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We’ve seen mall operators investing in tenants, such as when Simon and Brookfield invested in JCPenney. Of late, outlet operators such as Tanger are scooping up open-air mixed use centers. Walmart’s latest move to purchase Monroeville Mall in Allegheny, PA is also turning heads. What do all these purchases have in common? A desire to diversify.
Over the years, Walmart has experimented beyond retail by adding grocery, optical, pharmacy, and healthcare. Walmart is now working on the Monroeville Mall with Cypress Equities, who position themselves as partners for “distinctive retail, residential, hospitality and mixed-use opportunities.’’ Analyzing visits to some of their properties – including Bayshore Mall in Glendale, WI and Legacy Square in Linden, NJ – reveals Cypress’ strong track record in managing successful shopping centers.
Legacy Square in particular saw impressive visit growth in 2024 – perhaps thanks to Cypress Equity’s investments in the center’s recent renovation. The project included opening a Walmart supercenter anchor followed by the addition of popular retailers and dining chains as well as a c-store and a medical facility – services that are increasingly coming to mixed-use centers.
And the data suggests that the redevelopment has been a success: In 2024, a variety of retailers and dining chains at Legacy Square – including Walmart, Starbucks, Verizon, and Mattress Firm – received significantly more visits per square foot than the New Jersey statewide average for each chain. The success of the Legacy Square redevelopment sheds some light on Walmart’s choice to partner with Cypress Equities on the Monroeville mall project.
The current performance at Monroeville Mall shows that visitation to the mall has declined most months compared to last year, with the exception of November when visits were likely boosted by a strong Black Friday.
At the same time, the mall’s trade area includes a wide array of consumer segments – from budget conscious singles to affluent families to middle income older folks – suggesting that the mall has significant potential to increase its visitations from a variety of audience segments.
Walmart's strategic acquisition and redevelopment of Monroeville Mall, in partnership with Cypress Equities, reflects a broader industry trend towards diversification and the creation of mixed-use destinations. By leveraging Cypress's proven success in revitalizing properties like Legacy Square, Walmart may well transform a struggling mall into a thriving community hub, catering to a diverse demographic and further solidifying its position in the evolving retail landscape.
It almost feels like a throwback to the COVID era, with more people raising backyard chickens – but this time, it’s driven by skyrocketing egg prices due to bird flu. So, what’s the trickle-down effect on food and retail establishments? Breakfast-focused restaurants, where eggs are a staple – from classic dishes like eggs with bacon, sausage, potatoes, and toast to essential ingredients in pancakes and waffles – are feeling the impact most acutely.
According to a recent USDA report, retail egg prices increased by 13.8% in January 2025, following an 8.4% rise in December 2024. The agency has now revised upwards its initial forecast of a 20% increase in egg prices for 2025 and now projects a 41.1% rise for the year. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on the average price of a dozen large Grade A eggs also highlights the significant nature of this recent price surge from a historical perspective.
To offset this unprecedented surge in egg prices, several breakfast chains have implemented surcharges on egg-based menu items in February. Waffle House introduced a 50-cent surcharge per egg across all its locations. Similarly, Denny's added surcharges across its 1,500 locations, with fees varying based on regional impacts. Other establishments, such as Biscuitville, also imposed similar surcharges to manage escalating expenses. These measures reflect the industry's efforts to navigate the financial strain caused by the egg shortage while striving to maintain menu affordability for customers.
Broadly speaking, foot traffic across much of the retail and dining sector declined as February progressed, likely due to factors such as post-holiday spending pullbacks, decreased consumer confidence, weather, and other macroeconomic conditions. However, breakfast-first chains–including IHOP, Denny’s, Waffle House, Broken Yolk Cafe, Huddle House, Bob Evans Restaurant, Another Broken Egg Cafe, and Silver Diner have underperformed other retail and restaurant chains in our Placer 100 index.
Year-to-date weekly visitation trends for the largest breakfast-focused chains show that First Watch and Silver Diner are the only brands with positive year-over-year growth. In contrast, chains that implemented egg price surcharges like Waffle House and Denny’s have understandably underperformed compared to the broader category.
Silver Diner and First Watch also pull visitors from higher-income trade areas (below), which allows them to absorb costs more effectively without risking a decline in visitation.
