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Dine Brands, which owns and operates IHOP, Applebee’s, and Fuzzy’s Taco Shop, is a major name in the full-service casual-dining restaurant segment. We took a look at how its two largest brands – IHOP and Applebee’s – performed in 2024.
The full-service dining segment has experienced its fair share of challenges over the past years, with pandemic-era closures and inflation weighing on restaurant visits. And Dine Brands’ largest chains, IHOP and Applebee’s, were not immune to these challenges, with YoY visits down by 3.6% and 3.0%, respectively, in 2024.
Applebee’s closed a number of locations throughout 2024, a move that likely contributed to the relative stability of its visits per location metrics: Q4 2024’s visits per location were just 1.6% lower than in Q4 2023 compared to a YoY decline of 3.9% in overall traffic. The brand’s emphasis on value may also have helped Applebee’s narrow its YoY visit gap between Q3 and Q4, as its $9.99 Really Big Meal Deal – launched in November 2024 and extended into 2025 – likely drove traffic from budget-conscious patrons.
IHOP and Applebee’s dominate in their own distinct dayparts – IHOP in the mornings and Applebee’s in the evenings. This diversity allows Dine Brands to effectively "own the clock" and cater to a range of dining preferences throughout various times of day.
Perhaps unsurprisingly – the word “pancake” is in its name – IHOP primarily attracts guests during morning hours, with 46.6% of its visits occurring between 6:00 AM and 12:00 PM. In contrast, Applebee’s serves as a popular post-work and dinner destination, with 56.0% of its visits taking place after 6:00 PM.
And recognizing the value of owning the clock in this way, Dine Brands unveiled its newest concept – a dual-branded IHOP-Applebee’s, with the first opening in February in Seguin, Texas and another twelve slated to open throughout 2025. This approach, which Dine Brands already piloted in international markets, allows diners the option to mix and match from IHOP and Applebee’s most popular menu items.
Beyond visit timing, IHOP and Applebee’s also serve distinct customer demographics, further reinforcing their complementary strengths. In 2024, 28.5% of households in IHOPs’ captured market were households with children, compared to 26.7% for Applebee’s. IHOP also saw larger shares of “Singles & Starters” in its captured market – defined by the Experian: Mosaic dataset as young singles and starter families living a city lifestyle.
Meanwhile, Applebee’s attracted visitors coming from captured markets with older audiences, with 9.4% of its visitors falling into the "Autumn Years" category – nearly double IHOP’s 5.0% share.
These distinctions mean that Dine Brands isn’t just spreading its traffic across different times of day – it also is capturing consumers across different life stages. By offering something for a variety of diners, the restaurant group can continue driving visits across multiple dining needs and occasions.
Despite weathering their fair share of challenges in 2024, IHOP and Applebee’s are innovating as 2025 gets underway.
For the latest data-driven dining insights, visit Placer.ai.
Best Buy has long been a go-to destination for consumers looking for the latest tech – but like many retailers, it has faced challenges in recent years. We dove into the data to explore the latest visitation trends for Best Buy and the demographics of visitors that are driving traffic to the chain.
Best Buy’s visits lagged in 2024 (7.0% below 2023 levels), but the company continues to invest in a real estate strategy aimed at improving consumer engagement. To leverage its store fleet most efficiently, Best Buy is closing traditional large-format stores while opening smaller-format ones to provide a tailored experience to consumers – often in small and midsized markets previously untapped by the retailer.
And Best Buy may already be reaping the benefits of this strategy; in January 2025, the retailer received a 0.4% YoY boost in foot traffic. As the chain continues to optimize its real estate footprint, it could be on track to drive more visit growth in the near future – particularly as more shoppers replace consumer electronics purchased during the pandemic.
Drilling down to daily visitation over the holiday season further highlights Best Buy’s momentum going into 2025. Best Buy consistently drives traffic during critical retail moments, and 2024 was no exception.
On Black Friday 2024, the retailer saw a 473.1% visit boost compared to the daily average for 2024. And the foot traffic surge continued the following day (Black Saturday, 162.4%) as consumers likely continued to take advantage of the weekend’s discounts.
And as was the case in previous years, Best Buy’s traffic picked up as Christmas 2024 neared, with significant visit spikes on Super Saturday (199.0%), Panic Sunday (151.3%), and Christmas Eve Eve (171.7%). Best Buy also saw elevated traffic post-Christmas traffic on Boxing Day (128.0%), when consumers likely looked to exchange gifts or set up their new tech with the help of the renowned Geek Squad.
Of course, Best Buy is more than just a holiday shopping destination. And analysis of audience segmentation for the retailer reveals that families are overrepresented in the chain’s captured* market relative to its potential* market – indicating that this segment in particular drives significant traffic year-round.
According to the AGS: Demographic Dimensions dataset, in 2024, the average household size in Best Buy’s potential market was 2.49 people compared to 2.64 people in the chain’s captured market. Married couples with children were also more heavily represented in the chain’s captured market (33.4%) compared to its potential market (32.0%), suggesting a relatively larger share of visitors from family households among Best Buy’s visitors.
Further analysis of audience segments within the chain’s captured and potential markets indicates that visitors from a variety of family types are drawn to Best Buy. According to the Spatial.ai: PersonaLive dataset, residents belonging to the “Wealthy Suburban Families”, “Upper Suburban Diverse Families”, “Near-Urban Diverse Families”, and “Blue Collar Suburbs” segments were all over-represented in Best Buy’s captured market compared to its potential market. This suggests that visitors from different types of family households – working-class, wealthy, urban, and suburban – are driving traffic to Best Buy.
Perhaps families are drawn to Best Buy’s expanding experiential format, where visitors of all ages can get hands-on with LEGO and explore home theater set ups worthy of a family movie night.
*A chain or venue’s potential market is derived by the census block groups (CBGs) from which the retailer draws its visitors weighted by the population size of each, whereas a captured market is derived from the same CBGs weighted by the share of visits from each, and thus reflects the population that actually visits the chain or venue.
Best Buy’s ability to drive traffic through strategic store formats, holiday shopping surges, and family households highlights the company’s ongoing relevance in the evolving consumer electronics landscape. With early signs of a foot traffic resurgence, Best Buy appears to have positioned itself for continued success in 2025.
Want more data-driven retail insights? Visit Placer.ai.
Our hearts go out to all those affected by the recent Los Angeles wildfires. Many Angelenos, in search of a sense of normalcy and diversion, have turned to a familiar and comforting place—the mall.
