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The Men’s Final Four tips off this week in Indianapolis, IN, with UConn, Illinois, Arizona, and Michigan all vying for the title. While much of the attention will center on the action inside Lucas Oil Stadium, the experience extends far beyond the court, with a series of events unfolding across downtown. To better understand the impact of this multi-day spectacle, we looked back at last year’s Final Four in San Antonio, TX – examining the moments that drove meaningful consumer engagement and what they could signal for this year’s conclusion to March Madness.
Much like this year’s Final Four in Indianapolis, IN, the 2025 event in San Antonio, TX was spread over several days and multiple downtown locations. The Alamodome hosted the semifinals and national championship, while Fan Fest – a hub for sponsor activations, presentations, and interactive experiences – took place at the nearby Henry B. González Convention Center. Just outside, in Hemisfair’s Tower Park and Civic Park, free concerts, watch parties, giveaways, and games captured fan engagement beyond the arena.
AI-powered analysis of the 2025 Final Four revealed that fans attending a semifinal or national championship game were likely to have a higher household income (HHI) than visitors to other Final Four events – a trend consistent with the premium ticket prices associated with a national tournament. The free or low-cost admission to Fan Fest, Tip-Off Tailgate, and the Music Festival, on the other hand, meant that visitors to the convention center and Hemisfair were more likely to have a household income aligned with state and nationwide benchmarks.
This underscores the importance of layered engagement during a high-profile sporting event. Not every fan will splurge on game tickets, but a diverse mix of accessible experiences allows a broader audience to participate. By investing in these touchpoints, organizers expand the event’s reach and amplify its overall impact.
A deeper dive into the 2025 Final Four highlights how each venue attracted a distinct audience segment – working together to create a more complete, destination-worthy experience for a wide range of fans.
Trade area analysis underscores the differences between the events at each venue. The games at the Alamodome drew a significant share of out-of-town visitors, with more than half traveling over 250 miles. Fan Fest at the convention center skewed far more local, with nearly 70% of visitors coming from within 100 miles.
Meanwhile, music and tailgate events at Hemisfair struck a balance between the two. The venue’s proximity to the stadium, combined with a lineup of high-profile artists, likely made it a natural stop for traveling fans already in town for the games. At the same time, the open-air activities appear to have resonated with local audiences, many of whom may have paired their visit with the nearby Fan Fest at the convention center.
First, this year's Fan Fest and Tip-Off Tailgate in Indianapolis may possess an even stronger local skew than last year's. The addition of the Division II and Division III championships alongside the National Invitational Tournament (NIT) at nearby Gainbridge Fieldhouse introduces more budget-friendly viewing options – a factor that may attract even more local fans. This shift may benefit certain sponsor activations while limiting the reach of others, depending on their target audience.
Second, headline concerts can serve as a powerful draw for out-of-town visitors. And when scheduled before the games, these performances may encourage longer stays – as visitors who travel from afar are likely to remain through the championship game – providing a more sustained hotel and tourism lift across the full event window.
Taken together, these findings reinforce the importance of a multi-layered event strategy. By offering varied experiences that appeal to different audiences, organizers can maximize engagement and elevate the overall impact of a high-profile sporting showcase like the Final Four.
A closer look at the Hemisfair district – home to the Final Four’s Music Festival and Tip-Off Tailgate in 2025 – further highlights the potential of these events to drive local consumer engagement.
Relative to the 2025 daily visit average, traffic during the 2025 Final Four weekend (most notably, April 4th to 6th) ranked as the second-busiest stretch of the year for Hemisfair – surpassed only by the Saturday of Muertos Fest on October 25th.
This visit spike underscores the outsized role of ancillary programming in driving visitation – an effect that can be expected from the 2026 Final Four events as well. But unlike 2025’s closely clustered setup, the 2026 event hubs are set a short distance apart in Indianapolis’s downtown core. This could encourage pedestrian movement along connecting corridors – increasing retail and dining exposure and broadening the tournament’s economic impact.
All eyes will be on this week’s matchups between the final four teams, as the nation awaits the crowning of a new college basketball champion.
But if last year’s Final Four is any indication, the impact will extend well beyond the court. The broader ecosystem of multi-day programming is poised to drive local consumer engagement, reinforcing the tournament’s role as a catalyst for foot traffic and economic activity.
For more in-depth event insights, visit Placer.ai/anchor.
Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the US. The data is trusted by thousands of industry leaders who leverage Placer.ai for insights into foot traffic, demographic breakdowns, retail sale predictions, migration trends, site selection, and more.
Following a difficult 2025, Target appears to be on a recovery path. Weekly visits from February 2 to March 22, 2026 rose 6.6% to 10.3% year over year, suggesting that the company's turnaround strategy – which includes improving its product assortment and in-store experience – is beginning to deliver results.
In-store traffic volume during the company's recent Circle Days also suggest that a turnaround is on the horizon. Average daily visits during this year's Circle Days (March 25th to 27th 2026) were 2.9% and 5.9% higher than the comparable spring events in 2024 and 2025, respectively – despite those prior events benefiting from weekend days. (In 2024 and 2025, Target's spring Circle Day promotion ran for seven days.) Traffic was also higher compared to the YTD same-weekday average – that shoppers are returning to Target, with Circle Days further boosting already elevated traffic levels.
Target’s early-2026 performance suggests its turnaround efforts are beginning to resonate, supported by investments in stores, staffing, and merchandising aimed at improving the in-store experience. Encouraging traffic trends – including stronger performance during Circle Days despite already elevated baseline visits – point to renewed shopper engagement. If Target can sustain this momentum beyond promotional periods, it appears well positioned for stabilization and modest growth in 2026.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/anchor
Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the US. The data is trusted by thousands of industry leaders who leverage Placer.ai for insights into foot traffic, demographic breakdowns, retail sale predictions, migration trends, site selection, and more.
IKEA’s recent decision to open a store in Tulsa, OK may seem surprising at first glance. But a closer look at the location analytics reveals a market with a compelling mix of inbound migration, rising incomes, and retail momentum – a combination that is putting the state of Oklahoma on the map as a next-tier retail destination.
So what do location analytics reveal about the trends shaping Oklahoma’s largest markets – and why did IKEA choose Tulsa, the state’s second-largest CBSA, over its biggest, Oklahoma City? We dug into the data to find out.
Population growth is often one of the first signals retailers look for. And while states like California, New York, and Illinois have continued to see domestic outflows in recent years, Oklahoma has been quietly gaining ground. Between January 2023 and January 2026, the state saw an influx of relocators equal to 0.3% of its 2023 population.
Both Oklahoma City and Tulsa have benefited from this trend – but Tulsa holds a slight edge, one factor that may be contributing to IKEA’s decision. The gap may seem modest, but in a mid-sized metro context, even small differences in migration can translate into meaningful increases in demand.
Another factor likely shaping IKEA’s decision is the quality of inbound migration. Data shows that newcomers across Oklahoma bring significantly higher median household incomes (HHIs) than existing residents.
And while Oklahoma City’s overall median HHI remains slightly higher than Tulsa’s, the income lift from new residents is more pronounced in Tulsa. Incoming households there earn about 7.1% more than local residents, compared to a 4.8% premium in Oklahoma City.
This stronger income differential points to a greater influx of higher-earning households – consumers who are more likely to drive discretionary spending. As they settle into new homes, these households often trigger immediate, high-value purchasing cycles, particularly in categories like home furnishings.
And these demographic tailwinds appear to be translating into real-world retail performance. Since 2024, year-over-year retail visits across Oklahoma have outpaced the national average.
At the metro level, both Tulsa and Oklahoma City have seen retail activity grow since 2023 – but only Tulsa has consistently outperformed the U.S. benchmark, and in 2025, it also surpassed the state as a whole.
The convergence of these factors – stronger migration, a more pronounced income uplift, and sustained retail outperformance – may help explain IKEA’s strategic choice.
IKEA stores are long-term investments, often serving as regional anchors for decades. Choosing Tulsa signals confidence not just in current demand, but in the market’s future trajectory.
And the data supports that bet. With stronger inbound migration, a greater concentration of higher-income newcomers, and above-average retail momentum, Tulsa is emerging as a quietly attractive growth market – one that may be flying under the radar, but increasingly checks all the right boxes.
For more data-driven retail analysis, follow Placer.ai/anchor.
Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the US. The data is trusted by thousands of industry leaders who leverage Placer.ai for insights into foot traffic, demographic breakdowns, retail sale predictions, migration trends, site selection, and more.
Chick-fil-A continues to carve out a distinctive growth story in the quick-service restaurant (QSR) space, pairing steady physical expansion with consistent gains in foot traffic. The latest data highlights a brand strengthening its position through operational efficiency, disciplined growth, and a loyal customer base that values quality and experience over aggressive promotions.
