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June marked the third consecutive month of year-over-year (YoY) visit growth across all three mall formats, and AI-powered audience analysis suggests these gains are coming from an increasingly diverse customer base. We dove into the foot traffic data to see what's driving mall performance heading into the second half of the year.
Visits to indoor malls, open-air shopping centers, and outlet malls all remained in positive YoY territory in June 2026, with indoor mall visits up 1.2%, open-air shopping center visits up 5.1%, and outlet mall visits up 1.0% compared to June 2025.
June's performance caps a strong first half of the year. Aside from a March dip, likely driven in part by calendar shifts and by the initial gas price shock, every month of 2026 has seen visit growth across all three formats – though open-air shopping centers continue to set the pace. The format has posted the strongest YoY visit growth every month this year and has hovered above 5.0% growth in both May and June, highlighting the enduring appeal of outdoor, convenience-driven retail as the weather warms up.
Analyzing malls' captured market audience makes the outlook for malls even more compelling heading into H2 2026. Much of the recent retail narrative has centered on a bifurcated consumer, with spending growth concentrated among higher-income households while more value-conscious consumers pull back. Mall audience data, however, suggests a different dynamic.
Across all three mall formats, the median household income (HHI) of the captured market declined modestly between June 2025 and June 2026. Combined with rising visit volumes, this suggests that malls are broadening their appeal and attracting a wider range of consumers, including more value-conscious shoppers – suggesting that malls are expanding their customer base rather than relying more heavily on affluent shoppers.The category's combination of retail, dining, entertainment, and one-stop convenience may be helping malls resonate with a broader audience in an environment where consumers remain selective about discretionary spending.
With all three formats posting YoY visit growth and audiences broadening, malls enter the back half of 2026 with real momentum. As retailers and mall operators plan for the critical back-to-school and holiday seasons, the challenge will be converting this wider, more diverse audience into loyal, repeat visitors.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/anchor.
Consumers are entering the back half of 2026 under real pressure. The University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index registered 49.5 in June, the second-lowest reading in records going back to the 1970s and nearly 20% below where it sat a year earlier. According to Deloitte, roughly four in 10 Americans now exhibit deal-driven, cost-conscious habits, and close to seven in 10 retail executives view value-seeking as a structural change rather than a temporary one.
So when Amazon's Prime event ran June 23rd to 26th, alongside overlapping promotions from Walmart, Target, Best Buy, and Kohl's, the week became more than a battle for retail traffic. It became a barometer. Who shows up when the deals land, when they show up, and where they steer their trips offers a real-time read on how a pressured, deliberate consumer is actually behaving. We analyzed foot traffic across the four major chains to find out.
Measured against each retailer's year-to-date day-of-week average, the four major retailers analyzed all saw visits climb during Prime Week. Best Buy and Kohl's led the pack on opening day, with visits running 18.1% and 18.4% above their respective baselines on June 23. Target wasn't far behind at 16.3%, while Walmart posted a steadier 4.7% increase. And all four chains continued seeing visit gains throughout the analyzed period.
A lift across all four chains, not just Amazon's direct competitors in one category, suggests a consumer who is responsive and cross-shopping. When promotions appear, the value-seeker turns out, and they spread those trips across whichever retailers are running deals.
Isolating the event from seasonality sharpens the picture. Comparing daily visits to the prior five weeks' day-of-week average controls for longer-term trends, which matters this year because Prime Day shifted to late June, much closer to Memorial Day and Father's Day than usual and against a higher recent traffic baseline. Even on that tougher benchmark, Best Buy stood out, with visits up 12.3% on June 23 and holding double digits through Thursday. Target saw a meaningful early-week lift, while Walmart sat just below its recent baseline and Kohl's slipped to -3.9% by Friday.
Best Buy's strength against recent weeks carries the most useful read on the consumer. Electronics are big-ticket and discretionary, the kind of spending a pressured shopper might be expected to defer. But the event-driven lift suggests that consumers have not stopped making sizable purchases – they have just made them event-dependent.
But stacking 2026 against the comparable 2025 Prime Week (July 8th to 11th) adds another layer to the story. Target was the standout performer here, with visits up 10.3% year-over-year (YoY) on opening day and gains every single day of the event. Kohl's also outpaced last year through most of the week, while Walmart held modestly positive ground throughout.
Best Buy tells the most complex story. Even as it posted the strongest event-driven lift relative to recent weeks, its visits ran 2% to 5% below last year's Prime Week – a reminder that a strong showing against a recent baseline doesn't always translate to year-over-year growth. These YoY declines suggest that while compelling promotions can still draw shoppers into stores, they have not fully offset softer demand for discretionary electronics.
Analyzing offline traffic to major retailers during Prime Day 2026 suggests that, although sentiment may be near record lows and value-seeking may now be a fixed habit, the appetite to spend is still there – although it has become more deliberate.