On the west side of Los Angeles, Third Street Promenade in Santa Monica experienced a significant surge in weekly visitation compared to a baseline of January 6th-12th 2025. This increase is not surprising, as many Palisadians fled south to Santa Monica hotels and rentals, allowing them to stay close to their neighborhoods, children’s schools, and social circles.
Westfield Century City and The Grove also saw increased foot traffic, as both malls serve as key gathering spots in their communities and feature state-of-the-art movie theaters, providing a few hours of escape. Additionally, their upgraded HVAC systems—enhanced post-pandemic—may offer an added layer of comfort for visitors. Similarly, Westfield Topanga, a familiar shopping destination for residents of the San Fernando Valley, saw an uptick in visits during the second half of January. And traffic at these shopping destinations was still elevated as of mid-February, suggesting that at least some displaced residents are likely staying in the area in the more medium-term.
Some Palisadians have opted to relocate much farther south, though this migration appears to have had a more dispersed effect on shopping patterns. As a result, we do not see a significant impact on visitation to South Bay shopping centers like Manhattan Village and Del Amo Fashion Center.
While reports have mentioned some Palisadians moving to Newport Beach—a community that shares similar demographics with the Palisades—the influx does not appear to be large enough to meaningfully shift mall visitation patterns in January. Additionally, given the circumstances, it is unlikely that many displaced residents would be making frequent trips to Fashion Island or South Coast Plaza. Instead, those who have temporarily relocated to the area are likely settling in as newly arrived locals.
If we examine the year-over-year (YoY) change in visits from specific ZIP codes, Placer data reveals a significant surge in visitation to Third Street Promenade from the Pacific Palisades during January 2025, with visits increasing by 20.4% compared to the same period last year.
Demographic analysis of the Third Street Promenade’s trade area also indicates that the shopping corridor drew a higher proportion of family households and more affluent audience segments – perhaps thanks to the influx of visitors from the Palisades.
Amid the disruption caused by the wildfires, shopping centers have stepped in as steady community spaces rather than just retail venues. The uptick in foot traffic at locations like Third Street Promenade and Westfield Century City shows that these malls are serving as reliable hubs for daily routines and social connection, offering residents practical support as they navigate uncertain times.
In the wake of the devastating wildfires across the greater Los Angeles area, retailers—both local and national—have played a crucial role in providing relief, comfort, and a sense of community for those impacted. Retail is an industry that touches consumers’ lives daily, often more frequently than most other businesses. Because retailers fulfill a wide range of needs, they have become essential partners in supporting communities facing unimaginable crises.
In the immediate aftermath of the Palisades and Eaton Fires, retailers transformed their stores into donation hubs, offering displaced individuals essential items such as clothing and N95 masks. Major brands, including J.Crew, Gap Inc., and Free People, quickly repurposed their stores to serve as distribution centers. Free People even opened an entirely new shop in Santa Monica—Free Shop by Free People and FP Movement—where affected residents could book time slots to browse and collect necessary items. Beyond national retailers, Los Angeles-based brands also stepped up to support fire victims. Babyletto, a juvenile furniture brand, donated cribs to displaced families, while apparel company Big Bud Press launched new collections with proceeds benefiting the Pasadena Jobs Center.
While retail depends on consumerism, its role over the past month has extended beyond sales, making a profound impact on the local community. Many retailers in the discretionary sector opened their doors to directly assist affected families, demonstrating that physical retail spaces can be used for more than just commerce. By taking action on the ground rather than simply offering monetary donations, retailers provided immediate, tangible support to those in need.
Three specific retail locations in Los Angeles exemplified this effort, with Placer’s data revealing just how meaningful their initiatives were. Gap’s Santa Monica store was among the first to pivot toward relief efforts, distributing new Gap merchandise and PPE to community members beginning on January 11th. Alo Yoga’s Beverly Hills location provided care kits to impacted residents between January 14th and 16th. Meanwhile, Babylist, an online registry service with a physical showroom in Beverly Hills, hosted donation days on January 21st and 28th, allowing displaced families to shop for free and replace lost items.
Placer’s foot traffic estimates suggest that these relief efforts were well-received and widely utilized. Each of these locations saw an increase in visits during the weeks their relief initiatives took place, surpassing the average January baseline. The data underscores how critical these retailer-driven efforts were in supporting Los Angeles families and providing much-needed aid during a difficult time.
During Alo Yoga’s donation event from January 14th to 16th, there was a noticeable increase in visitation from across the greater Los Angeles area, drawing new traffic beyond the Beverly Hills neighborhood. Compared to January baseline trends, the week of January 13th saw a higher share of visits originating from 3 to 10 miles away. More significantly, visits also increased from 10 to 30 miles away, likely including individuals affected by the Eaton Fire. In contrast, visits from over 250 miles away declined, underscoring the sharp drop in tourism to Los Angeles during the peak of the wildfire crisis.
Babylist’s LA showroom opened its doors to families in need, offering a space to replace essential baby items lost in the fires. These relief events attracted a different visitor mix than the store typically sees, providing immediate support for young families and grandparents. According to PersonaLive’s visitor segmentation, during the weeks Babylist hosted its relief events, there was a higher distribution of visits from Educated Urbanites, Young Professionals, and Sunset Boomers. In contrast, the full-month January data showed a greater share of visits from Ultra Wealthy Families. This shift highlights how retailer-led relief efforts were actively utilized by those in need, reinforcing the critical role local businesses can play in supporting communities during crises.
Retailers play a vital role in the communities they serve, and their ability to provide immediate support in Los Angeles through physical stores allowed for faster distribution of donations and aid. The best-in-class relief strategies implemented by these retailers should serve as a blueprint for others to follow, reinforcing the importance of brick-and-mortar stores as essential community assets during times of crisis and recovery.
2024 was a challenging year for the restaurant industry, marked by increased competition from other food retail channels, intensified value wars, and rising operational costs, all of which contributed to a surge in bankruptcies. The start of 2025 has been equally difficult.
Despite these challenges, our data continues to show strong consumer demand for dining out. However, the way consumers interact with restaurants is evolving more than ever before. Below, we highlight several key shifts in consumer behavior that restaurant operators, suppliers, and investors should consider in the year ahead.
