Fewer shoppers visited Charlotte malls during the 2025 holiday season
Data shows declines in holiday mall traffic, as online shopping continued to capture more consumer spending
The following article appeared in the January 12, 2026, edition of The Charlotte Ledger, an e-newsletter with smart and original local news for Charlotte. We offer free and paid subscription plans. More info here.
Some Charlotte-area malls had fewer shoppers during 2025 holiday season; below pre-Covid levels
Many of the Charlotte region’s major malls and retail centers had fewer shoppers during the crucial holiday shopping season in 2025 compared with recent years.
Between Black Friday (Nov. 28) and Christmas Eve, the average daily visitors at Northlake Mall, Carolina Place in Pineville and Belgate Shopping Center were down 18.6%, 4.9% and 2.5%, respectively, compared with the previous year, according to Placer.ai data requested by The Ledger.
But foot traffic was up 5.5% and 3%, respectively, at The Arboretum Shopping Center and Carolina Pavilion in that same year-over-year time period.
Data was not provided for SouthPark Mall, Concord Mills and Carolina Premium Outlets, three of the region’s most prominent shopping centers, which all happened to be owned by retail real estate giant Simon Property Group.
But between the pre-pandemic 2019 and 2025 holiday seasons, traffic was down at all five of the retail centers tracked by Placer.ai in the analysis:
53.5% at Northlake Mall
13.9% at Carolina Place
11.3% at Carolina Pavilion
6.7% at The Arboretum
6.4% at Belgate
Placer.ai tracks foot traffic by using location data on mobile devices. It caveats its data by saying changes in foot traffic can be tied to a variety of factors, including calendar shifts, decreased consumer confidence, economic and tariff uncertainty, and weather conditions.
The traditional holiday shopping season — between Black Friday and Christmas Eve — was also compressed last year, with Thanksgiving falling in late November. For several years now, a broader trend has been observed within the retail industry of holiday shopping occurring earlier than Thanksgiving, even pushing into October or late September.
Although foot traffic was more subdued at many local centers in 2025, shoppers were out in full force online. U.S. consumers spent $257.8B online between Nov. 1 and Dec. 31, up 6.8% year-over-year and setting a new e-commerce record, according to a recent analysis by Adobe Analytics, which analyzed 1 trillion-plus transactions on U.S. retail sites. —Ashley Fahey
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