For more data-driven retail insights, visit placer.ai/anchor
Bed Bath & Beyond returned to physical retail in August 2025, when the first store to carry the name since the chain's 2023 liquidation opened in Brentwood, Tennessee. The format signaled how much the strategy had changed. At roughly 15,000 square feet, in a former Kirkland's, the location is a fraction of the 25,000-to-50,000-square-foot stores the brand operated before bankruptcy, reflecting a deliberate move toward smaller, neighborhood-format stores.
The format shift is just one element of a broader restructuring. The name now belongs to Beyond Inc. – since renamed Bed Bath & Beyond Inc. – which is reviving the legacy brand through two distinct acquisitions. The company is acquiring Kirkland's, the home-decor chain, and converting select stores into small-format Bed Bath & Beyond Home locations, and has also agreed to acquire The Container Store and co-brand its stores as "The Container Store / Bed Bath & Beyond."
But in a category that increasingly rewards discounters and sharply differentiated retailers, is there still room for a brand like Bed Bath & Beyond, and in what form?
It is easy to forget how dominant Bed Bath & Beyond once was. In 2019, already past its heyday, it still captured the single largest share of visits to home furnishing retailers in the country, acting as the broad, generalist default for the category.
A lot has changed since. Visits to brick-and-mortar home furnishing retailers fell roughly 27% from 2019 to 2025, and within that smaller pie the leaderboard reshuffled around Bed Bath & Beyond's absence. HomeGoods now sits at the front, reflecting where the category's momentum has gone – toward off-price and sharply differentiated retailers. At the same time, no single full-price, national retailer moved into the position Bed Bath & Beyond vacated, the broad home brand that shoppers across very different incomes and life stages defaulted to.
That open role is the opening a revived Bed Bath & Beyond is built around. The brand is betting that what failed was the format – a massive store carrying an exhaustive, full-price assortment behind a coupon, which is a format that off-price now beats on price and that specialists beat on focus. But the recognition itself, a name a wide range of shoppers still associate with outfitting a home, has remained strong, and the comeback may work if it claims the role without rebuilding the format. That is what the unusual structure is designed to do.
Share of Total Home Furnishing Visits by Chain — the 20 Largest Plus All Others — 2019 vs. 2025
Circle area is proportional to each year's total visits, which fell about 27% from 2019 to 2025. Slices show each chain's share of all home furnishing visits; the 20 largest chains are shown individually and the remainder is grouped as "Other." Bed Bath & Beyond liquidated all its stores in 2023 (its small 2025 relaunch was too recent to register here); Christmas Tree Shops (2023) and Conn's HomePlus (2024) closed all locations and have not returned. Source: Placer.ai.
| Retailer | 2019 visit share | 2025 visit share |
|---|---|---|
| Bed Bath & Beyond | 23.7% | 0.0% |
| HomeGoods | 19.3% | 38.3% |
| IKEA | 11.5% | 11.2% |
| At Home | 7.5% | 10.5% |
| World Market | 5.3% | 7.2% |
| Ashley | 4.4% | 5.1% |
| Kirkland's | 4.0% | 3.0% |
| Christmas Tree Shops | 3.7% | 0.0% |
| The Container Store | 1.8% | 1.6% |
| Rooms To Go Furniture Store | 1.7% | 1.8% |
| Bob's Discount Furniture | 1.4% | 2.7% |
| Pottery Barn | 1.1% | 1.2% |
| Crate and Barrel | 1.0% | 1.4% |
| Old Time Pottery | 1.0% | 0.6% |
| Conn's HomePlus | 1.0% | 0.0% |
| La-Z-Boy | 0.9% | 1.0% |
| Value City Furniture | 0.8% | 0.9% |
| Raymour & Flanigan Furniture Store | 0.7% | 0.9% |
| Homesense | 0.7% | 2.9% |
| Living Spaces | 0.7% | 1.1% |
| RH (Restoration Hardware) | 0.0% | 0.8% |
| Norwalk Furniture | 0.0% | 0.6% |
| Furniture Row | 0.0% | 0.5% |
| Other | 7.8% | 6.8% |
Rather than reopen its own stores, Bed Bath & Beyond is returning through two retailers it is absorbing, both of which have been losing visits year over year. The declines are not one shared problem but two different ones, and the logic of the comeback is that the Bed Bath & Beyond name addresses each.
The Container Store's difficulty is frequency, with a business organized around storage and home organization – a category shoppers turn to only in occasional project bursts, and affluent customers likely have few reasons to come back between closet overhauls and moves. Co-branding the stores as Bed Bath & Beyond is meant to widen that reason to visit, folding in the everyday kitchen, bath, and bedding categories the name is known for, and lifting trip frequency without pushing away the premium shopper the chain already has.
Meanwhile, Kirkland's is a broad home-and-decor generalist without a sharp identity, sitting in the same exposed middle that off-price and specialists have been pulling apart – its stores draw a mainstream suburban shopper but offer little specific reason to choose them. Converting them to Bed Bath & Beyond Home is meant to supply that reason, a more recognized name with broader pull than the Kirkland's banner generated on its own.
Beyond improving the assortment, Bed Bath & Beyond can also boost traffic to converted Kirkland stores and co-branded The Container Stores by bringing in an audience that each chain lacks.