The surge in egg prices, which has compelled many breakfast chains to introduce surcharges, already seems to be having an impact on visitation trends to egg-forward restaurant chains. Dining concepts catering to higher-income consumers – or those less reliant on breakfast visitation – are likely to have more success weathering the current challenges.
For more data-driven dining insights, visit placer.ai.
With Q1 2025 in full swing, we dove into the data to see how Darden Restaurants, Inc. – the force behind Olive Garden, LongHorn Steakhouse, and eight additional brands – fared throughout 2024 and how things are shaping up at the start of 2025.
During the three month period ending November 24th, 2024, Darden reported a 2.4% year-over-year (YoY) increase in same-restaurant sales, even as consumers continued trading down and cutting back on discretionary spending. And though Darden hasn’t been immune to the headwinds affecting the full-service restaurant sector – its overall foot traffic dipped 1.7% in Q4 2024 – the company still closed out the year with a 1.0% increase in visits compared to 2023.
With more than 900 locations nationwide, Olive Garden is Darden’s biggest brand by far. And a look at recent monthly visitation trends shows that despite challenges, the chain held its own in 2024. On a yearly basis, visits to Olive Garden remained essentially flat in 2024 (-0.3% YoY). And several months saw positive visit growth – likely bolstered by the chain’s popular Never Ending Pasta Bowl promotion, which ran from August 26th (a week earlier for club members) to November 17th. (The chain’s October YoY visit dip may reflect a different promotional schedule in 2023, when the offer began in mid- or late-September, driving heightened demand in October.)
But Darden’s most consistent growth driver over the past several months has been LongHorn Steakhouse. The casual dining steakhouse posted a 4.4% YoY visit increase in 2024, with six of the past eight months showing positive growth. And though February 2025 saw a minor weather- and calendar-driven dip, a strong rebound during the week of February 24th suggests continued momentum.
Taking a broader look at LongHorn Steakhouse’s trajectory reveals just how consistently the chain has outperformed. Since Q1 2023, LongHorn has posted steady YoY quarterly visit gains, each quarter building on the momentum of the last. Affordable, high-quality steaks continue to resonate especially well with today’s consumers, as they seek to stretch their dining dollars to the max.
All things considered, Darden has proven remarkably resilient in a dining landscape marked by cautious consumer spending. As 2025 unfolds, expect the company’s dual emphasis on iconic promotions at Olive Garden and consistent value-driven steak offerings at LongHorn to remain key to its continued success. And if current trends hold, Darden is poised to further solidify its standing as one of the industry’s top full-service dining operators.
For more data-driven dining insights, visit placer.ai.
How did the activewear and sporting goods segment fare throughout 2024? We dove into foot traffic for Nike, lululemon, and DICK’S Sporting Goods to find out.
Nike experienced strong visitation throughout 2024, with increases in all but one quarter. Visits were especially elevated in the first half of the year, likely related to the store fleet expansion in the second half of 2023. While visits slowed in Q4, Nike has also recently returned to its wholesale partnerships, allowing continued engagement across channels.
The brand also excelled during the holiday season, with December delivering the busiest weeks of the year. Weekly visits to the brand spiked 76.7% on December 16th and 75.7% on December 23rd relative to 2024’s weekly visit average, with the first spike possibly driven by gift-seekers, and December 23rd’s spike likely driven by Nike’s End of Season sale. The week of Black Friday also provided a visit boost of 51.2%. These visit increases highlight the impact of sales and special retail occasions on the brand, proving that consumers remain highly responsive to promotions.
Lululemon enjoyed steady visit growth in all quarters of 2024, with Q4 2024 experiencing visit growth of 2.4% YoY. These numbers come on the heels of the brands’ successful expansion and growth plan, which saw lululemon focus on product innovation and increase its retail footprint both in local and international markets.
The brand also excelled during the holiday season, with the week of December 23rd marking lululemon’s highest-visited week of the year as traffic increased by 104% compared to the 2024 weekly average. This increase may be related to lululemon’s highly anticipated End of Year sale – one of the few occasions when the brand offers store-wide discounts – or by last-minute holiday shoppers. Lululemon tends to limit its sales events, creating a sense of urgency around them. By maintaining a “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it” approach to discounts, lululemon can create major visit spikes when sales take place, driving significant shopper engagement – and foot traffic.
