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Both sweetgreen and CAVA delivered strong year-over-year (YoY) visit growth in Q2 2026, outperforming both the broader restaurant industry and the fast-casual category despite a challenging consumer environment. While the industry-wide cyclosporiasis outbreak that emerged in July has introduced a new source of uncertainty – particularly for produce-centric concepts like Sweetgreen – both brands seem to be entering the second half of the year with considerable underlying momentum.
Even more encouraging was the acceleration in same-store traffic. CAVA, which has posted positive same-store visit growth in nearly every month over the past year, delivered two of its strongest results in Q2, with existing restaurant visits increasing 7.7% in April and 7.9% in June. This continued acceleration suggests CAVA's growth remains supported by healthy demand at existing restaurants, reinforcing confidence that its expansion story is being driven by underlying consumer strength rather than new unit openings alone.
Sweetgreen also showed notable improvement, reversing nearly a year of negative same-store traffic as same-store visits rose 1.0% in May and 3.9% in June. The improvement coincided with the nationwide launch of wraps on May 6th, suggesting the menu expansion may already be helping broaden the chain's appeal and drive stronger demand at existing restaurants. As one of the most visible initiatives under sweetgreen's Sweet Growth Transformation Plan, the wraps may also provide an early indication that the company's broader strategy is beginning to translate into stronger customer demand.
While sweetgreen and CAVA enter earnings from very different positions, Q2 visitation trends suggest both companies have reasons for optimism. CAVA continues to demonstrate that rapid expansion has not come at the expense of existing restaurant performance, while sweetgreen's improving same-store traffic suggests recent operational initiatives and menu innovation may be beginning to gain traction. Although macroeconomic headwinds remain, both brands appear well positioned heading into earnings, with visitation trends indicating resilient consumer demand.
Chipotle and McDonald's have spent the past year navigating significant headwinds, as rising gas prices, tighter household budgets, and cautious discretionary spending pressured restaurant traffic – particularly among lower-income households.
Still, the shared macro backdrop produced very different outcomes. Chipotle generated 4.7% year-over-year (YoY) traffic growth in Q2, while McDonald's visits fell 4.5%.
Because Chipotle is continuing to expand, overall traffic growth naturally outpaced same-store performance – though visitation at existing locations remained positive throughout Q2 2026 as well, ending the quarter 1.8% above year-ago levels. So after a difficult 2025 that saw slowing traffic, negative comparable sales, and reduced guidance raise investor concerns about the pace of Chipotle's growth, visitation trends suggest demand may be stabilizing.
Unlike Chipotle, McDonald's U.S. footprint remained relatively stable, so same-store traffic closely mirrored overall visitation, with both declining year over year (YoY) throughout Q2 2026. The divergence between the two chains may partly reflect differences in their customer bases. Only 30.1% of Chipotle visitors came from trade areas with median household incomes below $50K, while nearly a quarter came from areas with median household incomes above $150K. By comparison, 36.1% of McDonald's visitors came from trade areas with median household incomes below $50K, while just 17.5% came from areas above $150K, suggesting its customer base was likely more exposed to higher gas prices and rising food costs.
While McDonald's softer Q2 traffic warrants monitoring, the timing suggests the slowdown should be viewed in the context of an unusually challenging environment for lower-income consumers rather than as definitive evidence of weakening brand relevance. If pressure from higher gas prices and food costs begins to ease, the chain could be well positioned to benefit as its core customer regains spending power.
For more data-driven restaurant insights, visit placer.ai/anchor
Nearly two years into its "Back to Starbucks" strategy, the company's traffic trends suggest the turnaround is gaining traction. Overall visits increased year over year (YoY) in every month of the past 12 months, with Q2 2026 traffic up 2.6% despite higher gas prices and broader macroeconomic uncertainty weighing on discretionary spending. Same-store traffic has also remained positive since October 2025 and has outpaced overall visit growth in recent months, reflecting the impact of the company's portfolio rationalization.
The repeat-visit data also suggests that the strategy is resonating. From January through June 2026, the share of Starbucks customers visiting at least twice per month exceeded 2025 levels almost months, indicating that the chain is not only attracting more customers (with a 1.3% YoY increase in overall visitors in H1 2026) but is also encouraging more frequent use.