The Container Store draws a narrow, premium audience organized around storage and home organization, while Kirkland's draws a broader, more middle-income suburban shopper for general home goods and decor. Analysing each chain's trade area composition as well as Bed Bath & Beyond's 2019 audience suggests that Bed Bath & Beyond can help each one reach the half of the market it currently misses: In its last pre-COVID year, Bed Bath & Beyond over-indexed both among the premium households The Container Store already draws and among the mainstream suburban families that have long anchored Kirkland's.
And for Bed Bath & Beyond, the arrangement supplies two store networks aimed at different shoppers, one more affluent, one more mainstream, reached through a single name both still recognize.
At the same time, the challenges should not be understated. A recognized name is the beginning of a value proposition rather than a substitute for one, and the proposition the brand carried into bankruptcy, an exhaustive assortment paired with a coupon, is the one that ultimately failed.
But two years after the chain closed, many consumers still think of Bed Bath & Beyond as a destination for home essentials, the kind of store associated with furnishing a first apartment, outfitting a dorm, or building a wedding registry. And familiarity has proven effective at generating first visits, as a range of revived retailers from Abercrombie to Polaroid suggests, but converting those visits into a habit is a separate question. Whether shoppers return will depend less on the name above the door than on what the reformatted stores actually offer.
For more data-driven insights, visit placer.ai/anchor
When Red Lobster filed for bankruptcy in May 2024, much of the blame landed on a single menu item: a $20 Ultimate Endless Shrimp deal that proved far too popular for its own margins. The chain shuttered roughly 130 locations, was acquired by Fortress Investment Group, and brought in a new CEO to steady the brand.
So the decision to bring Endless Shrimp back in spring 2026 – this time as a limited-run promotion – wasn't an obvious one. We dove into the data to see how the relaunch is landing, and what it would take for Red Lobster's comeback to hold.
In the weeks before the Endless Shrimp relaunch, the average number of visits to each Red Lobster location was running below year-ago levels – down by as much as 8.7% year over year (YoY) the week of April 13, and lagging the broader full-service restaurant segment.
Then came April 20. During the first full week of the Ultimate Endless Shrimp promotion, Red Lobster's per-location visits flipped sharply positive and have stayed there since, peaking at 24.3% YoY the week of April 27 and holding double-digit gains into early June – though the magnitude of the boost has gently eased over time. Notably, this outperformance came while full-service restaurant traffic remained roughly flat YoY.
The traffic surge suggests that Red Lobster's brand equity remains strong. Even after bankruptcy, store closures, and years of operational challenges, the chain was able to generate a meaningful visitation lift by bringing back one of its most recognizable promotions.
But Endless Shrimp can only do so much – and the pressures facing the chain, from elevated seafood costs to a burdensome lease portfolio, will remain even after the promotion inevitably ends. As the company continues to rightsize and improve profitability, the key question is whether its investments in menu innovation and customer experience will be enough to garner lasting customer loyalty. Will Endless Shrimp have a better ending this time around?
Visit Placer.ai/anchor to find out.
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Anchored Ep 7: The Data-Driven Customer Era
Zora Sentat has spent her career at the intersection of data, marketing, and commerce. As Chief Commercial Officer at cubeiQ, she's seen how businesses are – and aren't – making the most of what they know about their customers.
In the latest episode of Anchored, Zora joined Ethan Chernofsky to discuss the state of the data landscape, where retail media is falling short, and why human expertise still matters in an increasingly automated world.
Here are 5 key takeaways from the conversation:
Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer – and this year it arrived amid mounting cost pressures. Gas prices were at their highest Memorial Day level since 2022, while domestic airfare had risen more than 20% year over year – although travelers who booked early were often able to secure better deals.
That makes the holiday weekend a useful bellwether for the summer season ahead. Which corners of the travel economy are thriving, and where are consumers pulling back as budgets tighten? We dove into the data to find out.
Visits to gas stations and convenience stores - a reasonable proxy for how much Americans are driving – fell 7.0% YoY over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, measured from Friday through Monday. The decline pushed visits below their 2021 level for the first time since the pandemic-era baseline.
The drop is even more striking when viewed against the holiday's typical pattern. Over the past four years, Memorial Day weekend has consistently generated roughly 2% to 3% more traffic than a typical weekend, measured against the average of the preceding six Friday-to-Monday periods. This year, that premium disappeared. Instead, visits ran 3.1% below the recent norm, marking the first time in at least four years that the unofficial start of summer drew fewer fuel-and-snack stops than an ordinary weekend.
This suggests that forecasts of record-setting Memorial Day travel may have overstated the strength of road-trip demand as fuel costs surged. But another possible explanation is that Americans still traveled, just not as far – an interpretation supported by the decline in travel distances across most hotel tiers (see below). Surging fuel costs may also have nudged some travelers who had planned to drive toward air travel instead.
Nationwide Gas Station Visits, Memorial Day Weekend 2026 (Fri–Mon)
Memorial Day weekend failed to lift gas-station traffic, with visits falling below even 2021’s pandemic-era levels.