With Starbucks' renewed focus on its coffeehouse roots under CEO Brian Niccol, an important question emerges: have today’s restaurants become too complex? Starbucks originally built its brand as a “third place” away from home and work – an inviting space for customers to gather. However, this focus began shifting about a decade ago with the rollout of Mobile Order and Pay. As e-commerce surged in the early 2010s, consumers became accustomed to making purchases online or via mobile apps, making digital ordering a necessity for most retailers and restaurants. Yet, prioritizing convenience through mobile ordering and pickup created a disconnect with Starbucks’ experience-driven identity, leading to friction between its convenience-oriented and experience-focused customers.
This tension between experience and convenience has been a challenge for many restaurant operators in recent years. It explains why QSR chains have reduced store footprints while expanding drive-thru capacity, why fast-casual and casual-dining restaurants have increasingly adopted pickup and drive-thru windows, and why many chains now allocate dedicated space for delivery orders. Even Darden, long resistant to third-party delivery, ultimately embraced it to adapt to changing consumer behavior.
Visitation trends in 2024 reinforced the difficulty of balancing experience and convenience within the same restaurant model. Among chains with more than 100 locations, those with the highest year-over-year (YoY) growth in visits per location were largely drive-thru specialists, such as Raising Cane’s, In-N-Out Burger, 7 Brew Coffee, and PJ’s Coffee. Meanwhile, non-drive-thru leaders like CAVA and Chipotle thrived by focusing on customization, underscoring that consumers are willing to pay a premium for personalized experiences that align with their preferences.
The rise of convenience-based restaurants does not signal the end of experiential dining – far from it. Below, we’ve outlined monthly year-over-year (YoY) visit trends for major restaurant categories in 2024. While QSR value wars dominated industry headlines throughout the year, casual- and fine-dining chains actually outperformed the QSR segment in YoY visit growth.
Some of this success can be attributed to well-executed promotions, such as Chili’s "3 for Me" deal – which helped the chain finish just behind Raising Cane’s in visit-per-location growth for 2024 – and Buffalo Wild Wings’ "All You Can Eat Wings" promotion. However, the strong YoY performance of fine-dining chains further underscores that experience-driven dining remained highly in demand throughout the year.
We also see this trend reflected in dwell time across the restaurant industry. With the rise of drive-thru and takeout orders during and after the pandemic, combined with advancements in mobile ordering technology, it’s no surprise that dwell times for limited-service restaurants have remained below pre-pandemic levels (below). However, the opposite is happening in full-service restaurant categories, where dwell times are on par with or even exceeding pre-pandemic levels.
While many casual dining chains have seen an increase in takeout and delivery orders over the past few years, the growth of experiential dining concepts like Kura Sushi and GEN Korean BBQ, along with the continued expansion of eatertainment venues such as Topgolf, Puttshack, and Pinstripes—where dwell times often exceed 90 minutes—has helped maintain overall category dwell times. Meanwhile, the increase in dwell time for fine-dining establishments suggests that guests are making the most of their time when dining out, reinforcing the growing consumer preference for experience over convenience.
We've previously highlighted the importance of familiarity in consumer dining decisions, particularly in a challenging macroeconomic environment. With years of elevated inflation across food, rent, healthcare, and insurance, consumers have fewer discretionary dollars to spend. As a result, when they choose to dine out, they gravitate toward brands they know and trust.
In collaboration with the team at Bloomberg Second Measure, we analyzed data on the percentage of revenue generated from new customers at both full-service and limited-service restaurants. Our findings revealed a noticeable decline in new customer revenue during the second half of 2024, further reinforcing the idea that consumers are prioritizing familiarity when making dining choices.
This preference for familiar brands may be creating challenges for restaurant chains expanding into new markets. Traditionally, a new restaurant location in an unfamiliar market could expect to generate around 75% of the sales/visits seen in an established market—after an initial “honeymoon” phase when consumers try the brand for the first time. However, our data suggests that visit trends for restaurants entering new markets are now significantly lower than historical averages. Unsurprisingly, many operators have told us that their 2025 expansion plans will prioritize in-filling existing markets rather than expanding into new ones.
Portillo’s—the Chicago-based chain known for its Chicago-style hot dogs, Italian beef sandwiches, and char-grilled burgers—has experienced mixed visit trends when entering new markets. Below, we present visit per location trends for Portillo’s nationwide, in its home market of Chicago, and in several states where it has expanded in recent years. In its latest investor presentation, Portillo’s acknowledged that its average unit volumes are highest in its home market ($11.3 million in sales per location), compared to other Midwest markets ($6.0 million) and Sunbelt locations ($6.6 million). While these figures are still strong, they reflect the broader challenge that many restaurant brands face when expanding beyond their core markets.
Conclusion
As the restaurant industry navigates 2025, operators must strike a delicate balance between convenience and experience while adapting to shifting consumer preferences. The demand for dining out remains strong, but consumers are making more intentional choices, favoring trusted brands and prioritizing either speed and efficiency or immersive, experiential dining. At the same time, new market expansion presents growing challenges, with visit trends suggesting a preference for familiarity over novelty. As brands refine their strategies, those that successfully integrate innovation with operational excellence—whether through streamlined digital convenience, compelling promotions, or differentiated in-store experiences—will be best positioned for long-term success in an increasingly competitive landscape.
Sprouts Farmers Market and Dutch Bros. have seen impressive foot traffic growth over the past few years. We analyzed their visitation metrics for 2024 to understand what’s driving their continued success.
Both Sprouts and Dutch Bros. posted impressive visitation numbers throughout 2024, with visits for the full year elevated by 7.3% and 15.8%, respectively, compared to 2023. This momentum caps off several years of sustained growth – particularly for Dutch Bros. – which has expanded rapidly while maintaining consistent foot traffic increases. And though average visits per location at Dutch Bros. were slightly down YoY in 2024, the visit gaps were relatively modest – indicating that the chain is succeeding in expanding with minimal cannibalization to its existing venues.
Sprouts also expanded with dozens of new stores over the past year – and the chain’s foot traffic metrics suggest strong shopper interest in these openings. The health-forward grocer saw visits per location rise in the second half of the year, capping off Q4 2024 with a 5.0% YoY increase.
The two chains have kept their visit growth going into the new year. Weekly visits to both Sprouts and Dutch Bros. grew all weeks analyzed, a promising sign as 2025 gets underway.
Smoothies are having a major moment, fueled by the growing nationwide focus on health and wellness – an area where Sprouts has successfully positioned itself as a leader. Now, the chain is doubling down on its wellness-focused strategy by introducing smoothies at select locations.
