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Foot traffic to retail corridors nationwide plummeted during the shelter-in-place restrictions of 2020, and recent data shows that visits have yet to fully recover to 2019 levels. While traffic has steadily improved each year since the pandemic lows, 2025 visits remain 11.7% below their pre-pandemic baseline.
What is holding the retail corridor recovery back? We dove into the data to find out.
Retail corridors are typically concentrated in downtown areas, featuring a mix of stores, restaurants, bars, and offices – and are often surrounded by even more office space. And comparing average visits per day of week in 2025 and 2019 suggests that the persistence of hybrid and remote work is likely driving much of the lag.
Monday through Thursday foot traffic to retail corridors was down between 16.3% and 17.3% in 2025 compared to 2019. The gap narrowed to 11.7% on Friday as activity began to shift toward the weekend, and nearly disappeared on Saturday (-2.8%) and Sunday (-4.2%).
The much larger weekday deficit suggests that reduced office attendance continues to weigh on downtown retail activity. With fewer workers commuting daily, there are fewer pre-work coffee stops, lunchtime errands, and spontaneous after-work visits that once fueled these corridors. So while leisure-driven weekend traffic has largely rebounded, the office-driven weekday ecosystem that historically sustained retail corridors has yet to fully return.
Hourly data reinforces the role that office attendance (or lack thereof) is playing in the retail corridor visit lag. The steepest declines are concentrated squarely within traditional workday hours: visits between 7 AM and 11 AM are down 23.7% compared to 2019, followed by a 19.2% decline from 11 AM to 3 PM. But the gap is much more moderate both earlier and later in the day (from 12 AM to 7 AM and 3 PM to 12 PM) in the day later in the day, with visits down 13.7% from 3 PM to 7 PM and just 9.6% after 7 PM. This suggests that the missing traffic is closely tied to reduced daily commuting – fewer morning coffee runs, lunch breaks, and midday errands – while evening and leisure-oriented visits have proven far more resilient. With more schedule flexibility, downtown businesses and civic stakeholders may need to focus on creating reasons for consumers to intentionally visit downtowns during slower weekday hours, rather than relying on routine commuter traffic to fill stores organically.
The retail corridor traffic data suggests that downtowns are facing a structural shift in when and why people visit. With fewer daily commuters, stakeholders may need to focus less on restoring a five-day office week and more on activating the days and hours that already show strength. Civic leaders can prioritize safety, cleanliness, transit reliability, and targeted weekday programming or events that encourage intentional trips downtown. Retailers and dining concepts can adapt hours, promotions, and experiences to better align with flexible work schedules. In a hybrid era, success may depend less on recreating old commuting patterns and more on making downtown a destination people choose – not just a place they pass through.
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.
Downtown Austin is navigating a period of unusual complexity. A convention center renovation and major highway construction have created significant disruption, while extreme summer heat and pullbacks in consumer spending are adding further pressure.
Yet despite these headwinds, visitation is nearing pre-pandemic levels. And a key factor driving Austin’s recovery has been its deliberate use of data to guide strategy, align stakeholders, and deploy resources where they can have the greatest impact.
Since 2022, Downtown Austin has been on a steady recovery trajectory. By 2025, non-resident and non-employee visits to the area reached 94.4% of 2019 levels – a milestone that becomes even more meaningful against the backdrop of this year’s intensely hot summer and the temporary closure of Austin’s convention center, which has remained offline since April 2025.
This data reveals resilience that might otherwise have gone unnoticed – critical framing when coordinating across agencies and reassuring stakeholders that downtown remains a reliable economic engine even during infrastructure transitions.
The composition of that visitation tells an equally important story. A growing share of visitors to downtown Austin are coming from within Texas – especially on weekends.
In an environment where consumers are more value-conscious and long-haul travel remains uneven, this regional draw has become a strategic asset. In-state travelers are more likely to make shorter, repeat trips, creating consistent demand for restaurants, entertainment venues, and retail corridors.
The Downtown Austin Alliance uses this insight to refine both marketing and access strategies. Partnerships such as discounted ride programs within a 30-mile radius reduce friction for local visitors during the holiday season, while targeted programming ensures downtown remains competitive as a weekend destination.
At the policy level, this data strengthens the case that downtown’s success benefits the broader state economy. When a rising share of visitors originates within Texas, the dollars spent downtown circulate locally – supporting jobs, generating tax revenue, and reinforcing Austin’s role as an economic anchor.
