Wherever folks spent their daytime hours last month, it wasn’t at the mall. So says Placer.ai in its latest analysis of its traffic data in the March 2026 Mall Index. “After rising in the first two months of the quarter, mall foot traffic slowed in March, especially at outlet centers, where visits fell 4.1 percent year-over-year (y/y), according to the latest Placer.ai report.

Much of the decline was attributed to a drop in midday traffic.

“In March, growth in morning and evening hours slowed, particularly for indoor and outlet malls, while midday declines became more pronounced,” the report reads. “This meant that the off-peak gains were no longer sufficient to offset weakness in the core of the day, leading to the y/y traffic declines for indoor and outlet malls.”

Meanwhile, the company points to a recent Placer.ai white paper that found that last year there was also growth in quick trips (less than 30 minutes) and extended visits (more than 75 minutes), while visits lasting some duration between the two declined. “In effect, shoppers’ routines can and do change both in terms of when they’re visiting malls, and how long they’re staying,” the company surmised.

Overall Traffic to Malls Up Year-Over-Year in Q1
Traffic to malls increased in Q1 2026 across all three formats analyzed (indoor malls, open-air shopping centers and outlet malls) largely thanks to strong performances in the first two months of the year.

March Visits More Subdued
But March 2026 visits were more subdued, with indoor malls seeing a slight year-over-year decline of 1.1 percent and outlet malls experiencing a steeper drop of 4.1 percent compared to March 2025. Open-air shopping centers were the only format to maintain growth, though their 3.2 percent y/y visit increase was solid but still more modest than the stronger gains seen by the format in January and February.

So what happened in March, Placer.ai asks? Why did open-air shopping centers fare better than their peers? And how can malls return to growth across formats going into Q2, the company pondered.

Daypart Visit Analysis Sheds Light On Malls’ Growth Path
Some of the dip may be due to calendar differences. March 2026 had one less Saturday than March 2025. And since Saturdays are typically malls’ busiest day, the shift likely impacted overall visits for the month.

But a closer look at daypart trends can shed additional light on both the strength earlier in the quarter and the March slowdown. In Q1 overall, growth was concentrated at the edges of the day: traffic before 11:00 a.m. and after 8:00 p.m. saw the strongest gains, with additional support from the early evening (5:00 p.m. to 8 p.m.). In contrast, midday traffic, the largest share of visits, was relatively flat for open-air centers and slightly negative for indoor and outlet malls. Still, robust edge growth was sufficient to offset this softness and drive overall quarterly gains.

But in March, growth in the morning and evening hours slowed, particularly at indoor and outlet malls, while midday declines became more pronounced. This meant that the off-peak gains were no longer sufficient to offset weakness in the core of the day, leading to the YoY traffic declines for indoor and outlet malls.

How Did Open-Air Shopping Centers Maintain Growth Momentum?
Even as traffic to indoor and outlet malls declined, Placer.ai noted that open-air shopping centers-maintained growth momentum due to two key advantages:

  • The format maintained most of its morning and evening gains, and its midday traffic trends eased from growth to stable rather than from stable to decline, like for indoor and outlet malls, so the growth at the edges was still enough to offset the flat visits midday.
  • Open-air centers are less dependent on midday visits, with around 77 percent of visits occurring between 11:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. compared to 83- to 84-percent for indoor and outlet malls. This means that open-air shopping centers are more resilient to dips in midday visits than the other two formats.

How Can Malls Cement Their Recovery?
The softness seen in March at indoor and outlet malls does not negate the strong start to 2026, which drove overall year-over-year visit growth in Q1. However, it does highlight what will be required to sustain that momentum going forward.

The data points to two paths to more durable growth: reigniting demand during peak midday hours through programming, tenant mix, and convenience-driven visits, or reducing reliance on that window by expanding traffic in the morning and evening. Open-air shopping centers provide a model for the latter, with a more balanced daypart mix, likely driven by their dining, entertainment, and extended-hour experiences, which have helped cushion midday softness. For indoor and outlet malls, long-term stability will likely depend on a combination of both – strengthening midday performance while also building consistent off-peak demand.

Images, data and graphics courtesy Placer.ai