Many Sprouts locations offer smoothies to go – but the chain has also been investing in in-store smoothie bars, allowing shoppers to enjoy a fresh, healthy drink while browsing or take one on the go. Visits to a Cerritos, California location jumped following the introduction of a smoothie bar in January 2025, with YoY monthly visits exceeding the Sprouts nationwide average for the first time in the analyzed period – perhaps thanks to excited reviews posted on social media.
By offering smoothies that are more affordable than some of the viral options trending online, Sprouts is solidifying itself as a go-to destination for shoppers seeking wellness-driven choices without breaking the bank.
While Sprouts is expanding into new beverage categories, Dutch Bros is focusing on building out its food offerings. The chain has traditionally been strongest in the afternoon and evening, bucking the usual trends for caffeine-focused brands. To that end, Dutch Bros. has focused on attracting more morning visitors, both by expanding its mobile ordering capabilities and by testing a new food menu in select locations.
The data suggests that the company’s focus on the morning daypart may amplify changes in Dutch Bros. consumer behavior that are already underway. Between January 2024 and January 2025, the share of visits during morning hours saw a small but meaningful uptick. The share of visits during the 6:00 AM to 11:00 AM daypart grew from 28.4% to 29.5% of daily visits, while the share of evening visits (4:00 PM to 9:00 PM) decreased. While the brand still maintains a strong presence later in the day, this shift could be a sign that Dutch Bros is successfully nudging consumers toward earlier-day coffee runs.
Sprouts and Dutch Bros. are thriving by gearing their offerings to their customer bases. By leaning into health-forward beverages and early-morning visits, the two chains are driving visits and interest.
For more data-driven insights, visit Placer.ai.
This report includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.0, which implements improvements to our extrapolation capabilities, adds short visit monitoring, and enhances visit detection.
The first American mall opened in 1956 and reinvented retail – within a decade there were over 4,500 malls across the country. But a rise in e-commerce coupled with the oversaturation of mall options across the country paved the way for mall visits to slow, and many predicted that malls would go the way of the dinosaur.
But although malls were hit hard over the past few years as lockdowns and rising costs contributed to a significant drop in foot traffic, shopping centers have proven resilient. Leading players in the space have consistently reinvented themselves and explored alternate ways to draw in crowds – and as inflation cools, malls are bouncing back as well.
This white paper analyzes the Placer.ai Shopping Center Industry – a collection of over 3000 shopping centers across the United States – as well as the Placer.ai’s Mall Indexes, which focus on top-tier Indoor Malls, Open-Air Shopping Centers, Outlet Malls. The report examines how visits are shifting and where behaviors are changing – and where they’re staying the same – and takes a closer look at the strategies malls are using to attract shoppers in 2024.
Malls experienced a rocky few years as pandemic-related restrictions and economic headwinds kept many shoppers at home, and visits to all mall types in 2021 were between 10.7% to 15.3% lower than in 2019. But foot traffic trends improved significantly in 2022 – likely due to the fading out of COVID restrictions.
By 2023, visits to the wider Shopping Center Industry were just 2.3% lower than they had been in 2019, and the visit gaps for Indoor Malls and Open-Air Shopping Centers had narrowed to 5.8% and 1.0% lower, respectively. Outlet Malls also saw visits ticking up once again, with the visit gap compared to 2019 narrowing to 8.5% in 2023 after having dropped to 11.3% in 2022. This more sustained foot traffic dip may stem from consumers’ desire to save on gas costs or the impacts of inclement weather. However, the narrowing visit gaps suggest that shoppers are increasingly returning to the segment, and foot traffic may yet pick up again in 2024.
COVID-19 impacted more than just visit numbers – it also changed in-store consumer behavior. And now, with the Coronavirus a distant memory for many, some of these pandemic-acquired habits are fading away, while other shifts appear to be holding steady.
One visit metric that appears to have reverted to pre-COVID norms is the share of weekday vs. weekend visits. Weekday visits had increased in 2021 – at the height of COVID – as consumers found themselves with more free time midweek, but the balance of weekday vs. weekend visits has now returned to 2019 levels.
In 2023, the Shopping Center Industry, which includes a number of grocery-anchored centers along with open-air shopping centers and their relatively large variety of dining options, saw the largest share of weekday visits, followed by Indoor Malls. Outlet Malls received the lowest share of weekday visits – around 55% – likely due to the longer distances usually required to drive to these malls, making them ideal destinations for weekend day trips.
While the day of the week that people frequent malls hasn't changed significantly since 2019, there is one notable difference in mall foot traffic pre- and post-pandemic. Almost all mall categories are seeing fewer during the late morning-midday and late evening dayparts, while the amount of people heading to a mall in the afternoon and early evening has increased.
In 2019, Indoor Malls saw 20.1% of visits occurring between 10:00am and 1:00pm, but that share decreased to 18.6% in 2023. Meanwhile, the share of visits between 4:00-7:00 pm rose from 29.1% in 2019 to 32.4% in 2023. Similar patterns repeated across all shopping center categories, with the 1:00-4:00pm daypart seeing a slight increase, the 4:00-7:00 pm daypart receiving the largest boost and the 7:00-10:00 pm daypart seeing the largest drop. So although changes in work habits have not altered the weekly visit distribution, it seems like hybrid workers are taking advantage of their new, and likely more flexible schedules to frequent malls in the afternoon instead of reserving their mall trips for after work. The significant numbers of Americans moving to the suburbs in recent years may also be contributing to the decline of late night visits, with these suburban newcomers perhaps less likely to spend time outside the house during the evening hours.
Although malls have enjoyed consistent growth in foot traffic over the past two years, visits still remain below 2019 levels. How can shopping centers attract more shoppers and recover their pre-COVID foot traffic?
Some malls are attracting visitors by looking beyond traditional retail with offerings such as gyms, amusement parks, and even entertainment complexes. And with more traditional mall anchors shutting their doors than ever, even smaller shopping centers are adding lifestyle experiences options in newly vacant spaces – and incorporating unique elements into traditional retail spaces.
In September 2023, the Chandler Fashion Center in Arizona opened a giant SCHEELS store in its mall. The 250,000-square-foot sporting goods store boasts more than just sneakers – visitors can ride on a 45-foot Ferris Wheel or marvel at a 16,000-gallon saltwater aquarium. And monthly visitation data to the mall reveals the power of this new retail destination, with foot traffic to the mall experiencing a major jump from October 2023 onward. The excitement of the new SCHEELS seems to be sustaining itself, with February 2024 visits 23.3% higher than the same period of 2023.
