Ethan Chernofsky of Placer.ai’s May 2023 Mall Index Recap revealed that economic headwinds are still having an effect on mall traffic, with year-over-year visit gaps for indoor, open-air and outlet malls all growing. Consumers are waiting for lower prices and easing interest rates while directing discretionary spending towards services. However, month over month visits have remained mostly positive or flat in the past three months; additionally, open air lifestyle centers and outlet malls have experienced a 5.5% increase in median length versus May 2022 – indicating consumers may be cutting back on their visits but spending more time at malls when they do go out shopping.
Chernofsky believes good retail space is hard to come by as retail centers include newer tenant types to attract the right audience; he also expects a fairly rapid recovery once wider economic effects lift though there will likely continue to be shorter term challenges until then due to sales events leading significant traffic surges across all three mall categories – particularly benefiting outlets during Memorial Day weekend sales which reinforces their power of drawing customers when combined with value orientation opportunities like back to school season discounts coming up soon..