DICK’S Sporting Goods emerged as a major retail winner during the pandemic and its aftermath, delivering strong foot traffic for several consecutive years. And while YoY visits began to slow in late 2023 and throughout 2024, the declines were relatively minor.
Some of the visit declines may be attributed to store closures over the past year, including high-profile locations such as the South Loop store in Chicago. Still, DICK’S remains a dominant player in the sporting goods sector, continuing to draw strong consumer interest.
Like Nike and lululemon, the holiday season provided DICK’S with a significant visit boost – visits surging 96.0% and 61.5% during the weeks of December 16th and 23rd, respectively, compared to the 2024 weekly visit average. But DICK’S also got a major visit boost during the back-to-school season, reinforcing its year-round relevance.
Nike, Lululemon, and DICK’S are well-positioned as 2025 begins, with new marketing strategies keeping both the brands and their audiences engaged. Will these visitation trends continue throughout 2025?
Visit Placer.ai to keep up with the latest data-driven retail insights.
The Placer 100 Index for Retail & Dining is a curated, dynamic list of leading chains operating across the United States. It includes chains from a variety of industries, such as superstores, grocery, dollar stores, apparel, full-service dining, QSR, and more.
In February 2025, foot traffic to the Placer 100 Index for Retail & Dining declined by 4.7% year over year (YoY), marking the steepest drop in the past twelve months. And although the comparison to a 29-day February in 2024 drove most of the dip, other factors also contributed to the negative trend. Shaky consumer confidence may have caused some consumers to cut down on shopping and dining out. And the severe winter storms and polar vortex that impacted much of the United States last month likely contributed significantly to the decline, especially given the comparison to an unusually mild February 2024.
An analysis of February 2025 foot traffic trends across the continental United States highlights the likely impact of last month’s extreme weather on retail and dining visitation patterns. While February 2025 was slightly warmer than average nationwide, temperature fluctuations varied significantly by region. Parts of the Southwest and Southeast experienced unusually high temperatures, whereas the Midwest, Central, and Northeast regions faced successive snow storms and sharp temperature drops. These regions also experienced the steepest foot traffic declines, with Kansas seeing the largest drop (-9.0%). By contrast, states with milder climates – such as New Mexico, California, Arizona, and Florida – experienced more modest decreases in visits, though they were still affected by February 2025’s shorter calendar.
Still, even amidst the inclement weather, some chains bucked the trend, enjoying YoY visit boosts last month. Chili’s Grill & Bar maintained its top position for both total visits and average visits per location, continuing the winning streak it sparked with its enhanced 3 For Me value meal in late April 2024. Barnes & Noble also did well, as did value-oriented top performers like Crunch Fitness, Aldi, Trader Joe’s, Five Below, and Ollie’s Bargain Outlet. CVS and LA Fitness also saw positive YoY average visit-per-location growth, highlighting the success of recent rightsizing moves. And several other chains, including California-based In-N-Out Burger, also emerged ahead of the pack.
Bath & Body Works was another major retailer to claim a top spot in February’s Placer 100 Index, with both overall visits (+8.7%) and average visits per location (+6.6%) elevated YoY – bolstered in part by a wildly successful Disney collaboration that clearly resonated.
On February 16th, 2024, the body care and fragrances retailer launched a line of Disney Princess-inspired fragrances, available both in-store and online. Enthusiastic fans of Cinderella, Tiana, Ariel, Belle, Moana, and Jasmine flocked to the chain, resulting in a remarkable 69.3% increase in visits on the launch day compared to an average year-to-date Sunday. And traffic remained elevated on the following Sunday as well (+10.0%), underscoring the power of a well-chosen collab to overcome headwinds and draw crowds.
The February 2025 Placer 100 Index highlights how severe winter weather can significantly impact foot traffic, with the hardest-hit regions experiencing the steepest declines. But the performance of chains like Chili's and Bath & Body Works shows the power of strategic initiatives, such as value deals and compelling collaborations, to maintain strong visit numbers in the face of challenges. What lies ahead for retail and dining in the rest of 2025?
Follow Placer.ai's data-driven retail analyses to find out.