Restaurants, too, can help bring people into malls. The Southgate Mall in Missoula, Montana, experienced a jump in monthly visits following the opening of a Texas Roadhouse steakhouse in November 2023. Customers seem to be receptive to this new addition – the mall saw a sustained increase in foot traffic from November 2023 onward, with year-over-year (YoY) visit growth of 17.0% in February 2024.
The addition of Texas Roadhouse provides Missoula residents with a family-friendly dining experience while tapping into the evergreen popularity of steakhouses.
Malls that don’t want to choose between adding a dining option and incorporating a novel entertainment venue can blend the two and go the “eatertainment” route. One shopping center – North Carolina’s Cross Creek Mall – is proving just how effective these concepts can be for a mall looking to grow its foot traffic.
Eatertainment destination Main Event opened at the mall in August 2023, bringing laser tag, video games, virtual reality, and 18 bowling lanes with it. Main Event’s opening also provided a boost in foot traffic to the mall – monthly visits to Cross Creek Mall surged following the opening. And this foot traffic boost sustained itself, particularly into the colder winter months – January and February 2024 saw YoY growth of 12.3% and 25.1%, respectively.
Integrating entertainment options at malls is one strategy for driving visits, but there are plenty of other ways to bring people through the doors. Pop-ups have been a particularly popular option of late, especially as more online brands venture into the world of physical retail. And malls, which typically tend to leave a small portion of their storefronts vacant, can be the perfect place to host a retailer for a limited time.
One brand – Shein – has been a leader in the pop-up space, bringing its affordable fashion to malls in Las Vegas, Seattle, and Indianapolis. These short-term residencies – typically no longer than three to four days – allow shoppers to try the popular online retailer’s products before they buy.
Shein has enjoyed success with its mall residencies, evidenced by the foot traffic at the Woodfield Mall in Illinois, which hosted a three-day pop-up from December 15-17, 2023. The retail event was hugely popular, with visits reaching Super Saturday (the last weekend before Christmas) proportions – even though this year’s Super Saturday coincided with Christmas Eve Eve (December 23rd) and drove unusually high traffic spikes.
Shein pop-ups are typically very short – no more than three to four days. This format, known for creating a sense of urgency among shoppers, has proven powerful in driving store visits. But can longer-lasting pop-ups find success as well?
Foot traffic data from pop-ups hosted by Swedish home furnisher IKEA suggests that yes – longer-term residencies can be successful. The chain is working on growing its presence across the country, particularly in malls. To that end, IKEA has been experimenting with mall pop-ups, beginning with a six-month residency at the Rosedale Center in Roseville, Minnesota.
IKEA opened its store on February 16, 2024, and visits to the mall increased significantly immediately after. The first week of the pop-up saw a 12.9% growth in visits compared to a January 1-7, 2024 baseline. And by the third week of the pop-up, there were still noticeably more people frequenting the mall than before the launch.
The luxury retail segment has had a great few years, and malls are tapping into this popularity. Nearly 40% of new high-end store openings in 2023 were in mall settings, many in Sunbelt states like Texas, Florida, and Arizona, perhaps driven in part by demand from an influx of wealthy newcomers to those states.
A comparison of upscale shopping malls to standard shopping centers across Sunbelt States reveals just how popular high-end retail is in the region. Malls with a high percentage of luxury and designer stores like the Lenox Square Mall in Georgia or the NorthPark Center in Texas saw considerably more YoY visit growth than the average visit growth for shopping centers in their respective states.
Lenox Square Mall saw foot traffic increase 31.2% YoY in 2023, while shopping centers in Georgia saw their visits grow by just 2.7% YoY in the same period. Similar trends repeated in Louisiana, Arizona, California, and Florida. And while some of this growth may be due to the resilience of these wealthier shoppers in the face of inflation, one thing is clear – luxury is here to stay.
Malls are thriving, carving out spaces for themselves in a competitive retail environment. By prioritizing experiential retail, entertainment, pop-up shops, and luxury offerings, shopping centers across the country are remaining relevant in a rapidly changing retail world. And mall operators that recognize the power of innovation and evolve along with their customers can hope to meet with continued success.
Consumer preferences have shifted over the past five years. COVID-19 and inflation impacted shopping habits and behaviors across the retail space – and while some of the changes were short-lived, others appear to have more staying power. Now, with memories of the lockdowns fading, and as the inflation that plagued much of 2022 and 2023 wanes (hopefully), we analyzed location intelligence data to understand what the retail and dining landscape looks like today.
This report leverages historical and current foot traffic data and trade area analysis to better understand the current retail and dining landscape and reveal consumer trends likely to shape 2024 and beyond. Which segments have benefited most from the shifts of the past five years? How are legacy brands staying on top of current shopping and dining trends? Where are people shopping and dining in 2024? And what characterizes the modern consumer?
One of the major retail stories of the past five years has been the rise of Discount & Dollar Stores. Category leaders such as Dollar General and Dollar Tree expanded significantly prior to the pandemic, which helped these essential retailers attract large numbers of customers during the initial months of lockdowns.
During this period, many Discount & Dollar Stores invested in more than just their store count – several leading chains also expanded their grocery selection, allowing these companies to compete more directly for Grocery and Superstore shoppers. As Discount & Dollar Stores continued growing their store fleets – and as the pandemic gave way to inflation concerns – shoppers looking for more affordable consumables options gravitated to this segment.
Location intelligence shows that the rapidly opening stores and stocking them with fresh groceries is working – since 2019, Discount & Dollar Stores have slowly but steadily grown their visit share relative to the Grocery and Superstore sectors.
In 2019, Discount & Dollar retailers captured 15.1% of the visit share between the three categories analyzed. This number grew by a full percentage point between 2019 and 2020 and the trend has continued, with the category enjoying 16.6% of the relative visit share in 2023. Meanwhile, Superstores’ relative visit share decreased during the same period, dropping from 41.7% in 2019 to 40.0% in 2023, while the relative visit share of Grocery Stores remained mostly stable.
Still, consumers are not giving up their regular Grocery or Superstore run quite yet – over 80% of combined visits to Grocery Stores, Superstore, and Discount & Dollar Store sectors still go to Grocery Stores and Superstores. But the data does indicate that some shoppers are likely choosing to shop for groceries and other consumables at Discount & Dollar Stores. And CPG companies and category managers looking to reach customers where they shop may want to consider adding Discount & Dollar Stores to their distribution channels.