Data also helps the Alliance optimize services around major events that drive tourism to Austin – such as the annual ACL Music Festival and Formula 1 Grand Prix – supporting operational precision. High-traffic areas receive intensified cleaning and hospitality services, while lower-traffic zones become candidates for murals, activations, and smaller-scale programming designed to distribute energy more evenly. Event-driven data also informs conversations with transportation partners as construction continues to reshape mobility routes.
The strategic use of data is also evident in the revitalization of East Sixth Street. Long known as a historic entertainment corridor with a late-night reputation, the district is now the focus of a coordinated effort to evolve its positioning and offerings.
And data has played an important role in getting people on board. Location analytics, for example, show that out-of-market visitors to the district are coming from more affluent areas, showing that spending power exists and is growing – and that the district’s offerings may have room to evolve alongside its audience.
For property owners and local businesses, this data provides a clearer picture of market potential. And for public-sector partners, it strengthens the case for infrastructure upgrades and placemaking investments.
Austin’s experience offers a broader lesson for cities navigating disruption. Infrastructure transitions, climate pressures, and evolving travel patterns present real challenges – but by grounding placemaking strategies in clear, measurable data, Austin is strengthening downtown’s economic foundation and aligning stakeholders around a shared vision.
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Amid a tightening job market, the list of employers requiring workers to show up in person – many now mandating five days a week – continues to grow. But how did the office recovery fare in February 2026, a month marked by heavy snowstorms across major Northeast markets?
We dove into the data to find out.
In February 2026, visits to the Placer.ai Nationwide Office Index were 31.9% below 2019 levels – marking the smallest February post-pandemic visit gap to date. Overall attendance even slightly outpaced February 2024, a leap year that benefited from 20 business days instead of the usual 19.
While this is hardly the most impressive RTO showing we’ve seen in recent months, February’s gains came in spite of meaningful headwinds.
A late-February blizzard disrupted major Northeast markets, driving a year-over-year (YoY) decline in New York City office visits and widening Manhattan’s post-pandemic gap to 21.3% below 2019 levels. Boston, also hit hard by snow, saw visits remain flat YoY, slipping behind San Francisco and Denver in overall recovery progress.
By contrast, cities in other regions posted clear gains, with San Francisco – still benefiting from AI-driven hiring and renewed tech activity – once again seeing some of the strongest growth at +11.9% YoY.
February’s performance underscores a familiar pattern of month-to-month fluctuation, even as the broader RTO trajectory continues its upward climb. Regional dynamics – from weather disruptions to sector-specific hiring cycles – are shaping local outcomes, but the national baseline for office utilization is steadily rising.
For more data driven CRE 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.
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The bifurcated consumer trends established in the second half of 2025 have persisted. While higher-income shoppers maintain relatively stable spending habits, lower- and middle-income households continue to feel the squeeze on essential categories like groceries and fuel. These consumers have become increasingly selective and price-sensitive, actively pivoting away from traditional mid-market chains in favor of discount retailers and value-oriented brands. Because affordability remains a core focus, average households are spreading their visits across a wider number of non-discretionary stores to hunt for deals. For example, our data shows that grocery visit growth is currently being driven by low- and middle-income households, as elevated food costs necessitate more frequent, budget-conscious trips.
However, despite this intense focus on everyday value, it would be a mistake to count out the discretionary sector, where consumer visits have also been mostly positive year-over-year (YoY) since the start of 2026. Despite weather-driven volatility, we continue to see healthy demand for discretionary categories as consumers start to put their tax refunds to work, actively seeking affordable indulgences and high-end brands at a discount.
E-commerce fulfillment centers are also seeing robust activity. Excluding a brief weather-related slump in late January, visits to these facilities are growing at a high-single to low-double-digit clip.
This surge in logistics activity is being driven by a perfect storm of consumer behavior and retail strategy: value-seeking shoppers, massive supply chain investments from giants like Walmart and Target, and the rise of frictionless "agentic" and social commerce. Furthermore, record-high product returns are forcing these centers to process a massive wave of reverse logistics, keeping facility utilization incredibly high.
As delayed tax refunds finally hit consumer bank accounts in the months ahead, we expect this strong e-commerce and fulfillment momentum to continue.
Manufacturing data has been highly volatile in early 2026. Placer.ai’s Industrial Manufacturing Index – which measures physical visits to manufacturing facilities across a wide range of verticals – showed an ebb and flow in the early weeks of the year. Severe winter storms heavily weighed on facility visits in late January, followed by a clear rebound in February.
