steps to rightsize its Family Dollar brand, the company’s eponymous banner – which caters to middle-income consumers in suburban areas – continued to grow both its store count and its visits in Q2.
Grocery store chains also performed well in Q2 2024 – experiencing strongly positive foot traffic growth throughout the quarter. Though the sector continues to face its share of challenges, stabilizing food-at-home prices and improvements in employee retention and supply chain management have helped propel the industry forward.
Diving into the performance of specific chains shows that within the grocery segment, too, price was paramount in Q2 2024 – with limited-assortment value grocery stores like Aldi and Trader Joe’s leading the way.
Traditional chains H-E-B and Food Lion (owned by Ahold Delhaize) – both of which are known for relatively low prices – outperformed the wider grocery sector with respective YoY foot traffic boosts of 11.4% and 8.7%. But ShopRite, Safeway (owned by Albertsons), Kroger, and Albertsons also drew more visits in Q2 2024 than in the equivalent period of last year.
Fitness has proven to be relatively inflation-proof in recent years – thriving even in the face of reduced discretionary spending and consumer cutbacks. Indeed, rising prices may have actually helped boost gym attendance, as people sought to squeeze the most value out of their monthly fees and replace pricy outings with already-paid-for gym excursions.
And despite lapping a remarkably strong 2023, visits to gyms nationwide remained elevated YoY in Q2 2024.
Diving into the data for some of the nation’s leading gyms shows that today’s fitness market has plenty of room at the top. Planet Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, Life Time Fitness, Orangetheory Fitness, and LA Fitness all experienced YoY visit growth in Q2 2024 – reflecting consumers’ enduring interest in all things wellness-related.
But it was EōS Fitness and Crunch Fitness – two value gyms that have been pursuing aggressive expansion strategies – that really hit it out of the park, with respective YoY foot traffic increases of 23.4% and 21.4%.
The week of April 1st saw a decline in YoY visits to superstores – likely attributable to the Easter calendar shift noted above. But the category quickly rallied, and with back-to-school shopping and major superstore sales events coming up this July, the category appears poised to enjoy continued success throughout the summer.
Within the superstore category, wholesale clubs continued to stand out – with Costco Wholesale, Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club enjoying YoY foot traffic growth ranging from 12.0% to 7.4%. But Target and Walmart also impressed with 4.6% and 4.0% YoY visit increases.
Inflation, elevated interest rates, and a sluggish real estate market have created a perfect storm for the home improvement industry, with spending on renovations in decline. The accelerated return to office has likely also taken its toll on the category, as people spend more time outside the home and have less availability to immerse themselves in DIY projects.
But despite these challenges, weekly YoY foot traffic to home improvement and furnishing chains remained elevated throughout much of the Q2 – with June and April seeing mostly positive YoY visit growth, and May hovering just below 2023 levels. This (modest) visit growth may be driven by consumers loading up on supplies for necessary home repairs, or by shoppers seeking materials for smaller projects. And given the importance of Q2 for the home improvement sector, this largely positive snapshot may offer some promise of good things to come.
Some chains within the home improvement category continued to perform especially well in Q2 2024 – with rapidly expanding, budget-oriented Harbor Freight Tools leading the pack. But Ace Hardware, Menards, The Home Depot, and Lowe’s also saw foot traffic increases in Q2, showcasing the category’s resilience in the face of headwinds.
Restaurants – including full-service restaurants (FSR), quick-service restaurants (QSR), fast-casual chains, and coffee chains – lagged behind grocery stores and other essential goods retailers in Q2 2024, as price-sensitive consumers prioritized needs over wants and ate at home more often.
Still, YoY restaurant foot traffic remained up throughout most of the quarter. And impressively, the sector saw a YoY visit uptick during the week of Mother’s Day (the week of May 6th, 2024, compared to the week of May 8th, 2023) – an important milestone for FSR.
The restaurant industry’s YoY visit growth was felt across segments – though fast-casual and coffee chains experienced the biggest visit boosts. Like in Q1 2024, fast-casual restaurants hit the sweet spot between indulgence and affordability, outpacing QSR in the wake of fast food price hikes. And building on the positive YoY trendline that began to emerge last quarter, full-service restaurants finished Q2 2024 with a 1.4% YoY visit uptick.
Chain expansion was the name of the restaurant game in Q2 2024, with several chains that have been growing their footprints outperforming segment averages – including CAVA, Chipotle Mexican Grill, Ziggi’s Coffee, California-based Philz Coffee, Raising Cane’s, Whataburger, and First Watch. Chili’s Grill and Bar also outpaced the full-service category average, aided by the revamping of its “3 for Me” menu.
