Indoor mall visits grew by 6.4% year-over-year during November, while open-air shopping center visits were up 4.8% and outlet mall visits were up 3.8%, according to Placer.ai. Traffic during the Black Friday weekend – including Friday, Saturday and Sunday – was up 6% at open air, 5% at indoor and 2.7% at outlet malls.
Indoor mall and open-air shopping center visits surpassed 2019 pre-pandemic volumes.
According to Placer.ai, mall foot traffic data indicates that early deals drove visits prior to Black Friday. When comparing daily visits during the period from Friday, November 22 to Wednesday, November 27 to visits during the equivalent days in 2023, November 17 to 22, 2023, malls received more pre-Black Friday mall visits in 2024 than in the year prior. Indoor malls led gains, although outlet centers closed on them toward the middle of the week. All three formats had their biggest pre-Black Friday sales gains on Tuesday, November 26, with indoor malls up 7.5%, OASCs up 7% and outlet centers up 5.9%.
Placer.ai noted that the willingness to shop ahead of Black Friday instead of waiting for the best deals on the occasion itself implies that at least some early retail promotions were effective. It could also signal consumer readiness to spend more freely this holiday season.
Despite the positive pre-Black Friday visitation, the majority of the November visit boost is likely attributable to malls’ impressive Black Friday performance given that, as noted above, all three formats, indoor, open air and outlet malls, saw year-over-year visit growth over the three weekend days, Placer.ai pointed out. The numbers suggest that, despite the rise in early Black Friday deals and online shopping, many consumers still want to experience the excitement of Black Friday bargain hunting in person.