This physical, on-the-ground improvement aligns with the latest macroeconomic indicators. According to the most recent ISM report, the U.S. manufacturing sector expanded for the second consecutive month in February, with the PMI registering a solid 52.4. Crucially, this growth is being driven by strong forward-looking demand, as the ISM New Orders Index remained firmly in expansion territory at 55.8. Ultimately, while underlying production and new orders show sustained momentum, unpredictable weather patterns continue to create short-term fluctuations in actual facility operations.
Looking ahead, volatility will likely be the baseline expectation for both the retail and manufacturing sectors throughout 2026. Unpredictable weather events, shifting supply chain dynamics, and the complexities of lapping 2025's macroeconomic hurdles will continue to create week-to-week fluctuations in physical foot traffic and industrial output.
Yet, beneath this turbulence lies a remarkably stable foundation: the American consumer. Despite the ongoing pressures of inflation and depleted household savings, shoppers remain incredibly resilient. They are highly strategic – pinching pennies on daily essentials and heavily utilizing value channels – precisely so they can continue to fund discretionary spending and lifestyle upgrades. The market may be volatile, but the 2026 consumer is proving that they are willing and able to spend when the value proposition is right.
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.
With its recent IPO, Bob’s Discount Furniture has officially entered a new chapter, stepping onto the public stage at a time when the home furnishings sector continues to face macroeconomic pressures. Yet despite these challenges, Bob’s has demonstrated notable momentum. This AI-powered data analysis takes a closer look at Bob’s performance, examining traffic trends, demographic positioning, and cross-shopping behavior to better understand what’s driving the company’s success.
Bob’s continued expansion supported year-over-year (YoY) visit increases throughout 2025 – but growth was not driven by footprint alone. Visits per location to the chain also climbed by 1.8% in 2025, indicating that existing stores captured incremental demand alongside new openings.
Analysis of Bob’s and the broader home furnishings category suggests that a favorable mix of value-oriented and affluent shoppers may be supporting the brand’s growth.
In 2025, the median household income of Bob’s captured market was $89.0K – below the category median of $92.5K, yet above the nationwide median of $79.6K. A similar pattern emerged when examining Bob’s audience by income groups. Among households earning under $100K and those earning over $150K, Bob’s share fell between the category benchmark and the national baseline.
This positioning suggests that while Bob’s resonates strongly with value-seeking consumers, its appeal is not limited to lower-income households – which could reflect the strength of its "Good, Better, Best" assortment strategy. As value-prioritization has gained traction across income levels, Bob’s appears to be attracting shoppers who are price-conscious yet still maintain discretionary spending power – a combination that is especially advantageous in a bigger-ticket category like furniture.
Reinforcing its position as a primary destination for furniture shoppers appears to be another factor fueling Bob’s growth.
AI-based location intelligence reveals that in 2025, the share of Bob’s visitors who also visited other major home furnishings chains declined compared to 2024. The shift was consistent across several key competitors, suggesting that fewer shoppers felt compelled to compare offerings at other chains before visiting Bob's Discount Furniture.
In a category where consumers frequently comparison-shop, declining cross-visitation may signal that Bob’s relaxed in-store environment – featuring the “Little Bob” sock-puppet and complementary cafés – is resonating with shoppers, reducing the incentive to look elsewhere.
These insights underscore Bob’s differentiated strategy within a volatile retail landscape. By combining disciplined expansion with broad cross-income appeal and brand loyalty, Bob’s is building both growth and resilience as it enters its public chapter.
Will Bob’s continue to find success 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.
Traffic to Darden banners remained relatively stable in 2025, with the company seeing an average increase of 1.2% in overall visits coupled with a slight dip of 0.3% in average visits per venue across its brands. Average visits per venue improved towards the end of the year relative to the annual average, growing 1.5% YoY in Q4 2025 – likely due to the closure of several Bahama Breeze restaurants in 2025, part of the company's plans to sunset the banner entirely by April 2026.
Analyzing traffic by banner points to clear resilience at the top of the market, with upscale casual and premium brands such as Yard House and Ruth's Chris Steakhouse generally showing the strongest and most consistent traffic growth. This pattern suggests that higher-income consumers remain relatively insulated and willing to spend, even amid broader volatility.
At the same time, LongHorn Steakhouse, one of Darden’s largest brands, also emerged as a standout performer, delivering steady positive traffic across multiple months. Given its scale within the portfolio, LongHorn likely made an outsized contribution to Darden’s overall positive traffic trends, helping to offset softness in other chains and reinforcing the company’s momentum.
