The latest report on pedestrian traffic from PropTech firm MRI Software reveals a 2% rise year over year across U.S. downtowns during the month of July and a 1.4% rise compared to June. Although these gains seem modest, they reflect a return to normalcy:  It is the first July since 2020 when pedestrian traffic has increased month over month.

A more significant rise occurred in shopping malls, where traffic rose 5.3% year over year, indicating that shoppers took advantage of sales surrounding the July 4th holiday.

Notably, the evening period saw the greatest uplift in downtown traffic, with an increase of 7.3% month over month and 9.7% year over year. This suggests that tourists and residents alike are taking advantage of outdoor attractions such as free concerts and film screenings that take place in the evenings. 

Other highlights of the report include:

• The breakfast period saw a 2.6% decline month over month, likely due to commuter vacations, school breaks, and the ongoing trend of remote and hybrid work.
• Weekend pedestrian traffic rose by 4.9 percent compared against 2023 levels, again suggesting the appeal of outdoor attractions. 
• Shopping mall traffic, on the other hand, increased more during the weekday period (7.5% year over year) than the weekend period (1.7%). This too, could stem from competition with outdoor events on weekends.

“People clearly enjoy outdoor activities as long as the weather isn’t too extreme,” says Cederick Johnson, senior director at MRI Software. “Municipalities and retailers that organize free outdoor events are playing an important role in attracting tourists and residents to downtowns.  We still have a month of warm weather left, so barring any heat waves, we believe the momentum will continue.”