Supported by industry-leading average unit volumes, Chick-fil-A has successfully expanded its physical footprint without sacrificing store-level performance.
Recent traffic data from September 2025 through February 2026 illustrates this efficient scaling, as total visits rose consistently year-over-year throughout the entire six-month period while average visits per location remained elevated in four of those six months.
In addition, since September 2025, Chick-fil-A has largely outpaced other limited-service restaurants in per-location traffic growth, lagging behind QSR and fast-casual competitors only in October and November.
Notably, November’s sharp decline can be attributed to calendar dynamics rather than a drop in consumer interest – Chick-fil-A is famously closed on Sundays, and November 2025 had one more Sunday than November 2024, which could have placed the chain at a disadvantage relative to other restaurants.
Chick-fil-A’s resilience may be rooted in part in the strong alignment between its operating model and its customer base. Positioned as a premium QSR brand straddling the line between fast food and fast casual, the chain emphasizes consistency, menu simplicity, and high-touch service rather than heavy discounting.
This approach has helped Chick-fil-A maintain a top ranking for QSR customer satisfaction for over a decade. At the same time, its trade areas skew more affluent than those of traditional QSR competitors, providing a degree of insulation from macroeconomic pressures and supporting a willingness to pay for a reliable, higher-quality dining experience.
Chick-fil-A’s recent performance highlights a brand executing with discipline – expanding its footprint while maintaining strong unit-level productivity and outperforming key competitors. With a stable operating model and a customer base that supports its offerings, the chain appears well positioned to sustain its upward trajectory.
For more data-driven dining insights, follow Placer.ai/anchor.
Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the US. The data is trusted by thousands of industry leaders who leverage Placer.ai for insights into foot traffic, demographic breakdowns, retail sale predictions, migration trends, site selection, and more.
Traffic trends highlight a growing divergence between mono-brand boutiques and luxury department stores. While both formats have faced headwinds, department stores have consistently outperformed mono-brand boutiques on a year-over-year basis, maintaining relatively stable visitation compared to the sharper and more sustained declines seen across mono-brand locations. This gap has been especially pronounced since the second half of 2025, where mono-brand traffic trends weakened significantly while department stores showed greater resilience.
Part of this gap may be explained by structural differences between the formats. Department stores offer broader assortments, multiple price points, and the ability to support a range of shopping missions in a single visit, allowing them to capture demand across a wider spectrum of consumers. Mono-brand boutiques, by contrast, are more tightly tied to full-price luxury positioning, making them inherently more exposed to fluctuations in discretionary spending.
But even as luxury department stores offer a broader range of products that can appeal to a wider audience, trade area demographics suggest that mono-brand boutiques rely more heavily on aspirational shoppers. While both formats drew from affluent areas in 2025, mono-brand stores captured a higher share of households below the $100K income threshold – indicating greater exposure to more price-sensitive consumers. Department stores, by contrast, skewed toward higher-income households, providing a more stable demand base.
This distinction also helps explain the widening traffic gap between the two formats. As discretionary spending tightens, aspirational shoppers are often the first to pull back. And because mono-brand boutiques seem to depend more on this segment – and lack the pricing flexibility and assortment breadth to retain them – they are experiencing sharper declines. Meanwhile, department stores, supported by a more affluent customer base and greater assortment diversity, are better positioned to sustain traffic and overall performance.
The divergence between the two luxury formats suggests that both who shops and how they shop matter as much as brand strength. Mono-brand boutiques’ greater exposure to aspirational consumers leaves them more vulnerable in periods of constrained spending, while department stores benefit from both structural flexibility and a more resilient customer base. As the environment remains uneven, performance will likely hinge on a retailer’s ability to align format, pricing strategy, and audience with today’s shifting demand dynamics.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
As economic pressure continues to reshape consumer behavior, one retail segment is accelerating through the storm. Thrift stores, long viewed as a niche segment, are emerging as a core apparel channel – attracting more affluent value-seekers and a younger generation of shoppers. An AI-powered analysis of the thrift category and one of its leading players – Goodwill – highlights the segment’s rise to prominence and the takeaways for other apparel players in an uncertain retail environment.
Thrift stores have seen sustained visit growth in recent years. The chart below compares visits across thrift, traditional apparel, and luxury apparel chains relative to Q4 2022. Thrift has maintained a clear upward trajectory, outperforming both traditional and luxury apparel since Q1 2025, as visits to those segments wane.