Same-store YoY visit trends in recent months are very close to overall visit trends, suggesting that Darden’s traffic trends are largely same-store-driven rather than expansion-driven, with little evidence that unit growth is materially distorting overall traffic trends. Premium brands continue to perform well, and LongHorn is generating steady same-store growth across its large footprint, suggesting that Darden’s results are being driven by real consumer demand – especially among higher-income diners.
Darden’s results suggest that performance is being driven less by sheer scale and more by brand positioning, with concepts that offer either premium experiences or strong value perception (like LongHorn) capturing disproportionate demand. As consumer budgets remain tight, growth is likely to concentrate further in brands that clearly justify their price point – leaving middle-of-the-road concepts increasingly pressured to sharpen their value proposition or differentiate more meaningfully.
For up-to-date restaurant foot traffic, visit our free Industry Trends tool.
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.
Malls have long acted as a gleaming symbol of American retail. Following the opening of the first indoor mall in 1956, and as the American middle class increasingly moved from the city to the suburbs, malls continued to open at a rapid rate. By 1960, some 4,500 shopping centers had opened nationwide, filling the growing demand for “third places” – spaces that allowed the newly suburban populations to gather, socialize, and create community. And while that role evolved over the years, it’s safe to say that malls have played a major part in shaping the American shopping culture.
But malls’ rapid expansion led to an oversaturated market – some estimates suggest that there are approximately 24 square feet of retail space per U.S. citizen, as compared to 4.6 for the U.K. and 2.8 for China. Many began to predict the demise and downfall of malls, and that narrative intensified as online shopping grew in popularity. The rise of big-box stores, a focus on “services, not things,” and COVID-19 only accelerated these trends.
A lot of the doom and gloom predictions tend to de-emphasize the mall's role as a modern incarnation of a bustling downtown shopping area.
But a lot of these doom and gloom predictions focus on malls only as a place to shop, and tend to de-emphasize their other role as the third place – a modern incarnation of a bustling downtown shopping area, replete with shops, services, and places to meet. And after two years of isolation and a new, pandemic-induced wave of suburban relocation, malls’ potential to bring people together is more prized than ever.
So although malls were hit hard during COVID-19, many of them are finding ways to reinvent themselves and stay relevant. Today, more than halfway through 2022, the challenges that malls face continue to evolve and change – but malls are evolving too. This white paper covers a few specific ways that some malls have found to thrive in the new normal. Some shopping centers are turning to entertainment to draw crowds into their doors. Others are focusing on offering a full visitor experience that extends beyond simply grabbing a new shirt or a burger at the food court. Still, more are embracing omnichannel options, offering an integrated on and offline experience to their shoppers. In the face of significant retail challenges, top-tier malls are turning to innovative solutions to stay ahead of the game.
The pandemic posed significant challenges to malls. Although foot traffic to the category rose back up in the summer of 2021, the Delta and subsequent Omicron waves brought visits down once more. And as visit gaps post-Omicron began to narrow, inflation and gas prices put the brakes on any return to normalcy. April and May 2022 saw visits beginning to trend up, though the unrelenting rise of inflation, the highest it’s been in the past 40 years, has slowed that recovery slightly.
Foot traffic data shows that malls are continuing to attract visitors, despite the challenges that seem to crop up weekly.
Still, foot traffic data shows that malls are continuing to attract visitors, despite the challenges that seem to crop up weekly. And while they may no longer play the central role they once did in Americans’ shopping routines, malls still serve as indoor community hubs where friends and family can come together for diverse food, shops, and entertainment options. This could explain why top-tier malls keep on coming back despite the seemingly constant obstacles.
Comparing monthly visits from January 2022 through July 2022 to the same period in 2019 highlights the significant difficulties facing the sector. Indoor malls, open-air lifestyle centers, and outlet malls alike saw marked lags in foot traffic as compared to three years ago.
Monthly year-over-three-year (Yo3Y) foot traffic comparisons also highlight mall resilience.
The monthly year-over-three-year (Yo3Y) foot traffic comparisons also highlight mall resilience. Following an Omicron-plagued January, the visit gaps narrowed in February 2022 to less than 5% for all the segments. And although the increase in gas prices and inflation brought visits down in March, malls quickly bounced back in April 2022, with indoor malls seeing only 1.8% fewer visits than in 2019 and open-air shopping centers down only 4.8% Yo3Y. Foot traffic fell again in May and June as consumers tightened their budgets in the face of rising prices, but consumers appear to have quickly made peace with the new economic reality. By July 2022, visits to indoor malls and open-air lifestyle centers were only 3.5% and 2.7% lower than they had been in July 2019.