The visitation data, along with the increase in repeat customers, suggests Starbucks' operational improvements are beginning to translate into stronger customer retention. If Starbucks can continue converting occasional guests into regular visitors, the company appears increasingly well positioned to translate operational improvements into durable growth.
Overall visits to Dutch Bros increased year over year (YoY) every month over the past year, with Q2 2026 traffic up 7.7%, even as same-store visits softened.
Given Dutch Bros' relatively young, middle-income customer base, higher transportation costs may have disproportionately pressured visit frequency among existing customers, even as new store openings continued to drive systemwide traffic growth. Indeed, the timing of the dip – beginning in March 2026, just as gas prices started to skyrocket – suggests macro pressures rather than weakening brand demand may explain part of the moderation in comparable-store trends.
Management has consistently identified the morning daypart as one of Dutch Bros' largest growth opportunities, with initiatives including expanded food offerings, mobile ordering, and beverage innovation designed to make the chain a stronger breakfast destination.
And visitation data suggests those efforts are gaining traction, with Dutch Bros posting its strongest YoY traffic gains before noon during Q2, substantially outperforming the broader coffee category throughout most of the morning. While the company remains known for its afternoon beverage business, continued gains during morning commute hours suggest it is expanding into a much larger addressable occasion rather than simply strengthening its existing niche.
If macro pressures prove temporary, Dutch Bros could benefit from both continued unit expansion and an improvement in visit frequency among its existing customer base. Combined with encouraging momentum in the morning daypart, that would give the company multiple avenues for sustaining traffic growth even as comparisons become more challenging.
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When Tailored Brands filed for bankruptcy in August 2020, the immediate catalyst was the pandemic, which shuttered stores and sharply reduced demand for suits and other formalwear. But the company was already facing structural headwinds. As workplace attire became more casual and consumers had fewer occasions to dress up, Men's Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank, and K&G Fashion Superstore had already begun losing ground to the broader apparel category in 2019. The pandemic accelerated those challenges, widening the traffic gap as consumers had even fewer reasons to put on a suit and tie.
But following the reopening surge of 2021 and 2022 and a normalization period through 2024, all three banners had largely closed the gap with the broader full-price apparel category, with year-over-year (YoY) traffic trends returning to roughly in line with the sector.
Since mid-2025, Jos. A. Bank and Men's Wearhouse have consistently outperformed the full-service apparel category in terms of YoY visit growth, perhaps helped by return-to-office policies and a renewed appreciation for tailored apparel for work and special occasions. The performance aligns with Tailored Brands' IPO thesis that investments in merchandising, brand repositioning, and omnichannel capabilities have strengthened its competitive position.
K&G Fashion Superstore's visitation trends have been more mixed, with traffic softening in recent months. But the divergence coincided with the sharp rise in gas prices beginning in spring 2026, and may reflect the banner's greater exposure to value-oriented, lower-income shoppers rather than a broader deterioration in the business. Notably, Tailored Brands continues to position K&G as a long-term growth vehicle in its IPO filing, including plans to expand the banner's store footprint, suggesting management views the recent softness as temporary rather than structural.
Tailored Brands' visitation trends suggest the business has moved beyond simply recovering from the pandemic. For potential investors, the key question now is whether the company can continue converting renewed demand into sustained market share gains.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/anchor
The Tartan Army was one of the breakout stories of the World Cup. Scotland's traveling supporters turned Boston into a sea of kilts and McTominay shirts, and at one point drank the downtown Sam Adams taproom dry, emptying nearly 90 kegs over four days and forcing a string of emergency beer deliveries. It's a great headline.
But Boston is far from the only host metro where bars and pubs are filling up, and it isn't even close to the biggest beneficiary.
Analyzing weekly visits to bars and pubs in host cities during the World Cup compared to the same period in 2025 shows that nearly all metro areas outperformed the nationwide average on a year over year basis. The standouts on the West Coast – the Los Angeles CBSA and the Bay Area (combined San Jose and San Francisco CBSAs) – saw visits up more than 15% above the same period in 2025. Houston also recorded double-digit growth, while New York, Dallas-Fort Worth, Atlanta, Seattle, Philadelphia, Miami, and Boston all posted gains above the national average.
This data results suggest that every host metro except Kansas City outperformed the national trend, suggesting that the tournament generated a broad-based boost to local bars and pubs across the country.
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.