And indeed, airport visits by domestic travelers in the lead up to the holiday were comparatively resilient, slipping just 0.5% YoY on the Thursday and Friday before Memorial Day.
Compared to airports' prior six-week baseline, demand heading into the holiday weekend actually increased. Airport visits during the Thursday-Friday travel rush ran 9.7% above the average of the previous six weeks, up from 8.2% in 2025 and 7.1% in 2024. That resilience was likely driven, at least in part, by travelers who secured lower fares by booking well in advance. And because air travelers tend to skew more affluent than road trippers, those who did book later may have been more willing to absorb higher travel costs despite the sticker shock.
Major Airport Visits During Lead-Up to Memorial Day Weekend (Thu–Fri)
Although airport traffic remained flat YoY, the pre-holiday surge was more pronounced against a backdrop of softer recent demand, with visits running 9.7% above the prior six Thursday–Friday average.
Hotels, meanwhile, saw declines in domestic traveler visitation across all tiers as some travelers likely looked for ways to reduce lodging costs, whether by staying with friends and family, choosing lower-cost accommodations, or taking shorter trips.
But the pullback was far from uniform. Economy hotels took the hardest hit, with visits down 7.2% YoY – the steepest decline of any segment. Midscale, upper-midscale, and upscale properties landed in the middle, posting declines between 4.3% and 5.0%. At the top end of the market, the softness was more limited: Upper-upscale hotels slipped just 2.2%, while luxury hotels declined 2.7%.
The same K-shaped pattern showed up in how far guests were willing to travel. The share of hotel visitors coming from more than 100 miles away declined across nearly every tier – most sharply at the lower end of the market. Only luxury hotels saw their share of long-distance guests actually increase by 1.2 percentage points – showing that affluent domestic travelers were still traveling the distance.
Memorial Day Weekend (Fri–Mon): May 22–25 ’26 vs. May 23–26 ’25, U.S.
Hotel Visits, Year-over-Year Change
Visits slipped across every hotel class, but the high end held up best – and luxury was the only segment to draw a larger share of guests from 100+ miles away.
Percentage Point Change* in Share of Visitors From 100+ Miles Away, 2026 vs. 2025
*A percentage-point change is the difference between the two years’ shares – e.g., Luxury rising from 51.3% to 52.5% is a 1.2-point gain.
The unofficial start of summer revealed a widening split in how Americans allocate their travel spending. Driving-related stops and budget hotels bore the brunt of the pullback, while air travel and higher-end lodging continued to hold steady.
Whether this divide narrows or widens will depend largely on the path of gas prices and consumer confidence. As fuel costs ease, will budget-conscious travelers return to the road in greater numbers? Will air travel rebound, and will hotel visitation follow?
For more data-driven consumer and travel insights, visit Placer.ai/anchor.
1. Shoppers are taking more, shorter trips to grocery stores. Over the past 12 months, grocery stores have experienced nearly uniform YoY visit growth. And since COVID, the segment has steadily increased both overall visits and average visits per location – even as average dwell times have consistently declined.
2. Grocery stores are holding ground against fierce competition. Despite growing inroads by discount and dollar stores, wholesale clubs, and general mass retailers like Walmart and Target, grocery stores have maintained their share of the overall food-at-home visit pie over the past several years.
3. Grocery visit share is most pronounced on the coasts. In Q1 2025, grocery stores claimed the majority of food-at-home visits on the West Coast, in parts of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Mountain Regions, and in Florida and Michigan.
4. Fresh-format, value, and ethnic grocery visit shares are growing at the expense of traditional chains. And in Q1 2025, fresh-format and value grocers outperformed the other sub-segments with positive YoY visit and average visit-per-location growth.
5. Hispanic markets are on the rise. Though the broader ethnic grocery sub-segment was essentially flat YoY in Q1 2025, Hispanic-focused stores recorded increases in both visits and visits per location – and have been steadily growing visits since 2021.
6. Smaller formats for the win. In Q1 2025, smaller-format grocery store locations outpaced mid-sized and larger-format ones, underscoring the power of compact spaces to deliver significant foot traffic gains.
Brick-and-mortar grocery stores face an uncertain market in 2025. Rising food-at-home prices (eggs, anyone?), declining consumer confidence, and increased competition from discounters, superstores, and online shopping channels all present the segment with significant headwinds. Yet even in the face of these challenges, the sector has demonstrated remarkable resilience – growing its foot traffic and holding onto visit share.
What strategies have helped the segment navigate today’s tough market? And how can industry stakeholders make the most of the opportunities in the current market? This report draws on the latest location intelligence to uncover the trends shaping grocery retail in early 2025 – highlighting insights to help key players make informed, data-driven decisions on store formats, product offerings, and more.
The grocery segment has experienced nearly uniform positive year-over-year (YoY) growth over the last 12 months. This sustained performance in the face of inflation and other headwinds highlights the underlying strength of the category.