COVID didn’t just impact visit numbers – since 2020, mall visits have also gotten shorter, likely a result of pandemic restrictions and a general desire not to congregate any longer than necessary. And although 2021 and 2022 saw a slight uptick in time spent at malls and shopping centers – from 60 minutes in 2020 to 62 minutes in 2021 and 2022 – the median dwell time is still significantly lower than the 70 minutes median dwell time of pre-COVID 2018 and 2019.
Shorter visits are not necessarily a bad thing – intent-driven shoppers may simply be doing more research ahead of time and less in-mall browsing.
Shorter visits are not necessarily a bad thing in and of themselves – consumers today are highly informed, so many intent-driven shoppers may simply be doing more research ahead of time and less in-mall browsing. But shorter (and fewer) visits do mean that malls must focus on giving shoppers a reason to visit. We explore some successful strategies below.
Malls have long integrated entertainment into their overall experience in the form of arcades, movie theaters, and even coin-operated animal rides. Some malls, however, are taking their entertainment offerings to the next level.
In August 2021, CBL Properties, a Tennessee-based property developer, announced the opening of the Hollywood Casino by Penn National Gaming in the York Galleria Mall in York, Pennsylvania. The 80,000 square foot casino, which boasts 500 slots and 24 live-action table games, opened in the mall’s lower level. The space was occupied by a now-closed Sears department store, and the entertainment venue now functions as a new anchor to draw customers in.
The casino’s opening has had a dramatic impact on the mall’s foot traffic. In a year-over-three-year (Yo3Y) comparison, July 2021 saw 2.4% fewer visitors than July 2018. But when the casino opened in August 2021, visits to the location jumped to 31.4% Yo3Y. This increase is all the more impressive considering that the casino opened on August 19th, with only 12 days left in the month.
The mall, which had seen negative Yo3Y visit numbers until the casino’s opening, has sustained the positive visit trend through July 2022 – a testament to the appeal of in-mall entertainment.
Another mall betting on indoor entertainment is the Pierre Bossier Mall in Bossier City, Louisiana. In April 2022, Surge Entertainment opened a child-friendly space, which includes zip-lining, bowling, laser tag and arcade games. The Surge Entertainment chain is co-owned by Drew Brees, the former New Orleans Saints quarterback, and has 15 locations around the country. The Pierre Bossier Mall branch is filling the space vacated by Virginia College, which closed its doors in 2018.
Since Surge Entertainment opened its Bossier City location, the mall has seen a dramatic increase in average dwell time.
Since Surge Entertainment opened its Bossier City location, the mall has seen a dramatic increase in average dwell time. Between July 2021 and March 2022, median dwell time hovered between 51 and 58 minutes. But following the center’s opening, median dwell time jumped to 78 minutes. Since then, the median dwell time has remained consistently elevated: In the four months since the Surge Entertainment opening, median dwell times did not drop below 75 minutes.
Brick-and-mortar retailers once viewed online shopping as a threat – but now, mall owners and operators are increasingly turning to digital channels to complement existing approaches. COVID-19 and the surge of online shopping further fueled malls’ digital progress. Over the past two years, large malls and suburban shopping centers across the country have been rolling out various online and social shopping options and adopting omnichannel strategies.
In September 2020, Centennial, a real estate investment firm with many malls and mixed-use entertainment centers in its portfolio, launched a chain-wide omnichannel platform called Shop Now!. The app allows consumers to shop across all Centennial malls the way someone would shop on Amazon.
The first phase of the program, which launched in October 2020, allowed users to browse an AI-powered search engine connected to the inventory of all of the stores operating in their mall of interest. In February 2022, Centennial debuted phase two of the program at its Santa Ana, CA based MainPlace Mall. It allows customers to consolidate orders from several stores into a single cart, get the order fulfilled by personal shoppers, and have the orders ready for same-day delivery or on-site pickup.
The e-commerce app could have detracted shoppers from physically going to the mall – but instead, the program increased both monthly and loyal visitors.