The key question that remains is how much of the gained visit share can the Discount & Dollar leaders maintain as the economic environment improves. This metric will be the strongest sign of whether the short term gains made within a favorable context drove long term value.
Superstores’ visit share may be shrinking somewhat in the face of Discount & Dollar Stores’ growth. But diving into the Superstore leaders reveals that these macro-shifts are having a different impact on the various sub-categories within the wider Superstore segment.
Walmart remains the undisputed Superstore leader thanks to its 61.8% share of overall visits to Walmart, Target, Costco, Sam’s Club, and BJ’s in 2023. But 61.8% is still lower than the 66.3% relative visits share that the Superstore behemoth enjoyed in 2019. Meanwhile, Target grew its relative visit share from 17.3% in 2019 to 19.3% in 2023, while the combined visit share of the three membership club brands increased from 16.5% in 2019 to 18.9% in the same period.
Some of the shift in visit share can be attributed to Walmart closing several locations while Target, Costco Sam's Club, and BJ's expanded their fleet – but other factors are likely at play.
Costco and Target attract the most affluent clientele of the five chains analyzed, which could explain why these chains have seen significant growth at a time when many consumers are operating with tighter budgets. The success of these companies also suggests that there are enough consumers willing to spend beyond the basics – as shown with Target’s Stanley Cup success (more on that below) – to support a varied product selection that includes higher-priced options. It also speaks to a high upside on a per customer basis for chains that have proven effective at providing higher-end products alongside those with a value orientation. This speaks to a unique capacity to effectively address “the middle” – an audience that is defined neither solely by value-seeking nor by high-end product proclivities.
Sam's Club and BJ’s also give shoppers an opportunity to save by buying in bulk and cutting down on shopping trips – and related gas expenses – which may also have contributed to their success. The increase in the relative visit share of wholesale clubs indicates that today’s consumer might react positively to more options for bulk purchases in non-warehouse club chains as well.
Retail is not the only sector that has seen slow and steady shifts in recent years – the dining space was also significantly impacted by pandemic restrictions of 2020-2021 and the inflation of 2022-2023. Location intelligence reveals shifts in both the types of establishments favored by consumers and in the in-store behaviors of dining consumers.
Convenience stores’ dining options have evolved in recent years, with today’s consumers heading to Wawa for a freshly made specialty hoagie or to Buc-ee’s to enjoy the chain’s variety of specialty snacks.
Analyzing the visit distribution among C-Stores and other discretionary dining categories (Fast Food and QSR, Restaurants, and Breakfast & Coffee, not including Grocery and Superstores) showcases the growing role of C-Stores in the dining space. Between 2019 and 2023, C-stores' visit share relative to the other discretionary dining categories jumped from 24.2% to 27.1%. The relative visit share of Breakfast, Coffee, Bakeries & Dessert Shops also grew slightly during the period. Meanwhile, Restaurants’ relative visit share dropped from 13.8% to 11.7% and Fast Food & QSR’s dipped from 51.8% to 50.6%.
Several factors are likely driving this evolution. Most Restaurants shuttered temporarily at the height of the pandemic while C-Stores remained open – and consumers likely took the opportunity to get acquainted with C-Stores’ food-away-from-home options. And many C-Stores expanded their footprint in recent years, while some dining chains downsized, which likely also contributed to the changes in relative visit share between the segments.
But the continued growth of C-Stores between 2021 and 2022, and again between 2022 and 2023, indicates that many diners are now embracing C-Store food out of choice and not just due to necessity. The rise of the Breakfast, Coffee, Bakeries & Dessert Shops category alongside C-Stores in the past five years may also highlight the current appetite for affordable grab-and-go food options. And with C-Store operators embracing the shifts brought on by the pandemic and actively expanding their food options, diners are increasingly likely to consider C-Stores for their portable meals and packaged snacks.
C-Store visitors are increasingly receptive to trying new products at their local c-store. So how can C-Store operators and CPG companies determine which products will best appeal to customers? Analyzing the trade areas of seven major chains – 7-Eleven, Wawa, Casey’s, QuikTrip, Cumberland Farms, Plaid Pantry, and Buc-ee’s – using the Spatial.ai: FollowGraph dataset reveals significant variance in food preferences between the chains’ visitor bases.
For instance, Plaid Pantry visitors were 55% more likely than the nationwide average to fall into the “Asian Food Enthusiasts” segment in 2023, in contrast with Casey’s visitors who are 7% less likely to belong to this psychographic. Residents of the trade areas of QuikTrip and Buc-ee’s rank highest for "Fried Chicken Lovers," while Cumberland Farms and Plaid Pantry visitors register the least interest. C-Store operators, QSR franchisees, packaged food manufacturers, and other stakeholders can leverage these insights to optimize food offerings, identify promising partnership opportunities, and find new venues for product testing.
While C-Stores stores may be the exciting story of the day, Full-Service Restaurants continue to play a major role in the wider dining landscape. And despite the ongoing economic headwinds, several dining brands and categories are seeing growth – although location intelligence suggests that in-restaurant behavior may be changing as well.
For example, the hourly visits distribution for leading steakhouse chains has shifted over the past five years: Between 2019 and 2023, Texas Roadhouse, LongHorn Steakhouse, and Outback Steakhouse all saw a jump in the share of visits occurring between 2:00 PM and 6:00 PM – not typical steak eating hours.
Outback and Texas Roadhouse offer early bird dinner specials while LongHorn has a happy hour, so some diners may be choosing to visit these restaurant chains earlier in the evening in order to stretch their eating out budget. Other consumers who are still working from home most of the week may also be eating on a more flexible schedule, and these diners may be having more late lunches in 2023 when compared to 2019. Restaurant operators, drink providers, and menu developers may want to adapt their offerings to this emerging mid-afternoon rush.
The data examined above shows changes within key retail and dining segments over the past five years. So what do these shifts reveal about today’s consumer? What are shoppers and diners looking for in 2024?
The beginning of 2024 was marked by an Arctic blast and plunging temperatures. Consumers, unsurprisingly, hunkered down at home – and foot traffic to many retail categories took a dip. But the declines were short-lived, and by the fourth week of January 2024 foot traffic had rebounded across major categories.
Still, zooming into weekly visit performance for key retail and dining categories for the first eight weeks of the year reveals that the cold did not impact all segments equally – and the subsequent resurgence boosted some sectors more than others.