What is driving this growth? Since 2022, the grocery segment has seen consistent overall visit growth that has outpaced increases in visits per location – a sign that chain expansion has played a key role in the category’s success. But the average number of visits to each grocery store has also been on the rise, indicating that the segment continues to expand without cannibalizing existing store traffic.
At the same time, visitor dwell times have been steadily dropping since 2021. This shift appears to reflect a trend towards multiple, shorter trips by inflation-wary consumers eager to avoid large, costly carts or cherry pick deals across various retailers. Many shoppers may also be placing more bulk orders online and supplementing those deliveries with brief in-store stops for additional items as needed.
The bottom line: Shoppers are taking more grocery trips overall each year, but spending less time in-store during each visit. Operators can respond to this trend by optimizing layouts and promoting “grab-and-go” areas for an even more efficient quick-trip experience.
Visit share data also shows that despite fierce competition from discount and dollar stores, wholesalers, and general mass retailers, the grocery segment has steadfastly preserved its share of the overall food-at-home visit pie.
Between Q1 2019 and Q1 2025, wholesale clubs and discount and dollar stores increased their share of total food-at-home visits, gains that have come primarily at the expense of Walmart and Target. Meanwhile, grocery outlets have held firm – despite some fluctuations over the years, their Q1 2019 visit share remained essentially unchanged in Q1 2025.
So even as consumers flock to alternative food purveyors in search of lower prices, grocery stores aren’t losing ground – and on a nationwide level, they remain the biggest player by far in the food-at-home shopping space.
Still, grocery store visit share varies significantly by region. On the West Coast, in parts of the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Mountain regions, and in Florida and Michigan, grocery stores accounted for the majority of food-at-home visits in Q1 2025. Oregon (61.6%) and Washington (59.6%) led the pack, followed by Massachusetts (59.2%), Vermont (58.5%), and California (57.9%). Meanwhile, in West Virginia, Arkansas, South Dakota, Oklahoma, North Dakota, and Mississippi, less than 30% of food-at-home traffic went to grocery stores, with more shoppers in these regions turning to general mass retailers or discounters.
Grocery store operators in lower-grocery-share regions may choose to focus on price competitiveness and convenient store locations to capture more foot traffic from competitors in the space.
Which types of grocery stores are thriving the most? The grocery segment is diverse, encompassing traditional grocery chains like Kroger, Safeway, and H-E-B; budget-oriented value chains such as Aldi, WinCo Foods, Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, and Market Basket; fresh-format specialty brands like Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Sprouts Farmers Market; and numerous ethnic grocers.
Examining shifts in visit share among these various grocery store segments shows that traditional grocery still dominates, commanding over 70.0% of total grocery store foot traffic.
Still, over the past several years, traditional grocers have gradually ceded ground to other segments – especially value chains. Budget grocers saw a temporary surge in visits during the panic-buying days of early 2020 – and have been more gradually gaining visit share since Q1 2023. . Fresh-format banners, which lost ground in 2021 after a Q1 2020 bump, in the wake of COVID, have also been on the upswing and appear poised to capture additional visit share in the coming months and years. And though ethnic grocers still account for a relatively small portion of the overall market, they have slightly increased their visit share, reflecting heightened consumer interest in these specialized offerings.
Recent performance metrics point to a bifurcation in the grocery market similar to that observed in other retail categories. In Q1 2025, fresh-format and value retailers – which appeal, respectively, to the most and least affluent visitor bases – saw the greatest growth in both overall visits and average visits per location.
This trend highlights the power of both value and health-focused quality to motivate consumers in 2025. And grocery players that can meet these needs will be well-positioned for success in the months ahead.
One factor fueling fresh-format’s success may be its role as a convenient, relatively affordable midday lunch destination for the remote work crowd.
In Q1 2025, consumers working from home accounted for 20.2% of fresh-format grocery stores’ captured market – a significantly higher share than any other analyzed grocery segment. These stores also tended to be busier midday than the other segments. Remote workers may be stopping by to grab a quick bite – and some may be choosing to do their grocery shopping during their lunch break when stores are less crowded.
This finding suggests an opportunity for grocery operators across all segments to develop or enhance in-store salad bars and quick-serve sections to tap into the lunch rush. Likewise, CPG companies may benefit from developing more ready-made, nutritious meal options that align with these midday dining habits.
Though the broader ethnic grocery category remained essentially flat in Q1 2025, Hispanic-focused grocers emerged as a sub-segment to watch. Both overall visits and average visits per location to these stores have been on the rise since 2021.
This robust demand presents an opportunity for CPG brands and grocers across segments to expand Hispanic-focused offerings, capturing a slice of this growing market.
Finally, store size matters more than ever in 2025. During the first quarter of the year, smaller format grocery store locations (locations under 30K square feet, across different chains) outpaced larger stores with a 3.2% YoY jump in visits, showing that bigger isn’t always better in the grocery store space.
This pattern aligns with the decrease in dwell times noted above – shoppers may be making shorter trips to smaller, more convenient grocery store locations. These quick errands are ideal for picking up a few items to supplement online orders, shopping multiple deals, or sourcing specialty products unavailable at larger grocery destinations. And to lean into this trend, grocery operators might consider testing neighborhood “micro-store” concepts, focusing on curated selections, and offering convenient parking or pickup to match consumer preferences for targeted purchases and quicker trips.