Discount and Dollar Stores specialize in bargain discretionary offerings –but their role as go-to destinations for essentials is not to be overlooked. We dove into the data for Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Five Below to find out what drove their success in 2024 and what may lie ahead for the chains in 2025.
In 2024, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Five Below continued to expand their real estate footprints, contributing to the chains’ YoY visit growth.
Since the start of H2 2024, all three chains saw consistent monthly visit increases compared to the previous year, contributing to overall YoY traffic increases of 5.1%, 5.2%, and 12.8% for Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Five Below, respectively. And the visit growth has continued in 2025. (The February 2025 minor visit YoY gap for Dollar General can be attributed to the calendar shift and comparison to a 29-day February in 2024).
As Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Five Below plan to continue investing in their physical footprints in 2025 by adding stores and remodeling existing ones, visits are likely to continue on a growth trajectory.
Diving into the consumer behavior of visitors to Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Five Below reveals that at least some of the chains’ visit growth could be due to an increase in repeat visits.
Since Q1 2023, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Five Below’s average visits per visitor have steadily increased compared to the previous year. In other words, the chains’ visitors are visiting more frequently than they did in the past.
This pattern may be driven by consumers’ continued prioritization of value – a trend that doesn’t look to be abating in the near-term.
Discount and dollar stores have long been hailed as treasure hunt destinations for non-necessities, but drilling down to the daily visit date reveals that consumers may be turning to these retailers for more daily essentials.
In 2024, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Five Below’s shares of weekday visits (Monday-Thursday) increased compared to 2023. And Five Below, perhaps best-known for its discretionary offerings in mostly durable goods categories, saw the largest boost in weekday visits of the three chains (from 45.1% in 2023 to 46.4% in 2024). This could be evidence of growing demand in the retailer’s consumable categories like snacks, health, and beauty – essential products that consumers might need to replenish mid-week.
And in part to meet the demand for everyday essentials, Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Five Below have expanded product assortments – perhaps positioning themselves for continued weekday visit growth.
Dollar and Discount in 2025
Dollar General, Dollar Tree, and Five Below’s success in 2024 was likely driven by a variety of factors including expanding store networks, consumers’ focus on value, and the rising demand for essentials. As these trends are likely to prevail in 2025, discount and dollar chains appear poised to sustain foot traffic growth.
For more data-driven retail insights, Visit Placer.ai.
Note: This report is based on an analysis of visitation patterns for regional and nationwide grocery chains and does not include single-location stores.
Grocery stores, superstores, and dollar stores all carry food products – and American consumers buy groceries at all three. But even in today’s crowded food retail environment, traditional grocery chains have a special role to play. With their primary focus on stocking a wide variety of fresh foods, these chains serve a critical function in offering consumers access to healthy options.
But visualizing the footprints of major grocery chains across the continental U.S. – alongside those of discount & dollar stores – shows that the geographical distribution of grocery chains remains uneven.
In some areas, including parts of the Northeast, Midwest, South Atlantic, and Pacific regions, grocery chains are plentiful. But in others – some with population centers large enough to feature a robust dollar store presence – they remain in short supply.
And though many superstore locations also provide a full array of grocery offerings, they, too, are often sparsely represented in areas with low concentrations of grocery chains.
For grocery chain operators seeking to expand, these underserved grocery markets can present a significant opportunity. And for civic stakeholders looking to broaden access to healthy food across communities, these areas highlight a policy challenge. For both groups, identifying underserved markets with significant untapped demand can be a critical first step in deciding where to focus grocery development initiatives.
This white paper dives into the location analytics to examine grocery store availability across the United States – and harnesses these insights to explore potential demand in some underserved markets. The report focuses on locations belonging to regional or nationwide grocery chains, rather than single-location stores.
Last year, grocery chains accounted for 43.4% of nationwide visits to food retailers – including grocery chains, superstores, and discount & dollar stores. But drilling down into the data for different areas of the country reveals striking regional variation – offering a glimpse into the variability of grocery store access throughout the U.S. In some states, grocery stores attract the majority of visit share to food retailers, while in others, dollar stores or superstores dominate the scene.