Retailers and restaurants in Q2 2024 continued to face plenty of challenges, from inflation to rising labor costs and volatile consumer confidence. But foot traffic trends across industries – including both essential goods purveyors like grocery stores and more discretionary categories like home improvement and restaurants – suggest plenty of room for cautious optimism as 2024 wears on.
Return-to-office (RTO) trends have been closely watched over the past few years, with relevant stakeholders trying to puzzle out the impact remote and hybrid work have had on business operations and worker performance. And while visits to office buildings, overall, remain below pre-pandemic levels, office recovery varies from city to city – reflecting the complex and nuanced nature of regional economic trends, workforce preferences, and industry-specific needs.
This white paper harnesses location analytics to explore office recovery in the country’s second-largest economy – Los Angeles. The first part of the report is based on an analysis of foot traffic data from Placer.ai’s Los Angeles Office Index – an index comprising 100 office buildings in LA (including several in the greater metro area). The second part of the report broadens the lens to analyze visits by local employees to points of interest (POIs) corresponding to four major LA-area office districts: Century City, Downtown LA, Santa Monica, and Culver City. The white paper examines the impact that return-to-work mandates have had on visits to office buildings, discovers which demographic groups are driving the RTO, and explores the connection between commute time and return-to-office rates.
The return to office in Los Angeles has consistently lagged behind other major cities, underperforming nationwide recovery levels since the pandemic ground in-office work to a virtual halt. Still, the city’s office buildings are seeing a steady increase in visits, with foot traffic tending to spike at the beginning of each year. This indicates that even though office visits in LA are still below national averages, they are on a steady growth trajectory – a promising sign for stakeholders in the city.
A closer examination of Los Angeles office buildings also shows that despite the overall lag, some top-performing buildings in the LA metro area are defying the odds. Visits to the 20 local office buildings with the narrowest Q2 2024 post-COVID visit gaps were down just 8.7% in June 2024 compared to January 2019 – significantly outperforming the nationwide average.
So while overall office recovery in the city is still behind nationwide trends, these top-performing buildings indicate an optimistic outlook for the city’s office spaces.
Diving into the demographics of visitors to LA’s top-performing office buildings reveals an important insight: these buildings are attracting younger workers. This cohort has shown a stronger preference for in-person work compared to their older colleagues.
Analyzing the buildings’ captured markets with psychographics from AGS: Panorama reveals that these buildings are attracting visitors from areas with larger shares of "Emerging Leaders" and "Young Coastal Technocrats" than the broader metro area.
"Emerging Leaders'' – upper-middle-class professionals in early stages of their careers – make up 20.3% of households in the trade areas feeding visits to these top-performing buildings, compared to 14.9% in the broader LA CBSA. Similarly, "Young Coastal Technocrats," young and highly educated professionals in tech and professional services, account for 14.7% of households driving visits to the top-performing buildings, compared to only 12.1% in the broader area.
The trend suggests that companies in these high-performing office buildings employ many early-career professionals eager to accelerate their careers and work in-person with colleagues and mentors. This is a positive sign for the future of the office market in the LA metro area, indicating that it is attractive to key demographic groups that are likely to drive future growth and innovation.
Over the past few years, the debate regarding return-to-office mandates has been a heated one. Will employees follow return-to-office requirements? Can companies enforce the return to office after offering remote and hybrid work options? Recent location analytics data suggests that, at least in the Los Angeles metro area, some return-to-office mandates have been effective.
Three major tech companies – Activision Blizzard, TikTok, and SNAP Inc. – recently made their return-to-office policies stricter. Activision mandated a full return to the office in January 2024. TikTok has also intensified its return-to-office policy while seeking to expand its office presence in the greater Los Angeles area. And SNAP Inc. required employees to return to the office earlier this year as a condition of continued employment.
Visitation patterns at each of these companies' respective headquarters suggest that their policies have directly impacted visit frequency. Since the beginning of the year, the share of repeat office visits (defined as two or more visits per week) has increased for all three locations. Activision saw its share of repeat office visits grow from 52.1% in H1 2023 to 61.4% in the same period of 2024. TikTok’s repeat visits grew from 49.5% to 61.0%, and SNAP’s repeat visits increased from 36.6% to 42.8%.
These numbers highlight how return-to-office policies can lead to noticeable changes in office visit patterns and offer a blueprint to other businesses looking to foster a stronger in-office workforce.