This trend likely reflects several dynamics at work. Economic pressure has encouraged consumers to seek out lower-cost alternatives, while the opportunity to score stylish, high-quality, and even luxury items at a fraction of their original price introduces a “treasure hunt” dynamic that traditional retail often struggles to replicate.
In this sense, thrifting has redefined value-seeking behavior – not out of necessity, but because it enhances the thrill of the hunt: a wholly discretionary shopping mentality.
Thrift’s visit growth is also being driven by increasing visitor frequency.
At Goodwill, for example, customer loyalty has been on the rise. Between early 2022 and early 2026, the share of visitors making an average of two or more visits per month, rose from roughly 28% to around 30%.
This trend aligns with the very nature of the thrift experience. Constantly changing inventory combined with meaningful variation across locations encourages shoppers to visit more often and explore multiple stores within short timeframes.
At the same time, online resale activity is increasing, particularly among younger, digitally savvy consumers. As economic uncertainty persists, many are turning thrifting into a side hustle, leveraging low-cost sourcing and online platforms to generate income – providing additional financial incentive to make repeat trips.
Social creators are further accelerating this behavior. “Thrift flip” videos, haul content, and store walkthroughs are reshaping discovery and growing in popularity among Gen Z audiences. And operators are adapting accordingly – partnering with influencers and refreshing store environments to better align with younger consumers’ expectations.
In addition to attracting younger audiences and frequent visitors, the profile of thrift store shoppers is evolving in another way. Operators such as Goodwill have increasingly expanded into higher-income areas, improving both the quality of donated inventory and access to more affluent customer segments. Likely as a result, the median household income (HHI) of the segment’s overall trade area – its potential market – has risen steadily.
At the same time, the median HHI of the category’s captured market – the areas within its trade area generating the most visits – has also increased, evidence that thrifting is gaining traction among more affluent consumers driven by value-seeking and treasure-hunting.
And crucially, while thrift stores still attract a somewhat less affluent audience than their overall trade area, this gap is narrowing: The income differential between potential and captured markets declined from 5.3% in 2022 to 4.8% in 2025, with the customer base increasingly reflecting the demographics of the communities where stores operate.
Taken together, these trends point to a broader repositioning of thrift retail. What began as a value-driven alternative is evolving into a hybrid model – one that blends affordability and discovery.
And in a time of economic uncertainty, a channel that resonates across income levels, engages younger shoppers, and thrives at the intersection of physical retail and digital culture is well positioned to not only remain resilient, but continue to build momentum.
Will the thrift space build on its successes in 2026? Visit Placer.ai/anchor to find out.
Placer.ai leverages a panel of tens of millions of devices and utilizes machine learning to make estimations for visits to locations across the US. The data is trusted by thousands of industry leaders who leverage Placer.ai for insights into foot traffic, demographic breakdowns, retail sale predictions, migration trends, site selection, and more.
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.
Over the past year, Fast-Casual & Quick-Service Restaurant (QSR) chains have thrived, consistently outperforming the Full-Service Dining segment with positive year-over-year (YoY) visit growth every quarter since 2023. In this white paper, we dive into the data for leading dining chains to take a closer look at what’s driving visitors to the QSR segment and what other dining categories can learn from fast-food’s success.
One of the key factors separating QSR chains – aptly known as “fast food” – from the rest of the dining industry is the speed at which diners can get a ready-to-eat meal in their hands. And within the QSR space, speed of service is one of the ways chains differentiate themselves from their competition.
Leading fast-food chains are investing heavily in technologies and systems designed to help them serve customers ever more quickly:
Taco Bell’s “Touch Display Kitchen System” is designed to optimize cooking operations and improve wait times, while the chain’s Go Mobile restaurant format seeks to alleviate bottlenecks in the drive-thru lane. Chick-fil-A also has dedicated channels for quick mobile order pick-up and is planning four-lane drive-thrus with second-floor kitchens to get meals out even faster. And to save time at the drive-thru, Wendy’s is experimenting with generative AI and developing an underground, robotic system to deliver digital orders to designated parking spots within seconds.
And location intelligence shows that all three chains are succeeding in reducing customer wait times. Over the past four years, Taco Bell, Chick-fil-A, and Wendy’s have seen steady increases in the share of visits to their venues lasting less than 10 minutes.
The data also suggests that investment in speed of service can increase overall visitation to QSR venues.
