Placer.ai: Mall visits return to pre-COVID levels

Mall visits are returning to pre-COVID levels, according to data by Placer.ai, which analyzed trends from the past couple of years, revealing that most types of malls are seeing their visits slowly recover.

During 2023, visits to the wider shopping-center industry were 2.3 percent lower than they had been in 2019, and the visit gaps for indoor malls and open-air shopping centers had narrowed to 5.8 percent and 1 percent lower, respectively. Outlet malls also saw visits ticking up once again, with the visit gap compared to 2019 narrowing to 8.5 percent in 2023 after having dropped to 11.3 percent in 2022. This more sustained foot-traffic dip may stem from consumers’ desire to save on gas costs or the impacts of inclement weather. The narrowing visit gaps suggest that shoppers are increasingly returning to the segment, and foot traffic may yet pick up again in 2024.

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