Location intelligence reveals a growing, dynamic grocery landscape which is holding its ground in the face of increased competition. Shorter trips, busier lifestyles, and changing work routines are reshaping in-store experiences. And grocery players that refine their store formats, target both lunch and on-the-go shoppers, and adapt to shifting demographics can position themselves to thrive in this competitive sector. As the market continues to evolve, continuous attention to these changing patterns will be key to maintaining and expanding market share.
1. Elevated visitor frequency could mean that gym-goers are getting more value out of their memberships and are therefore more likely to stay signed up. Between January and March 2025, all of the gym chains analyzed had a higher share of frequent visitors (those who visited about once a week) than in the equivalent month of 2024.
2. Fitness chains at all price tiers need to be strategic about the value they offer and the amenities that can engage budget-conscious consumers. Between Q1 2022 and Q1 2025, the captured trade area median HHI increased for all fitness subsegments – value-priced, mid-range, and high-end – suggesting that consumers swapped pricier gym memberships for more affordable options.
3. Close attention should be paid to how long visitors spend at fitness chains in order to reduce crowding and bottlenecks. Between Q1 2022 and Q1 2025, the average visit length increased at value-priced, mid-range, and high-end gyms. Floorplan and equipment improvements could be considered, as well as having trainers available to help gym-goers streamline workouts.
4. Gyms can use hourly visit data to better serve their members or use promotions to stabilize facility usage throughout the day. In Q1 2025, high-end chains received a larger share of morning visits while value-priced and mid-range fitness chains received larger shares of evening visits.
Like many industries in recent years, the fitness sector has experienced significant shifts in consumer behavior. From the rise in home workouts during the pandemic to the strain of hyper-inflation, foot traffic trends to gyms and health clubs have been as dynamic as the consumers they serve.
This report leverages location analytics to explore the consumer trends driving visitation in the fitness space and provides actionable insights for industry stakeholders.
The pandemic drove several shifts in the fitness space. Widespread gym closures led consumers to embrace home-based workouts, while demand for all things fitness increased due to an emphasis on overall health and wellness. This subsequently drove a renewed interest in gym-based workouts as restrictions lifted – even as some consumers remained committed to their home workout routines.
In Q1 2023, visits to fitness chains surpassed Q1 2019 levels for the first time since the onset of the pandemic, a sign that consumers had recommitted to out-of-home fitness. And in Q1 2024 and Q1 2025, fitness chains saw further growth, climbing to 12.8% and 15.5% above the Q1 2019 baseline, respectively.
Several factors have likely driven consumers’ return to gyms and health clubs, including the desire for both social connection and professional-grade facilities difficult to replicate at home. The steep increase in cost of living has likely also played a role, since consumers cutting back on discretionary spending can enjoy multiple outings and a range of recreational activities at the gym for one monthly fee.
Zooming in on weekly visits to the fitness space in Q1 2025 reveals the industry’s exceptional strength and resilience in the early part of the year.
The fitness industry experienced YoY visit growth nearly every week of Q1 2025 (and 2.4% YoY visit growth overall) with only minor visit gaps the weeks of January 20th, 2025 and February 17th, 2025 – likely due to extreme weather that prevented many Americans from hitting the gym.
And the fitness industry’s weekly visit growth appeared to strengthen throughout the quarter, defying the typical waning of New Year's resolutions. This could indicate that gym visits haven't plateaued and that consumers are demonstrating greater commitment to their fitness routines compared to last year.
Diving into visitation patterns for leading fitness chains highlights how increased visitor frequency drove foot traffic growth in Q1 2025.
Fitness chains tend to receive the most visits during the first months of the year as consumers recommit to health and wellness in their post-holidays New Year’s resolutions. And not only do more people hit the gym – analyzing the data reveals that gym-goers also typically work out more frequently during this period. Zooming in on 2025 so far suggests that consumers are especially committed to their fitness routines this year: Leading gyms saw an increase in the proportion of frequent visitors (4+ times a month) in Q1 2025 compared to the already significant percentage of frequent visitors in the first quarter of 2024.
Elevated visitor frequency could mean that gym-goers are getting more value out of their memberships than last year, and are therefore more likely to stay signed up throughout the year.
At the same time, the data also reveals that – contrary to what may be expected – a fitness chain’s share of frequent visitors appears to be independent of the cost of membership associated with the club: Life Time, a high-end club, and EōS Fitness, a value-priced gym, had the highest shares of frequent visitors between January 2024 and March 2025. This suggests that factors other than cost, such as location convenience, class offerings, community, or individual motivation, might be more influential in driving frequent gym attendance.
Segmenting the fitness industry by membership price tiers – value-priced, mid-range, and high-end – can reveal further insights on current consumer behavior around out-of-home fitness.
