Mall foot traffic metrics show recovery, despite consumers’ cautionary behavior

Year-over-year (y-o-y) visit gaps for all three mall categories grew in May 2023, marking the fourth month in a row of expanding y-o-y visit gaps and highlighting the current challenges faced by retailers, according to Placer.ai in its May report. The three mall categories are indoor malls, open-air lifestyle centers, and outlet malls.

Consumers – who may be waiting for prices to drop or interest rates to ease – seem to be delaying large purchases and shifting their spending away from goods and towards services, which is continuing to take a toll on the shopping center space.

Of the three, outlet malls have consistently seen th