Discount & Dollar Stores had the strongest start to 2024, with YoY visits up almost every week since the start of the year, and the category showing even more substantial growth once the cold spell subsided. The Grocery category also succeeded in exceeding 2023 weekly visit levels almost every week, although its visit increases were more subdued than those in the Discount & Dollar Store segment.
Superstore and C-Store experienced relatively muted YoY declines in early January and saw significant weekly visit growth as Q1 progressed, with C-Stores outperforming Superstores by late January 2024. And Dining – which suffered a particularly heavy blow in early 2024 – also rebounded with gusto, offering another strong indicator of the resilience of today’s consumer.
Like in the wider Dining industry, weekly YoY visits to the QSR segment quickly rebounded following the unusual cold of the first three weeks of January 2024. And three chains from across the QSR spectrum – legacy chain Wingstop, rapidly expanding Raising Cane’s, and regional cult favorite Whataburger – are seeing particularly strong foot traffic performances.
Diving deeper into the location intelligence reveals that the three chains’ success may be due in part to their visitor base composition: The trade areas of all three brands included a larger share of four-person households compared to the nationwide average of 24.6%.
Wingstop, Raising Cane’s, and Whataburger’s menus all include larger orders to create shareable meals. And larger households seem to be particularly receptive to dining options that allow them to save money, which could explain the significant share of 4+ person households that visit these chains.
The success of these diverse QSR chains also indicates that, although larger households may have more expenses – and might therefore be more impacted by inflation – they can also drive visits to brands that cater to their needs. So dining operators and food manufacturers looking to attract family demographics may consider offering larger meal combos or larger packaging to help larger households splurge on affordable luxuries without breaking the bank.
Perhaps the most significant sign that today’s consumers are still willing to spend money on non-essentials is the recent success of the Starbucks X Stanley “Pink Cup”. The cup has caused such a sensation that re-sellers ask for up to six times the original $50 price – and for those unwilling to shell out the big bucks on the cup, enterprising cup owners offer photo shoots with the product for $5.
The Starbucks X Stanley “Pink Cup” was released on January 3rd, 2024 and could only be bought at Starbucks kiosks located inside a Target. Viral videos of the release circulated on social media, showing eager crowds lining up early in the morning for the chance to be first to grab their cup. Location intelligence reveals that these early morning visits were significant enough to change Target’s typical hourly visit pattern.
Foot traffic between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM on January 3rd, 2024 accounted for 4.4% of daily visits, compared to 2.6% of daily visits occurring during that time slot on a typical Wednesday in January or February. And demand for the pink Stanley cup drove a spike in daily visits as well – overall daily visits to Target on January 3rd were 18.7% higher than the average Wednesday visits in January and February 2024.
The visit trends to Target on Pink Cup Day are particularly impressive given the freezing weather in some regions of the country and because consumers were coming off the holiday shopping season. And the success of the cup shows that 2024’s shopper is willing to show up – especially for a viral product. Creating buzzy marketing campaigns, then, may be the key to driving retail success.
The retail changes of the past few years have left their mark on how people shop, eat, and spend. And keeping ahead of these changes allows companies and product managers to ensure they can tailor their offerings – whether product selection or marketing campaigns – to the right audience.
The Placer.ai Nationwide Office Building Index: The office building index analyzes foot traffic data from some 1,000 office buildings across the country. It only includes commercial office buildings, and commercial office buildings with retail offerings on the first floor (like an office building that might include a national coffee chain on the ground floor). It does NOT include mixed-use buildings that are both residential and commercial.
This white paper includes data from Placer.ai Data Version 2.0, which implements improvements to our extrapolation capabilities, adds short visit monitoring, and enhances visit detection.
The remote work war is far from over – and as the labor market cools, companies are ramping up efforts to get workers back in the office. But even those employers that are cracking down on WFH aren’t generally insisting that employees come in five days a week – for the most part.
Indeed, a growing consensus seems to posit that though in-person work carries important benefits, plugging in remotely at least part of the time also has its upsides. Nixing the daily commute can put the ever-elusive work/life balance within reach. And there’s evidence to suggest that remote work can enhance productivity – limiting distractions and letting workers lean into their individual biological clocks (so-called “chronoworking”).
But the precise contours of the new hybrid status-quo are still a work in progress. And to keep up, relevant stakeholders – from employers and workers to municipalities and local businesses – need to keep their fingers on the pulse of how this fast-changing reality is evolving on the ground.
This white paper dives into the data to explore some of the key trends shaping the office recovery. The analysis is based on Placer.ai’s Nationwide Office Index, which examines foot traffic data from more than 1,000 office buildings across the country. What was the trajectory of the post-COVID office recovery in 2023? What impact did return-to-office (RTO) mandates have on major cities nationwide, including New York, Dallas, San Francisco, and others? And how has the demographic and psychographic profile of office-goers changed since the pandemic?
Analyzing office building foot traffic over the past several years suggests that the office recovery story is still very much being written. After plummeting during COVID, nationwide office visits began a slow but steady upward climb in 2021, reaching about 70.0% of January 2019 levels in August 2023.
Since then, the recovery appears to have stalled – with some observers even proclaiming the death of RTO. But looking back at the office visit trajectory since 2019 shows that the process has been anything but linear, with plenty of jumps, dips, and plateaus along the way. And though office foot traffic tapered somewhat between November 2023 and January 2024, this may be a reflection of holiday work patterns and of January’s unusually cold and stormy weather, rather than of any true reversal of RTO gains. Indeed, if 2024 is anything like last year, office visits may yet experience an additional boost as the year wears on.
TGIF Vibes
But for now, at least, a full return to pre-COVID work norms doesn’t appear to be in the cards. And like in 2022, last year’s hybrid work week gave off some serious TGIF vibes.
On Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, office foot traffic was just 33.2% to 35.3% lower than it was pre-COVID. But on Mondays and Fridays, visits were down a whopping 46.0% and 48.9%, respectively. From a Year-over-year (YoY) perspective too, the middle of the week experienced the most pronounced visit recovery, with Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday visits up about 27.0% compared to 2022.
The slower Monday and Friday office recovery may be driven in part by workers seeking to leverage the flexibility of WFH for extended weekend trips. (Indeed, hybrid work even gave rise to a new form of nuptials – the remote-work wedding.) So-called super commuters, many of whom decamped to more remote locales during COVID, may also prefer to concentrate visits mid-week to limit time on the road. And let’s face it – few people would object to easing in and out of the weekend by working in their pajamas. Whatever the motivating factors – and despite employer pushback – the TGIF work week appears poised to remain a fixture of the post-pandemic working world.