In Q1 2025, the captured market* median household income (HHI) was higher than the nationwide median HHI ($79.6K/year) across all price tiers – suggesting that even value-priced fitness chains are attracting a relatively affluent audience. This could indicate that gym memberships are somewhat of a luxury and that consumers from lower-income households gave up their gym memberships altogether as they tightened their purse strings.
Analyzing the historical data since Q1 2022 also reveals that the captured market median HHI has risen consistently over the past couple of years with the largest median HHI increase observed in the captured trade areas of high-end fitness chains. This suggests that middle-income households – that are more sensitive to the rising cost of living – likely swapped pricier gym memberships for more affordable options in recent years.
These metrics indicate that fitness chains at all price tiers need to think strategically about the value they offer and the amenities that can engage budget-conscious consumers who are carefully weighing every expenditure.
*Captured trade area is obtained by weighting the census block groups (CBGs) from which the chain draws its visitors according to their share of visits to the chain and thus reflects the population that visits the chain in practice.
Fitness clubs of all types need to manage their capacity to ensure health and safety standards and a positive experience for members. And understanding the average amount of time visitors spend at the gym can help fitness chains at every price point keep their finger on the pulse of their facilities.
Between Q1 2022 and Q1 2025, the average visit length increased at value-priced, mid-range, and high-end gyms. Value-priced gyms experienced the largest increase in average visit length – from 72.4 minutes in Q1 2022 to 74.0 minutes in Q1 2025 – perhaps due to their relatively lower-income visitors spending more time enjoying club amenities after cutting back on other forms of recreation. Meanwhile, mid-range and high-end gyms experienced relatively modest increases in average visit length, which were higher to begin with – likely due to their ample class and spa offerings and overall inviting, upscale spaces.
Elevated average visit length could mean that visitors are well-engaged and less likely to cancel their memberships. But as overall gym visits are on the rise, fitness chains may want to pay close attention to how long visitors spend at the facility. Floorplan and equipment improvements could be considered in order to reduce bottlenecks, and having trainers available to instruct on equipment usage and workout technique could help gym-goers streamline workouts.
Along with average visit length, understanding the daypart in which they receive the most visits is another way that fitness chains can improve efficiency and prevent overcrowding. And analysis of the hourly visits to fitness sub-segments revealed that some fitness segments receive more morning visits while others are more popular in the evenings.
In Q1 2025, high-end chains received a larger share of visits between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. (19.7%) than value-priced and mid-range fitness chains (11.6% and 11.8%, respectively). Meanwhile, value-priced and mid-range fitness chains received larger shares of visits between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m. (21.9% and 22.2%) than high-end chains (16.5%).
Gyms can leverage this data to better serve members, for instance by scheduling more classes during peak hours. Value-priced and mid-range gyms, which saw a larger disparity between shares of morning and evening visits in Q1 2025, might also consider incentivizing off-peak usage through discounted morning memberships or early-bird snack bar deals.
The fitness space appears to be in good shape in 2025. Visits have made a full recovery from the pandemic era and still continue to grow, indicating strong consumer demand for out-of-home workouts. And using location intelligence to analyze the behavior and demographics of visitors to gyms at different price points can help identify opportunities for driving even greater success.
1. Idaho and South Carolina have emerged as significant domestic migration magnets over the past four years. Between January 2021 and 2025, both states gained over 3.0% of their populations through domestic migration. Other Mountain and Sun Belt states – including Nevada, Montana, and Florida – also drew significant inflow, while California, New York, and Illinois experienced the greatest outmigration.
2. Interstate migration cooled noticeably in 2024. During the 12-month period ending January 2025, California, New York and Illinois saw their outflows slow dramatically, while domestic migration hotspots like Georgia, Texas, and Florida saw inflows flatten to zero. A similar cooling trend emerged on a CBSA level.
3. Still, some states continued to see notable relocation activity over the past year. In 2024, Idaho, South Carolina, and North Dakota drew the most relocators relative to their populations. And among the nation’s ten largest states, North Carolina led with an inflow of 0.4%.
4. Phoenix remained a rare bright spot among the nation’s ten largest metro areas. The CBSA was the only major analyzed hub to maintain positive net domestic migration through 2024.
Over the past several years, the United States has experienced significant domestic migration shifts, driven by factors like remote work, housing affordability, and regional economic opportunities. As some areas reap the benefits of population inflows, others grapple with outflows tied to higher living costs and evolving workplace dynamics.
This report dives into the location analytics to explore where Americans have moved since 2021 – and how these patterns began to change in 2024.
Since 2021, Americans have flocked toward warmer climates, expansive natural scenery, and more affordable housing options – particularly in the Mountain and Sun Belt states.
Between January 2021 and January 2025, South Carolina led the nation in positive net domestic migration – drawing an influx of newcomers equivalent to 3.6% of its January 2025 population. (This metric is referred to as a state’s “net migrated percent of population.”) Next in line was Idaho with a 3.4% net migrated percent of population, followed by Nevada, (2.8%), Montana (2.8%), Florida (2.1%), South Dakota (2.1%), Wyoming (2.0%), North Carolina (2.0%), and Tennessee (1.9%). Texas saw positive net migration of just 0.9% during the same period. However, the Lone Star State’s large overall population means a substantial number of newcomers in absolute terms.
