Foot Traffic Returns to U.S. Shopping Malls

U.S. shoppers are returning to shopping malls, according to a report by Placer.ai, published by the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC). Foot traffic at Class A malls is showing steady growth over the past few months when compared to the same time period in 2019.

“The improving domestic economic environment and shopper sentiment have increased shopper foot traffic and sales across our portfolio. Increased traffic for our open-air and suburban centers has been very encouraging, and retail sales continue to improve across the portfolio with higher sales volumes in March compared to 2019 levels,” president and CEO David Simon.

Shopper visits to malls was down 18.7 percent from April 2019 to April 2021, according to the study, which looked at location data from consumers’ devices at 50-plus Class A urban and suburban malls. February 2021 visits were down almost 33 percent compared to February 2019, showing the gap has closed by half the past two months.