The app allows consumers to browse and shop from the comfort of their phones. It could have detracted shoppers from physically going to the mall – but instead, the program has increased both monthly and loyal visitors. In the months following the launch of the second phase, MainPlace Mall saw its loyal visits increase by 5% (from 46.2% in February ‘22 to 51.3% in June ‘22), while overall monthly visits in April ‘22 increased by 5.5% when compared to 2019. The digital investment also helped the mall make sales that could have been lost to other e-commerce platforms. The mall’s brick-and-mortar success following the addition of a digital channel highlights how malls can rise to the top by embracing an omnichannel strategy.
Continuing its innovative streak, the MainPlace Mall recently added an experiential component with the opening the American Ninja Warrior Adventure Park in July 2022 in the place of four former retail stores. During its first month of operation, the park drove the mall’s share of loyal visits up by 13.4% compared to the previous month while boosting Yo3Y monthly visits by 18.0%.
The difference in impact between the online platform launch and the opening of the American Ninja Warrior Adventure Park indicates that malls can enjoy both gradual gains over time as well as jumps in foot traffic and loyalty, depending on the strategy they adopt.
Omnichannel strategies can also revitalize food courts hit hard by the pandemic. Arundel Mills Mall, part of the Simon Property Group, began offering online orders in February 2022 via a platform called Snackpass, allowing users to use the app at various eateries around the mall. Snackpass, launched in 2017 as a food ordering app on the Yale campus, facilitates group ordering and includes various social features. Its current iteration allows customers to pre-order food, skip lines, collect rewards, and engage with friends. It also offers discounts on group orders, in an effort to promote social dining.
Since the beginning of the Snackpass partnership, the shopping center itself is seeing more visitors – many of whom are coming from farther away.
Since the beginning of the Snackpass partnership, the shopping center itself is seeing more visitors – many of whom are coming from farther away. In the five months following the app’s launch, Arundel Mills saw an overall increase of 15 square miles to its True Trade Area (TTA), and an increase of 29.5% in visits per sq. ft. – The consistent increase in TTA and visits per sq. ft. are a testament to the power of innovative dining partnerships to draw traffic to top-tier malls.
With many retailers reducing their on-mall presence, empty brick-and-mortar stores have attracted plenty of negative attention. But now, malls are increasingly repurposing vacated spaces in new, innovative ways that resonate with local communities and can fill their evolving needs.
At the Ocean County Mall in Toms River, NJ, Simon Property Group repurposed the huge space left by a former Sears store and turned it into a lifestyle center, with stores opening throughout 2020. The space is now being used by a number of highly popular chains such as LA Fitness, Ulta Beauty, HomeSense, and P.F. Chang’s and also includes a children's play area.
This pivot seems to be working. Median dwell time to the mall has increased from 53 minutes to 56 minutes, a significant change when considering that a majority of malls have recently seen their dwell times drop.
The center has also seen the median age for its trade area decrease from 40.5 years old in the first half of 2021 to 37.2 in the first half of 2022, a dramatic shift in visitor demographics. Yo3Y visits are strong as well – July 2022 were up by 17.1%.
In a similar tale of a closed Sears turning into a lifestyle center, the Northshore Mall in Peabody, MA turned the space vacated by the department store into a mixed-use center. The most significant anchor is now the high-end Life Time Fitness Center that offers cardio, weights, and functional training rooms, and includes yoga, pilates, and cycling studios, indoor and outdoor pools, basketball and pickleball courts, saunas, and a bistro.
As soon as the health club opened its doors in July 2021, visits to the mall increased – significantly outpacing the levels seen when Sears was still open.
As soon as the health club opened its doors in July 2021, visits to the mall increased – significantly outpacing the levels seen when Sears was still open. Both Yo3Y and year-over-four-year (Yo4Y) foot traffic numbers were impressive, with July 2022 seeing 17.2% more visitors than three years prior.
As visits to malls become more focussed, selecting the right tenant has never been more important – and that may mean looking at unconventional occupants to draw in customers.
In one example of tapping into local needs, the Westfield Oakridge shopping center in San Jose, CA, opened a specialty grocery store on its premises. 99 Ranch Market, one of the largest Asian supermarket chains in the U.S., began operating its first mall location in March 2022. The location includes classic grocery store items such as produce, meat, and seafood sections, and also boasts a dining hall, tea bar, and bakery.
Its opening day saw lines snaking out the door, as excited locals queued to sample the store’s delicacies. And the crowd-drawing hype seems to be more than a flash in the pan – the months following the opening were the mall’s strongest in the past year and a half. Yo3Y visits were up by 10.1% in July 2022 , with some shoppers reporting that the addition of the grocery store had turned Westfield Oakridge into their all-in-one stop shop.
