Foot traffic at retail, as assessed in the white paper by store visit researcher Placer.ai, was up at many major chains in the fourth quarter of 2024, but some exceptions crept into the mix.
As such, according to Placer.ai, overall fourth quarter 2024 retail store visits were flat year-over-year.
By channel in the quarter, Placer.ai stated:
- Discount & Dollar Store visits were up 2%, led by Five Below, up 9.3%.
- Grocery visits were up 0.9%, led by Aldi, up 12.3%.
- Superstore visits were up 0.1%, led by BJ’s Wholesale Club, up 4.3%.
- Apparel Store visits were up 1.8%, led by Savers Thrift Stores, up 9.8%.
- Home Improvement and Furnishing were down 0.1%, but Harbor Freight Tools traffic was up 9.4%.
The fitness sector saw the most fourth-quarter growth, with visits increasing by 4.1%. EoS Fitness led the category, with traffic up 22.1% year-over-year.
Placer.ai noted that calendar shifts significantly influenced weekly year-over-year retail foot traffic patterns during the fourth quarter, which included a relatively late Thanksgiving Weekend and a relatively short holiday rush season thereafter. Foot traffic was down but growing throughout December until the week of the 23rd when it was up 10.6%.
Foot traffic not only gained at Five Below in the Discount & Dollar Store category, Placer.ai pointed out, but also at Dollar Tree, up 5.6%, and Dollar General, up 4.9%, but visits slipped at Family Dollar by 2.3%. As for Superstores, traffic BJ’s and the other major warehouse club chains gained, with Costco up 3% and Sam’s Club up 2.7%, but Walmart and Target visits were down slightly, at 0.1% and 0.7%, respectively.
In Placer.ai’s listing of Home Improvement and Furnishing chains, traffic gains at HomeGoods were up 8.3%, putting it in second place behind Harbor Freight, and Ace saw 2.6% more footfalls, but Menards, Lowe’s and Home Depot saw visits slip between 1.3% and 2.8%.
In the apparel category, traffic gains, following Savers, were best at Goodwill, up 6.5%, followed by Burlington, up 4.7%, and T.J. Maxx, up 4.1%.