Los Angeles is the second-largest metro area in the country, with several distinct business districts across its sprawling landscape. And a closer look at four major office hubs in the greater LA area – Century City, Downtown LA, Santa Monica, and Culver City – highlights how the office recovery can vary, not just by city or demographic, but on a neighborhood level.
Weekday visits by local employees to all four analyzed business districts have rebounded significantly since 2020 – though each area has followed its own particular trajectory.
Culver City, home to major businesses including Sony Pictures and Disney Digital Network, saw the least pronounced drop in employee visits during the early days of the pandemic. And in Q2 2024, weekday visits by local workers were down just 18.4% compared to Q1 2019.
Century City, on the other hand, saw the most marked drop in local employee foot traffic as the pandemic set in. But the district’s recovery trajectory has also been the most dramatic – with a Q2 2024 visit gap of just 28.5%, smaller than Downtown LA’s 29.7% visit gap. Perhaps capitalizing on this momentum, Century City is expanding its business district with the addition of a major new office building, set to be completed in 2026 and serve as the headquarters for Creative Artists Agency. Santa Monica, for its part, finished off Q2 2024 with a 23.3% visit gap.
Century City stands out within the Los Angeles metropolitan area for its dramatic decline and subsequent resurgence in local employee foot traffic. And looking at another metric of office recovery – employee commute distance – further underscores the district’s remarkable comeback.
The share of employees commuting to Century City from three to seven miles away has nearly returned to pre-COVID levels – suggesting a normalization of commuting patterns by local workers living in the area. In H1 2019, 33.5% of workers in Century City commuted between 3 and 7 miles to work; in 2022, that number had dropped to 29.8%. But by 2024, the share of visitors making that commute had grown to 32.5% – much closer to pre-COVID numbers.
Similarly, the region’s trade area size, which had contracted significantly in the wake of the pandemic, bounced back significantly in 2024. This serves as another indication of Century City’s rebound, cementing Century City’s status as a key business hub within the Los Angeles metropolitan area.
Five years after the upheaval caused by the pandemic, office spaces are still changing. Although the Los Angeles area has taken longer to recover than other major cities, analyzing local visitation data shows significant potential for the city’s business areas. With young employees leading the return-to-office charge, the city is poised to keep driving its strong economy and adjust to an evolving office environment.
Retail media networks (RMNs) have cemented their roles as the future – and present – of advertising. These networks enable advertisers to promote products and services through a retailer’s online properties and physical stores, when consumers are close to the point-of-purchase and primed to buy.
Today, we take a closer look at two newcomers to the retail media space: Costco Wholesale and Wawa. Both chains have an online presence – but both also excel at in-store experiences, offering unique opportunities for consumer engagement and exposure to new products.
This white paper dives into the data to explore some of the key advantages Costco and Wawa bring to the retail media table – and examine how the retailers’ physical reach can best be leveraged to help advertising partners find new audiences.
Wawa and Costco, the latest additions to the growing number of companies with retail media networks, exhibit significant advertising potential. Both brands boast a wide reach and diverse customer base, and both have access to troves of customer data through membership and loyalty programs.
Foot traffic data confirms the robust offline positioning of the two retailers. In Q1 2024, year-over-year (YoY) visits to Costco and Wawa increased 9.5% and 7.5% respectively – showing that their in-store engagement is on a growth trajectory.
And since consumers tend to spend a lot more time in-store than they do on retailers’ websites, Costco’s and Wawa’s strong brick-and-mortar growth positions them especially well to help advertisers reach new customers. In Q1 2024, the average visits to Costco’s and Wawa’s physical stores lasted 37.4 and 11.4 minutes respectively – compared to just 6.7 and 4.6 minutes for the chains’ websites. These longer in-store dwell times can be harnessed to maximize ad exposure and offer partners more extended opportunities for meaningful interactions with customers. Partners can also analyze the behavior and preferences of the two chains’ growing visitor bases to craft targeted online campaigns.
Costco’s retail media network will tap into the on- and offline shopping habits of its staggering 74.5 million members to inform targeted advertising by partners. And the retailer’s tremendous reach offers a significant opportunity to engage customers in-store.
But while Costco is dominant in some areas of the country, other markets are led by competitors like Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club. And advertisers looking to choose between competing RMNs or hone in on the areas where Costco is strongest can analyze Costco's performance and visit share – on a local or national level – to determine where to focus their efforts.