The ten states where residents were most likely to visit grocery chains in early 2024 – Oregon, Vermont, Washington, Massachusetts, California, Maryland, New Hampshire, Connecticut, New Jersey, and Rhode Island – were all on the East or West Coasts. In these states, as well as in Nevada and New York, grocery chain visits accounted for 50.0% or more of food retail visits between January and April 2024.
Meanwhile, residents of many West North Central and South Central states were much less likely to do their food shopping at grocery chains. In North Dakota, for example, grocery chain visits accounted for just 11.7% of visits to food retailers over the analyzed period. And in Mississippi, Oklahoma, and Arkansas, too, grocery stores drew less than 20.0% of the overall food retail foot traffic.
But low grocery store visit share does not necessarily indicate a lack of consumer interest or ability to support such stores. And in some of these underserved regions, existing grocery chains are seeing outsize visit growth – indicating growing demand for their offerings.
North Dakota, the state with the smallest share of visits going to grocery chains in early 2024, experienced a 9.1% year-over-year (YoY) increase in grocery visits during the same period – nearly double the nationwide baseline of 5.7%. Other states with low grocery visit share, including Nebraska, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and New Mexico, also experienced higher-than-average YoY grocery chain visit growth. This suggests significant untapped potential for grocery stores and a market that is hungry for more.
Alabama is one state where grocery chains accounted for a relatively small share of overall food retail foot traffic in early 2024 (just 28.9%) – but where YoY visit growth outperformed the nationwide average. And digging down even further into local grocery store visitation trends provides further evidence that at least in some places, low grocery visit share may be due to inadequate supply, rather than insufficient demand.
In Central Alabama, for example, many residents drive at least 10 miles to reach a local grocery chain. And several parts of the state, both rural and urban, feature clusters of grocery stores that draw customers from relatively far away.
But zooming in on YoY visitation data for local grocery chain locations shows that at least some of these areas likely harbor untapped demand. Take for example the Camden, Butler, Thomasville, and Gilbertown areas (circled in the map above). The Piggly Wiggly location in Butler, AL, drew 40.1% of visits from 10 or more miles away. The same store experienced a 23.3% YoY increase in visits in early 2024 – far above the statewide baseline of 6.6%. Meanwhile, the Super Foods location in Thomasville, AL, which drew 52.8% of visits from at least 10 miles away – experienced YoY visit growth of 12.3%. The Piggly Wiggly locations in Camden, AL and Gilbertown, AL saw similar trends.
At the same time, trade area analysis of the four locations reveals that the grocery stores had little to no trade area overlap during the analyzed period. Each store served specific areas, with minimal cannibalization among customer bases.
These metrics appear to highlight robust demand for grocery stores in the region – grocery visits are growing at a stronger rate than those in the overall state, people are willing to make the drive to these stores, and each one has little to no competition from the others.
While significant opportunity exists across the country, many communities still face considerable challenges in supporting large grocery stores. Though South Carolina has a significant number of grocery chain locations, for example, certain areas within the state have low access to food shopping opportunities. And one local government – Greenville County – is considering offering tax breaks to grocery stores that set up shop in the area, to improve local fresh food accessibility.
Placer.ai migration and visitation data shows that Greenville County is ripe for such initiatives: the county’s population grew by 4.8% over the past four years – with much of that increase a result of positive net migration. And YoY visits to Greenville County Grocery Stores have consistently outperformed state averages: In April 2024, grocery visits in the county grew by 6.1% YoY, while overall visits to grocery stores in South Carolina grew by 4.2%. This growth – both in terms of grocery visits and population – points to rising demand for grocery stores in Greenville County.
Analyzing the Greenville County grocery store trade areas with Spatial.ai’s FollowGraph dataset – which looks at the social media activity of a given audience – offers further insight into local grocery shoppers’ particular demand and preferences.
Consumers in Greenville-area grocery store trade areas, for example, are more likely to be interested in “Mid-Range Grocery Stores” (including brands like Aldi, Kroger, and Lidl) than residents of grocery store trade areas in the state as a whole. This metric provides further evidence of local demand for grocery chains – and offers a glimpse into the kinds of specific grocery offerings likely to succeed in the area.
Grocery stores remain essential services for many consumers, providing a place to pick up fresh produce, meat, and other healthy food options. And many areas in the country are ripe for expansion, with eager customer bases and growing demand. Identifying such areas with location analytics can help both grocery store operators and municipal stakeholders provide their communities and customer bases with an enhanced grocery shopping experience that caters to local preferences.