In late 2022, McDonald’s opened a to-go-only location outside of Dallas, TX with a lane dedicated to mobile order fulfillment via a conveyor belt. And in Q1 2024, this venue not only had a larger share of short visits compared to the other McDonald’s locations in the region, but also more visits compared to the McDonald’s average visits per venue in the Dallas-Fort Worth CBSA.
This provides further support for the power of fast order fulfillment to drive QSR visits, with customers motivated by the prospect of getting in and out quickly.
The success of the fast-food segment is even driving other restaurants to borrow typical QSR formats – especially during time slots when people are most likely to grab a bite to eat on the go.
In September 2023, full-service leader Applebee’s opened a new format: a fast casual location focusing on To Go orders in Deer Park, NY, featuring pick-up lockers for digital orders and limited dine-in options without table service.
And the new format is already attracting outsized weekday and lunchtime crowds. In Q1 2024, 20.5% of visits to the chain’s To Go venue took place during the 12:00 PM - 2:00 PM time slot, while the average Applebee’s in the New York-Newark-Jersey City CBSA received less than 10% of its daily visits during that daypart. The new restaurant also drew a significantly higher share of weekday visits than other nearby venues.
This suggests that takeaway-focused venues could help full-service chains grow their visit share during weekdays and the coveted lunch rush, when consumers may be less inclined to have a sit-down meal.
An additional factor contributing to QSR and Fast Casual success in 2024 may be the rise of chicken-based chains. Chicken is a versatile ingredient that has remained relatively affordable, which could be contributing to its growing popularity and the rapid expansion of several chicken chains.
Comparing the relative visit share (not including delivery) of various sub-segments within the wider Fast Casual & QSR space showed that the share of visits to chains with chicken-based menus has increased steadily between 2019 and 2023: In Q1 2024, 15.3% of Fast Casual & QSR visits were to a chicken restaurant concept, compared to just 13.4% in Q1 2019.
The strength of chicken-based concepts is also evident when comparing average visits per venue at leading chicken chains with the wider Fast Casual & QSR average.
Both Chick-fil-A, the nation’s predominant chicken chain, and Raising Cane’s, a rapidly expanding player in the fast-food chicken space, are receiving significantly more visits per venue than their Fast Casual & QSR peers: In Q1 2024, Raising Cane’s and Chick-fil-A restaurants saw an average of 153.0% and 237.7% more visits per venue, respectively, compared to the combined Fast Casual & QSR industries average.
The elevated traffic at chicken chains likely plays a part in their profitability per restaurant relative to other Fast Casual & QSR concepts with more sizable fleets.
QSR and Fast-Casual chains are also particularly adept at generating seasonal visit spikes through unique Limited Time Offers and holiday promotions adapted to the calendar.
Arby’s recently launched a 2 for $6 sandwich promotion on February 1st, with two of the three sandwich options on promotion being fish-based in an apparent attempt to entice diners eschewing meat in observance of Lent. The company also brought back a specialty fish sandwich, likely with the goal of further appealing to the Lent-observing demographic.
The offers seem to have driven significant traffic spikes, with foot traffic during the promotion period significantly higher than the January daily visit average. And traffic was particularly elevated during Lent – which this year fell on Wednesday, February 14th through Thursday, March 28th, with visits spiking on Fridays when those observing are most likely to seek out fish-based meals.
Some of the elevated visits in the second half of Q1 may be attributed to the comparison to a weaker January across the dining segment. But the success of the fish-forward promotion specifically during Lent suggests that the company’s calendar-appropriate LTO played a major role in driving visits to the chain.
Shorter-term promotions – even those lasting just a single day – can also drive major visit spikes.
Since 1991, White Castle has transformed its fast-food restaurants into a reservation-only, “fine-dining” experience for dinner on Valentine's Day. In 2024, Valentine’s Day fell on a Wednesday, and White Castle’s sit-down event drove a 11.8% visit increase relative to the average Wednesday in Q1 2024 and a 3.9% visit increase compared to the overall Q1 2024 daily average.
The elevated visit numbers over Valentine’s Day are even more impressive when considering that a full-service dining room can accommodate fewer visitors than the drive-thrus and counter service of White Castle’s typical QSR configuration. The spike in February 14th visits may also be attributed to an increased number of diners showing up throughout the day to take in the Valentine’s Day buzz.
QSR and Fast-Casual dining are having a moment. And the data shows that a combination of factors – including fast and efficient service, the rising popularity of chicken-based dining concepts, and effective LTOs – are all playing a part in the categories’ recent success.
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.
