Discount Retailers and Fitness Centers Drive Q2 Foot Traffic Surge

Overall retail visits rose 4.2% YoY in Q2, driven by discount and dollar stores.
Discount retailers like Dollar General (DG) and Five Below (FIVE) reported 9%–15.9% more foot traffic.
Grocery stores saw substantial growth, led by Aldi and Trader Joe’s, with foot traffic rising by 7.6%.
Fitness centers saw 6% more visits, with EōS Fitness and Crunch Fitness leading the way.
Supercenters, restaurants, and home improvement stores reported smaller gains.

Key Takeaways

According to a report from data software company Placer.ai, major retailers—particularly discount stores and fitness centers—enjoyed surging foot traffic in Q2. Overall, retail visits rose 4.2% YoY, as reported by Globest.

Discount and Dollar Stores

Discount and dollar stores saw the most significant increase in traffic, with visits jumping 11.2% in Q2 compared to the same period last year.

Dollar General (DG), benefiting from its widespread presence and grocery offerings, reported consistent foot traffic growth of 9%–15.9% each month.
Five Below (FIVE) also saw 4.9%–17.5% more foot traffic, depending on location.

Grocery Stores

Foot traffic in grocery stores grew 7.6% in the second quarter. Stabilizing food prices and improvements in employee retention and supply chain management contributed.

Aldi and Trader Joe’s were top performers, with visits up by 26.7% and 13%, respectively.
H-E-B and Food Lion also saw 11.4% and 8.7% more foot traffic.

Fitness Centers

Despite being an optional expense, fitness centers saw 6% more foot traffic in Q2. Placer.ai attributes this to rising prices, which may have encouraged more consumers to utilize gym memberships.

EōS Fitness and Crunch Fitness led with 23.4% and 21.4% more foot traffic for the quarter.

Supercenters and Restaurants

Visits to supercenters and restaurants rose by 4.6% and 3.9%, slightly less than the growth recorded for grocery stores, with specific brands outperforming.

Smaller cafe chains like Ziggi’s Coffee and Philz Coffee saw 28.9% and 25.5% more foot traffic.
The Mediterranean food chain Cava recorded 26.7% more visits.
Costco (COST) and Sam’s Club (WMT) reported 12% and 7.5% more foot traffic.

Home Improvement Stores

Home improvement and furnishings stores saw just 1.1% more visits during the quarter.

Chains like Harbor Freight Tools (HRBR) and Ace Hardware drove most of these gains, with 12.8% and 5.4% more foot traffic.
Giants like Lowe’s (LOW) and Home Depot (HD) saw only 0.6% and 1.1% more visits.

Looking Ahead

A rising tide lifts all boats, so there’s certainly cautious optimism surrounding the retail sector for the remainder of the year. The surge in traffic across store types indicates a resilient consumer market, although with credit card debt looking the way it does right now, who knows what the future holds.