Although the area was not lacking in grocery options, retail foot traffic data indicates that the new 99 Ranch Market at Westfield Oakridge Mall still filled a void.
Although the area was not lacking in grocery options, retail foot traffic data indicates that the new 99 Ranch Market at Westfield Oakridge Mall still filled a void – the new grocery store’s trade area has only minimal overlaps with the other trade areas of the nearby 99 Ranch Markets locations. This means that most of the new 99 Ranch Market’s customers were not being well-served by the existing locations of the chain.
Westfield Oakridge is not the only San Jose mall turning to food to attract the crowds. On June 16th 2022, following much hype and a pandemic-related delay, Eataly, the all-in-one Italian market, restaurant, and cooking school opened its first Northern California location at the Westfield Valley Fair in Santa Clara, CA.
Prior to the launch, the Westfield Valley Fair mall was already one of the more successful malls in the country – but the opening of Eataly seems to be driving even more foot traffic. Yo3Y visits to malls during Eataly’s opening week exceeded 20% for the first time in months and have since remained consistently elevated, with visits for the week of July 25th up 27.7% relative to the equivalent week in 2019.
In March 2022, regional department store Von Maur opened its doors at The Village of Rochester Hills, an open-air lifestyle center in Michigan. The retailer, which has 36 locations throughout the Midwest, took over the space left vacant by Carson’s, another Midwest-based department store.
What may be the first new department store in the Detroit metropolitan area in over a decade is driving visits to the shopping center.
What may be the first new department store in the Detroit metropolitan area in over a decade is driving visits to the shopping center. Von Maur’s March 2022 opening pushed Yo3Y visits up by 16.9% compared to the mere 4.3% Yo3Y increase the month before.
Part of the secret to Von Maur’s success lies in the psychographic characteristics of residents within the mall’s trade area. Using Spatial.ai’s GeoWeb data, a tool which tracks online engagement with various trends and topics by neighborhood, we found that the TTA surrounding The Village had an index of 131 for department store shoppers. In other words, people in the mall’s trade area exhibited heightened interest in department stores – they engaged with department-store-related content at a rate that was 1.3 times higher than the national average – which helps explain why Von Maur is thriving in this specific location. And in another testament to the strength of immersive retail experiences, Von Maur, which focuses on curating a unique shopper journey and features a pianist at all of its locations, has been ranked the top department store in America.
The addition of Von Maur is not the only change that The Village is implementing – the mall has continued adding new stores and will be opening more throughout the year. These, too, will likely boost foot traffic to the lifestyle center.
The mall’s ability to select tenants that cater to, and reflect the needs and behaviors of its consumers is likely to continue driving success. By drilling down into the nitty-gritty details of who comes to shop, where they come from, and what shops they enjoy frequenting, mall management can tailor the shopping center to meet the needs of its base.
The “death of the American mall” has been predicted for years. The reality, however, is much more nuanced than that – like many other sectors, malls are undergoing a shift to help them better serve evolving customer needs and survive and thrive in an ever-shifting retail landscape.
The malls featured in this white paper have found ways to consistently attract visitors despite the various obstacles faced by the category over the past two years. By understanding that the American mall must evolve along with the consumers, mall owners can successfully revitalize their retail spaces.
This report leverages location intelligence data to analyze the auto dealership market in the United States. By looking at visit trends to branded showrooms, used car lots, and mixed inventory dealerships – and analyzing the types of visitors that visit each category – this white paper sheds light on the state of car dealership space in 2023.
Prior to the pandemic and throughout most of 2020, visits to both car brand and used-only dealerships followed relatively similar trends. But the two categories began to diverge in early 2021.
Visits to car brand dealerships briefly returned to pre-pandemic levels in mid-2021, but traffic fell consistently in the second half of the year as supply-chain issues drove consistent price increases. So despite the brief mid-year bump, 2021 ended with overall new car sales – as well as overall foot traffic to car brand dealerships – below 2019 levels. Visits continued falling in 2022 as low inventory and high prices hampered growth.
Meanwhile, although the price for used cars rose even more (the average price for a new and used car was up 12.1% and 27.1% YoY, respectively, in September 2021), used cars still remained, on average, more affordable than new ones. So with rising demand for alternatives to public transportation – and with new cars now beyond the reach of many consumers – the used car market took off and visits to used car dealerships skyrocketed for much of 2021 and into 2022. But in the second half of last year, as gas prices remained elevated – tacking an additional cost onto operating a vehicle – visits to used car dealerships began falling dramatically.