Analyzing nationwide office visitation patterns can shed important light on evolving work and commuting norms. But to really understand the dynamics of office recovery, it is crucial to zoom in on local trends. RTO in tech-heavy San Francisco doesn’t look the same as it does in New York’s financial districts. And commutes in Dallas are very different than in Chicago or Washington, D.C.
Overall, foot traffic to buildings in Placer.ai’s Nationwide Office Index was down 36.8% in 2023 compared to 2019 – and up 23.6% compared to 2022. But drilling down into the data for seven major markets shows that each one experienced a very different recovery trajectory.
In New York and Miami, offices drew just 22.5% and 21.9% less visits, respectively, in 2023 than in 2019 – meaning that they recovered nearly 80.0% of their pre-COVID foot traffic. In New York, remote work policy shifts by major employers like Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan appear to have helped set a new tone for the financial sector. And Miami may have benefited from Florida’s early lifting of COVID restrictions in late 2020, as well as from the steady influx of tech companies over the past several years.
San Francisco, for its part, continued to lag behind the other major cities in 2023, with office building foot traffic still 55.1% below 2019 levels. But on a YoY basis, the northern California hub experienced the greatest visit growth of any analyzed city, indicating that San Francisco’s office recovery is still unfolding.
To better understand the relationship between employees’ occupational backgrounds and local office recovery trends, we examined the share of Financial, Insurance, and Real Estate sector workers in the captured markets of different cities’ office buildings. (A POI’s captured market is derived by weighting the census block groups (CBGs) in its True Trade Area according to the share of actual visits from each CBG – thus providing a snapshot of the people that actually visit the POI in practice). We then compared this metric to each city’s year-over-four-year (Yo4Y) office visit gap.
The analysis suggests that the finance sector has indeed been an important driver of office recovery. Generally speaking, cities with greater shares of employees from this sector tended to experience greater office recovery than other urban centers. And for New York City in particular, the dominance of the finance industry may go some way towards explaining the city’s emergence as an RTO leader.
Regional differences notwithstanding, office foot traffic has yet to rebound to pre-COVID levels in any major U.S. market. But counting visits only tells part of the RTO story. Stakeholders seeking to adapt to the new normal also need to understand the evolving characteristics of the in-office crowd. Are office-goers more or less affluent than they were four years ago? And is there a difference in the employee age breakdown?
To explore the evolution of the demographic and psychographic attributes of office-goers since COVID, we analyzed the captured markets of buildings included in the Placer.ai Office Indexes with data from STI (Popstats) and Spatial.ai (PersonaLive). And strikingly, despite stubborn Yo4Y office visit gaps, the profiles of last year’s office visitors largely resembled what they were before COVID – with some marked shifts. This may serve as a further indication that 2023 brought us closer to an emerging new normal.
The median household income (HHI) of the Office Indexes fell during COVID. But by 2022, the median HHI in the trade areas of the Office Indexes was climbing back nationwide in all cities analyzed, and fell just 0.6% short of 2019 levels in 2023. And in some cities, including San Francisco and Dallas, the median HHI of office-goers is higher now than it was pre-pandemic.
Better-paid, and more experienced employees often have more access to remote and hybrid work opportunities – and at the height of the pandemic, it was these workers that disproportionately stayed home. But as COVID receded, many of them came back to the office. Now, even if high-income workers – like many other employees – are coming in less frequently, their share of office visitors has very nearly bounced back to what it was before COVID.
Who are the affluent employees driving the median HHI back up? Foot traffic data suggests that much of the HHI rebound may be fueled by “Educated Urbanites” – a segment defined by Spatial.ai PersonaLive as affluent, educated singles between the ages of 24 and 35 living in urban areas.
For younger employees in particular, fully remote work can come at a significant cost. A lot of learning takes place at the water cooler – and informal interactions with more experienced colleagues can be critical for professional development. Out of sight can also equal out of mind, making it more difficult for younger workers that don’t develop personal bonds with their co-workers and to potentially take other steps to advance their careers.
Analyzing the trade areas of offices across major markets shows that – while parents were somewhat less likely to visit office buildings in 2023 than in 2019 – affluent young professionals are making in-person attendance a priority. Indeed, in 2023, the share of “Educated Urbanites” in offices’ captured markets exceeded pre-COVID levels in most analyzed cities – although the share of this segment still varied between regions, as did the magnitude of the shift over time.
Miami and Dallas, both of which feature relatively small shares of this demographic, saw more dramatic increases relative to their 2019 baselines – but smaller jumps in absolute terms. On the other end of the spectrum lay San Francisco, where the share of “Educated Urbanites” jumped from 47.8% in 2019 to a remarkable 50.0% in 2023. New York office buildings, for their parts, saw the share of this segment rise from 28.8% in 2019 to 31.0% in 2023.
Other segments’ RTO patterns seem a little more mixed. The share of “Ultra Wealthy Families” – a segment consisting of affluent Gen Xers between the ages of 45 and 54 – is still slightly below pre-COVID levels on a nationwide basis. In 2023, this segment made up 13.0% of the Nationwide Office Index’s captured market – down slightly from 13.3% in 2019. In New York and San Francisco, for example – both of which saw the share of “Educated Urbanites” exceed pre-COVID levels last year – the share of “Ultra Wealthy Families” remained lower in 2023 than in 2019. At the same time, some cities’ Office Indexes, such as Miami, Dallas, and Los Angeles, have seen the share of this segment grow Yo4Y.
Workers belonging to this demographic tend to be more established in their careers, and may be less likely to be caring for small children. Well-to-do Gen Xers may also be more likely to be executives, called back to the office to lead by example. But employees belonging to this segment may consider the return to in-person work to be a choice rather than a necessity, which could explain this cohort’s more varied pace of RTO.
COVID supercharged the WFH revolution, upending traditional commuting patterns and offering employees and companies alike a taste of the advantages of a more flexible approach to work. But as employers and workers seek to negotiate the right balance between at-home and in-person work, the office landscape remains very much in flux. And by keeping abreast of nationwide and regional foot traffic trends – as well as the shifting demographic and psychographic characteristics of today’s office-goers – stakeholders can adapt to this fast-changing reality.