Meanwhile, California (-2.2%), New York (-2.1%), and Illinois (-1.9%) experienced the greatest outflows relative to their populations. This exodus was driven largely by soaring housing costs and the rise of remote work, which lowered barriers to moving out of high-priced areas.
Between January 2024 and January 2025, many of the same broad patterns persisted, but at a more moderate clip – suggesting a stabilization of domestic migration nationwide. This leveling off could reflect factors such as rising mortgage interest rates, which dampened home buying and selling, as well as the increased push for employees to return to the office.
Still, South Carolina (+0.6%) and Idaho (+0.6%) remained among the top inflow states. The two hotspots were joined – and slightly surpassed – by North Dakota (+0.8%), where even modest waves of newcomers make a big impact due to the state’s lower population base. A wealth of affordable housing and a strong job market have positioned North Dakota as a particularly attractive destination for U.S. relocators in recent years. And Microsoft and Amazon’s establishment of major presences around Fargo has strengthened the region’s economy.
Meanwhile, California (-0.3%), New York (-0.2%), and Illinois (-0.1%) continued to post negative net migration, but at a markedly slower rate than in prior years. And notably, several states that had been struggling with outflow, such as Michigan, Minnesota, Virginia, Ohio, and Oregon, began showing minor positive inflow during the same 12-month window. As home affordability erodes in pandemic-era hot spots like the Mountain states and Sun Belt, these areas may emerge as new destinations for Americans seeking lower costs of living.
Zooming in on the ten most populous U.S. states offers an even clearer picture of how domestic migration patterns have stabilized over the past year. The graph below shows a side-by-side comparison of domestic migration patterns during the 36-month period ending January 2024 and the 12-month period ending January 2025.
California, New York, and Illinois saw population outflows slow dramatically during the 12 months ending January 2025 – while domestic migration magnets such as Georgia, Texas, and Florida saw inflow flatten to zero. Meanwhile, Ohio, Michigan, and Pennsylvania flipped from slightly negative to slightly positive net migration – incremental upticks that could signal a possible turnaround.
The only “Big Ten” pandemic-era migration magnet to maintain strong inflow in 2024 was North Carolina – which saw a 0.4% influx in 2024 as a result of interstate moves.
A closer look at the top four states receiving outmigration from California and New York (October 2020 to October 2024) reveals that residents leaving both states tended to settle in nearby areas or in Florida.
Among those leaving New York, 37.4% ended up in neighboring states – 21.1% moved to New Jersey, 9.2% to Pennsylvania, and 7.1% to Connecticut. But an astonishing 28.8% decamped all the way to the Sunshine State, trading the Northeast’s colder climate for Florida sunshine.
Similarly, 20.1% of California leavers chose to stay nearby, moving to Nevada (11.5%) or Arizona (8.6%). Another 19.1% moved to Texas, and 8.0% moved to Florida, making it the fourth-largest destination for Californians.
Zooming in on CBSA-level data – focusing on the nation’s ten largest metropolitan areas, all with over five million people – reveals a similar picture of slowing domestic migration over the last year.
Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and Washington, D.C. – four cities that experienced notable population outflows between January 2021 and January 2024 – saw those outflows flatten considerably. For these metros, this leveling-off may serve as a promising sign that the waves of departures seen in recent years may have begun to subside. Conversely, Houston and Dallas, which both welcomed positive net migration between January 2021 and January 2024, registered zero-net domestic migration in 2024. Atlanta, for its part, remained flat in both of the analyzed periods.
In Miami, however, outmigration persisted at a substantial rate. Despite Florida’s overall status as a domestic migration magnet, Miami lost 2.6% of its population to domestic net migration between January 2020 and January 2024 – and another 1.0% between January 2024 and January 2025. As one of Florida’s most expensive housing markets, Miami may be losing some residents to other parts of the state or elsewhere in the region. Meanwhile, Philadelphia, which lost 0.3% of its population to net domestic migration between January 2021 and January 2024, continued losing residents at a slightly faster pace in 2024 – another 0.3% just last year.
Of the ten biggest CBSAs nationwide, only Phoenix continued to see a net domestic migration gain through 2024 (+0.2%). This highlights the CBSA’s continued draw as a (relative) relocation hotspot even in 2024’s cooling market.
Who are the domestic relocators heading to Phoenix?
From October 2020 to October 2024, the top five metro areas sending residents to the Phoenix CBSA each registered median household incomes (HHIs) of $73K to $98K – surpassing Phoenix’s own median of $72K. This suggests that many of those moving in are arriving from wealthier, often more expensive metro areas – for whom even Phoenix’s high-priced market may offer more affordable living.
Overall, domestic migration patterns appear to have cooled in 2024, reflecting economic and societal trends that have slowed the rush from pricey coastal hubs to more affordable regions. Yet states like South Carolina, Idaho, and North Dakota – as well as metro areas like Phoenix – continue to attract new arrivals, paving the way for evolving regional demographics in the years to come.