Following COVID-era highs, domestic migration levels have begun to taper off – with the number of Americans moving within the U.S. hitting an all-time low, according to some sources, in 2023.
To be sure, some popular COVID-era destinations – including Idaho, the Carolinas, and Utah – saw their net domestic migration continue to rise, albeit at a slower pace. But other states which had been relocation hotspots between February 2020 and February 2023, such as Wyoming and Texas, experienced negative net migration between February 2023 and February 2024.
Analyzing CBSA-level migration data reveals differences and similarities between last year’s migration patterns and COVID-era trends.
Between February 2020 and February 2023, seven out of the ten CBSAs posting the largest population increases due to inbound domestic migration were located in Florida. But between February 2023 and February 2024, the top 10 CBSAs with the largest net migrated percent of the population were significantly more diverse. Only four out of the ten CBSAs were located in Florida, and several new metro areas – including Provo-Orem, UT, Kingsport-Bristol, TN-VA, and Boulder, CO – joined the list.
This white paper leverages a variety of location intelligence tools – including Placer.ai’s Migration Report, Niche Neighborhood Grades, and ACS Census Data location intelligence – to analyze two migration hotspots. Specifically, the report focuses on Daytona Beach, FL, which already appeared on the February 2020 to February 2023 list and has continued to see steady growth, and Boulder, CO, which has emerged as a new top destination. The data highlights the potential of CBSAs with unique value propositions to continue to attract newcomers despite ongoing housing headwinds.
The Boulder, CO CBSA has emerged as a domestic migration hotspot: The net influx of population between February 2023 and February 2024 (i.e. the total number of people that moved to Boulder from elsewhere in the U.S., minus those that left) constituted 3.1% of the CBSA’s February 2024 population.
The strong migration is partially due to the University of Colorado, Boulder’s growing popularity. But the metro area has also emerged as a flourishing tech hub, with Google, Apple, and Amazon all setting up shop in town, along with a wealth of smaller start ups.
Most domestic relocators tend to remain within state lines – so unsurprisingly, many of the recent newcomers to Boulder moved from other CBSAs in Colorado. But perhaps due to Boulder’s robust tech ecosystem, many of the new residents also came from Los Angeles, CA (6.6%) and San Francisco, CA (3.4%) – other CBSAs known for their thriving tech scenes.
At the same time, looking at the other CBSAs feeding migration to the area indicates that tech is likely not the only draw attracting people to Boulder: A significant share of relocators came from the CBSAs of Chicago, IL (6.1%), Dallas , TX (4.9%), and New York, NY (3.9%). The move from these relatively urbanized CBSAs to scenic Boulder indicates that some of the domestic migration to the area is likely driven by people looking for better access to nature or a general lifestyle change.
According to the U.S. News & World Report, Boulder ranked in second place in terms of U.S. cities with the best quality of life. Using Niche Neighborhood Grades to compare quality of life attributes in the Boulder CBSA and in the areas of origin dataset highlights some of the draw factors attracting newcomers to Boulder beyond the thriving tech scene.
The Boulder CBSA ranked higher than the metro areas of origin for “Public Schools,” “Health & Fitness,” “Fit for Families,” and “Access to Outdoor Activities.” These migration draw factors are likely helping Boulder attract more senior executives alongside younger tech workers – and can also explain why relocators from more urban metro areas may be choosing to make Boulder their home.
Boulder’s strong inbound migration numbers over the past year – likely driven by its flourishing tech scene and beautiful natural surroundings – reveal the growth potential of certain CBSAs regardless of wider housing market headwinds.
Florida experienced a population boom during the pandemic, and several CBSAs in the state – including the Deltona-Daytona Beach-Ormond Beach, FL CBSA – have continued to welcome domestic relocators in high numbers. The CBSA’s anchor city, Daytona Beach – known for its Bike Week and NASCAR’s Daytona 500 – has also seen positive net migration between February 2023 and February 2024.
Americans planning for retirement or retirees operating on a fixed income are likely particularly interested in optimizing their living expenses. And given Daytona’s relative affordability, it’s no surprise that the median age in the areas of origin feeding migration to Daytona Beach tends to be on the older side.