Now, the price of both used and new cars has finally begun falling slightly. Foot traffic data indicates that the price drops appear to be impacting the two markets differently. So far this year, sales and visits to dealerships of pre-owned vehicles have slowed, while new car sales grew – perhaps due to the more significant pent-up demand in the new car market. The ongoing inflation, which has had a stronger impact on lower-income households, may also be somewhat inhibiting used-car dealership visit growth. At the same time, foot traffic to used car dealerships did remain close to or slightly above 2019 levels for most of 2023, while visits to branded dealerships were significantly lower year-over-four-years.
The situation remains dynamic – with some reports of prices creeping back up – so the auto dealership landscape may well continue to shift going into 2024.
With car prices soaring, the demand for pre-owned vehicles has grown substantially. Analyzing the trade area composition of leading dealerships that sell used cars reveals the wide spectrum of consumers in this market.
Dealerships carrying a mixed inventory of both new and used vehicles seem to attract relatively high-income consumers. Using the STI: Popstats 2022 data set to analyze the trade areas of Penske Automotive, AutoNation, and Lithia Auto Stores – which all sell used and new cars – reveals that the HHI in the three dealerships’ trade areas is higher than the nationwide median. Differences did emerge within the trade areas of the mixed inventory car dealerships, but the range was relatively narrow – between $77.5K to $84.5K trade area median HHI.
Meanwhile, the dealerships selling exclusively used cars – DriveTime, Carvana, and CarMax – exhibited a much wider range of trade area median HHIs. CarMax, the largest used-only car dealership in the United States, had a yearly median HHI of $75.9K in its trade area – just slightly below the median HHI for mixed inventory dealerships Lithia Auto Stores and AutoNation and above the nationwide median of $69.5K. Carvana, a used car dealership that operates according to a Buy Online, Pick Up in Store (BOPIS) model, served an audience with a median HHI of $69.1K – more or less in-line with the nationwide median. And DriveTime’s trade areas have a median HHI of $57.6K – significantly below the nationwide median.
The variance in HHI among the audiences of the different used-only car dealerships may reflect the wide variety of offerings within the used-car market – from virtually new luxury vehicles to basic sedans with 150k+ miles on the odometer.
Visits to car brands nationwide between January and September 2023 dipped 0.9% YoY, although several outliers reveal the potential for success in the space even during times of economic headwinds.
Visits to Tesla’s dealerships have skyrocketed recently, perhaps thanks to the company’s frequent price cuts over the past year – between September 2022 and 2023, the average price for a new Tesla fell by 24.7%. And with the company’s network of Superchargers gearing up to serve non-Tesla Electric Vehicles (EVs), Tesla is finding room for growth beyond its already successful core EV manufacturing business and positioning itself for a strong 2024.
Japan-based Mazda used the pandemic as an opportunity to strengthen its standing among U.S. consumers, and the company is now reaping the fruits of its labor as visits rise YoY. Porsche, the winner of U.S New & World Report Best Luxury Car Brand for 2023, also outperformed the wider car dealership sector. Kia – owned in part by Hyundai – and Hyundai both saw their foot traffic increase YoY as well, thanks in part to the popularity of their SUV models.
Analyzing dealerships on a national level can help car manufacturers make macro-level decisions on marketing, product design, and brick-and-mortar fleet configurations. But diving deeper into the unique characteristics of each dealership’s trade area on a state level reveals differences that can serve brands looking to optimize their offerings for their local audience.
For example, analyzing the share of households with children in the trade areas of four car brand dealership chains in four different states reveals significant variation across the regional markets.
Nationwide, Tesla served a larger share of households with children than Kia, Ford, or Land Rover. But focusing on California shows that in the Golden State, Kia’s trade area population included the largest share of this segment than the other three brands, while Land Rover led this segment in Illinois. Meanwhile, Ford served the smallest share of households with children on a nationwide basis – but although the trend held in Illinois and Pennsylvania, California Ford dealerships served more households with children than either Tesla or Land Rover.
Leveraging location intelligence to analyze car dealerships adds a layer of consumer insights to industry provided sales numbers. Visit patterns and audience demographics reveal how foot traffic to used-car lots, mixed inventory dealerships, and manufacturers’ showrooms change over time and who visits these businesses on a national or regional level. These insights allow auto industry stakeholders to assess current demand, predict future trends, and keep a finger on the pulse of car-purchasing habits in the United States.