An analysis of the share of visits to wholesalers across the country reveals that Costco is the dominant wholesale membership club in much of the Western United States. But Costco also captures the largest share of wholesale club visits in many other major population centers, including important markets like New York, Chicago, Phoenix, and San Antonio. Costco’s widespread brick-and-mortar dominance offers prospective advertising partners a significant opportunity to connect with regional audiences in a wide array of key markets.
Another one of Costco’s key advantages as a retail media provider lies in its highly loyal and engaged audience. In May 2024, a whopping 41.4% of Costco’s visitors frequented the club at least twice during the month – compared to 36.6% for Sam’s Club and 36.0% for BJ’s Wholesale.
Moreover, Costco led in average visit duration compared to its competitors. In May 2024, customers spent an average of 37.1 minutes at Costco – surpassing even the impressive dwell times at Sam’s Club and BJ’s Wholesale Club.
YoY visits per location to Costco, too, were the highest of the analyzed wholesalers, all three of which saw YoY increases. These metrics further establish the wholesaler’s position as an effective retail media provider.
Even when foot traffic doesn't show a brand’s clear regional dominance, location analytics can reveal other metrics that signal its unique potential. Take the Richmond-Petersburg, VA, designated market area (DMA), for example. In May 2024, BJ’s Wholesale Club led the DMA with 41.2% of wholesale club visits, while Costco was a close second with 37.3% of visits.
But despite BJ’s lead in visit share, Costco's Richmond audience was more affluent. Costco's visitors came from trade areas with a median household income (HHI) of $93.2K/year, compared to $73.1K/year for Sam’s Club and $89.5K/year for BJ’s. Additionally, Costco drew a higher share of weekday visits than its counterparts.
Analyzing shopper habits and preferences across chains on a local level can provide crucial context for strategists working on media campaigns. Advertisers can partner with the brands most likely to attract consumers interested in their offerings, and identify where – and when – to focus their advertising efforts.
Convenience stores, or c-stores, are emerging as destinations in and of themselves – and their rising popularity among a wider-than-ever swath of consumers opens up significant opportunities in the retail advertising space.
Wawa is a relative newcomer to the world of retail media, after other c-stores like 7-Eleven and Casey’s launched their networks in 2022 and 2023. But despite coming a bit late to the party, the potential for Wawa’s Goose Media Network is significant – thanks to a cadre of highly loyal visitors who enjoy the physical shopping experience the c-store chain offers.
In May 2024, Wawa’s share of loyal visitors (defined as those who visited the chain at least twice in a month) was 60.1%. In contrast, other leading c-store chains operating in Wawa’s market area – QuickTrip and 7-Eleven, for example – saw loyalty rates of 56.0% and 47.9%, respectively, for the same period.
Additionally, Wawa visitors browsed the aisles longer than those at other convenience retailers. In May 2024, 39.9% of Wawa visitors stayed in-store for 10 minutes or longer, compared to 29.6% at QuickTrip and 25.7% at 7-Eleven.
Wawa's loyal customer base and longer visit durations make it a strong contender in the retail media space. By harnessing this high level of customer engagement, Wawa can draw in advertisers and develop targeted marketing strategies that resonate with its dedicated shoppers.
Wawa has been on an expansion roll over the past few years, with plans to open at least 280 stores over the next decade in North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. The chain has also been steadily increasing its footprint in Florida – between January 2019 and April 2024, Wawa grew from 167 Sunshine State locations to 280, with more to come.
And analyzing changes in Wawa’s visit share in one of Florida’s biggest markets – the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale DMA – shows how successful the chain’s local expansion has been. Between January 2019 and April 2024, Wawa more than doubled its category-wide visit share in the Miami area (i.e. the portion of total c-store visits in the DMA going to Wawa) – from 19.0% to nearly 40.0%.
A look at changes in Wawa’s Miami-Ft. Lauderdale trade area shows that the chain’s growing visit share has been driven by an expanding market and an increasingly diverse audience.
In April 2019, there were some 55 zip code tabulation areas (ZCTAs) in the Miami-Ft. Lauderdale DMA from which Wawa drew at least 3,000 visits per month. By April 2021, this figure grew to 96 – and by April 2024, it reached 129.
Over the same period, the share of “Family Union” households in Wawa’s local captured market – defined by the Experian: Mosaic dataset as families comprised of middle-income, blue collar workers – nearly doubled, growing from 7.4% in April 2019 to 14.4% in April 2024.
Retail media networks that make it easier to introduce shoppers to products and brands that are closely aligned with their preferences and habits offer a win-win-win for retailers, advertisers, and consumers alike. And Costco and Wawa are extremely well-positioned to make the most of this opportunity.