According to the 2021 Census ACS 5-Year Projection data, the median age in Daytona Beach was 39.0. Meanwhile, the weighted median age in the areas of migration origin was 42.6, indicating that those moving to Daytona Beach may be older than the current residents of the city.
Zooming into the migration data on a zip code level also highlights Daytona Beach’s appeal to older Americans: The zip code welcoming the highest rates of domestic migration was 32124, home to both Jimmy Buffet’s Latitude Margaritaville’s 55+ community and the LPGA International Golf Club, host of the LPGA Tour. The median age in this zip code is also older than in Daytona Beach as a whole, and the weighted age in the zip codes of origin was even higher – suggesting that older Americans and retirees may be driving much of the migration to the area.
Looking at the migration draw factors for Daytona Beach also suggests that the city is particularly appealing to retirees, with the city scoring an A grade for its “Fit for Retirees.” But the city of Daytona Beach is also an attractive destination for anyone looking to elevate their leisure time, with the city scoring higher than Daytona Beach’s cities of migration origin for “Weather,” “Access to Restaurants,” or “Access to Nightlife.”
Like Boulder, Daytona’s scenery – including its famous beaches – is likely attracting newcomers looking to spend more time outdoors and improve their work-life balance. And like Boulder and its tech scene, Daytona Beach also has an extra pull factor – its affordability and fit for older Americans – that is likely helping the area continue to attract new residents, even as domestic migration slows down nationwide.
Although the overall pace of domestic migration has slowed, analyzing location intelligence data reveals several migration hotspots amidst the overall cooldown. Boulder and Daytona Beach each have a set of unique draw factors that seem to attract different populations – and the success of these regions highlights the many paths to migration growth in 2024.
The Fitness industry was a major post-pandemic winner. Visits to gyms across the country surged as stay-at-home orders ended and people returned to their in-person workout routines. And even as consumers reduced discretionary spending in the face of inflation, they kept going to the gym – finding room in their budgets for the chance to embrace wellness and get in shape while interacting with other people.
But no category can sustain such unabated growth forever – and as the segment inevitably stabilizes, gyms will need to stay nimble on their feet to maintain their competitive edge.
This white paper takes a closer look at the state of Fitness as the category transitions into a more stable growth phase following two years of outsize post-pandemic demand. The report digs into the location analytics to reveal how the Fitness space has changed – and what strategies gyms can adopt to stay ahead of the pack.
*This report excludes locations within Washington state due to local legislation.
Monthly visits to the Fitness category have grown consistently year over year (YoY) since early 2022, when COVID subsided and gyms returned to full capacity. And the segment is still doing remarkably well. Even in January and March 2024 – when visits were curtailed by an Arctic blast and by the Easter holiday weekend – YoY Fitness visits remained positive, despite the comparison to an already strong 2023.
Still, recent months have seen smaller YoY increases than last year, indicating that the Fitness category is entering a more normalized growth phase.
By keeping a close watch on evolving consumer preferences, fitness chains can uncover new opportunities for growth and adaptation within a stabilizing market – including leaning into increasingly popular dayparts.
Examining the evolving distribution of gym visits by daypart over the past six years shows that major shifts were brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between Q1 2019 and Q1 2021, as remote work took hold, gyms saw their share of 2:00 PM - 5:00 PM visits increase from 15.8% to 18.6%. Though this trend partially reversed as the pandemic receded, afternoon visits remained elevated in Q1 2024 compared to pre-COVID – likely a reflection of hybrid work patterns that leave people free to take an exercise break during their workdays.
At the same time, the share of morning visits to fitness chains (between 8:00 AM and 11:00 AM) dropped from 20.5% in Q1 2019 to 17.2% in Q1 2024, while evening visits (between 8:00 PM and 11:00 PM) increased from 11.3% to 13.2%.
Gyms that recognize this changing behavior can adapt to new workout preferences – whether by incentivizing morning visits, scheduling popular classes mid-afternoon, or offering extended evening hours.
In fact, the data indicates that gyms that are leaning into the evening workout trend are already finding success: Of the top 12 most-visited gym chains in the country, those that saw bigger increases in their shares of evening visits also tended to see greater YoY visit growth.
EōS Fitness and Crunch Fitness, for example, have seen their shares of evening visits grow by 5.5% and 3.4%, respectively, since COVID – and in Q1 2024, their YoY visits grew by 29.0% and 21.8%, respectively. Other chains, including 24 Hour Fitness and Chuze Fitness, experienced similar shifts in visit patterns. At the same time, LA Fitness saw just a minor increase in its share of evening visits between Q1 2019 and Q1 2024, and a correspondingly small increase in YoY visits.
As the evening workout slot gains popularity, gym operators that can adapt to these new trends and encourage evening visits may see significant benefits in the years to come.
Diving into demographic data for the analyzed gym chains sheds light on some factors that may be driving this heightened preference for evening workouts at top-performing gyms.
The four fitness chains that experienced the greatest YoY visit boosts in Q1 – Crunch Fitness, EōS Fitness, 24 Hour Fitness, and Chuze Fitness – all featured trade areas with significantly higher-than-average shares of Young Professionals and Non-Family Households. (STI: PopStat’s Non-Family Household segment includes households with more than one person not defined as family members. Spatial.ai: PersonaLive’s Young Professional consumer segment includes young professionals starting their careers in white collar or technical jobs.)
In plainer terms, these consumer segments – typically young, well-educated, and without children – and therefore more likely to be flexible in their workout times – are driving visits to some of the best-performing gyms across the country. And these audiences seem to be displaying a preference for nighttime sweat sessions – a factor that gyms can take into account when planning programming and marketing efforts.
Leaning into emerging gym visitation patterns is one way for fitness chains to thrive in 2024 – but it isn’t the only marker of success for the segment. Even after years of visit growth, the market remains open to new opportunities and innovations that meet health-conscious consumers where they are.
STRIDE Fitness, a gym that offers treadmill-based interval training, has sparked a trend among running enthusiasts. This niche player is finding success, particularly among a specific demographic: runners and endurance training enthusiasts.
Between January and April 2024, monthly YoY visits to STRIDE Fitness consistently outperformed the wider Fitness space. A standout month was January, when STRIDE Fitness’s visits soared by an impressive 33.6% YoY, surpassing the industry average of 5.7% for the same period.
Psychographic data from the Spatial.ai’s FollowGraph dataset – which looks at the social media activity of a given audience – suggests that STRIDE Fitness’ trade areas are well-positioned to attract those visitors most open to its offerings. Residents of STRIDE Fitness’s potential market are 24% more likely to be, or to be interested in, Endurance Athletes than the nationwide average – compared to just 3% for the Fitness industry as a whole. Similar patterns emerge for Marathon Runners and Triathlon Participants. This indicates that the chain is well-situated near consumers with a passion for endurance sports and long distance running, helping it maintain a competitive edge in the crowded gym market.
Pickleball, a game that blends elements of tennis, ping pong, and badminton, is the fastest-growing sport in the country. And recognizing its broad appeal, some fitness chains have begun incorporating pickleball courts into their facilities.
Arizona-based EōS Fitness added a pickleball court at a Phoenix, AZ location – and early 2024 data highlights the impact of this addition. Between January and April 2024, the location drew between 9.1% and 33.3% more monthly visits than the chain’s Arizona visit-per-location average.
And analyzing the demographic profile of the chain’s location with a pickleball court reinforces the game’s increasingly wide appeal. Young consumer segments have been embracing the game in large numbers – and the Phoenix EōS Fitness location’s potential market includes a significantly higher share of 18 to 34-year-olds than the chain’s overall Arizona potential market. Residents of the pickleball location’s trade area are also less affluent than the chain’s Arizona average.
Pickleball has typically been associated with more affluent consumer segments, and it seems like this may be shifting. With more people than ever embracing the game, gyms that choose to add courts to their facilities may reap the foot traffic benefits.
The Fitness industry has undergone a significant transformation since COVID-19. The category’s outsize post-pandemic visit growth has begun to stabilize, and gyms are staying ahead by adapting to changing consumer preferences. Evenings are emerging as crucial dayparts for gym operators, likely driven by younger consumer segments. And niche fitness chains are seeing visit success, proving that there are plenty of ways for the Fitness segment to succeed.
