In partnership with Main Street America and Placer.ai, Virginia Main Street (VMS) commissioned a report about visitation trends for all 37 historic commercial districts designated at the highest tier, Advancing Virginia Main Street (AVMS), in 2024. Placer.ai uses location data from smartphones to track visits and visitors within the specified boundaries of each Main Street district. Over the years to come, this baseline data will form a picture of visitation patterns as a proxy for downtown district vibrancy in individual districts, as well as the aggregation of all of 37 districts. Excerpts from the report are summarized below.
Visitation to Virginia Main Streets shows signs of recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, with 2024 and 2023 being the two busiest years since 2017. Visits increased each year since 2021, growing by 6.5% between 2021 and 2022, by 3.1% between 2022 and 2023, and by 0.7% between 2023 and 2024. Ashland, Virginia’s 30% increase in visitation from 2023 to 2024, is the highest growth rate for all AVMS districts during 2024.
In 2024, Virginia Main Streets saw 44 million visits from 9 million visitors. In 2024, there was a monthly average of 3.7million visits to Virginia Main Streets. August was the busiest month with 4.1 million visits and January was the slowest month with 3.1 million visits— a variation of about one million visits, or a35% change between the busiest and slowest months. Visitation during the spring and summer was very steady with an average of 3.8 million visits between March and July.
Busiest Days (2024)
- Saturday 12/7/24 – 218,020 visits
- Saturday 9/28/24 – 216,231 visits
- Saturday 4/27/24 – 214,759 visits
- Saturday 10/5/24 – 214,326 visits
Quietest Days (2024)
- Christmas Day (W 12/25/24) – 19,033 visits
- Thursday 12/16/24 – 21,343 visits
- Thanksgiving (TH 11/28/24) – 33,114 visits
- New Year’s Day (M 1/1/25) – 45,782 visits
During a typical day in Virginia Main Streets, visits slowly increase until lunchtime, dip in the afternoon, and peak at dinnertime before tapering off in the evening. Visits peak at 6 pm, when 7.7% of hourly visits occur. About 15% of visits occur between 6pm and 8 pm. Lunchtime is the second busiest time of the day, with 14% of hourly visits occurring between Noon and 2 pm. Throughout the week, visits to Virginia Main Streets slowly grow as the weekend approaches. The busiest days are Saturdays and Fridays, capturing21% and 18% of daily visits, respectively. The quietest days for visits are Mondays (11%) and Sundays (12%).
More than 17% of all 2024 visits to Virginia Main Streets lasted 2.5hours or more, while 19% of visits were quick stops, lasting between15 and 29 minutes. Further, about half (48%) of all visits lasted less than one hour while 29% lasted between one and two hours. Overall, visitors spent a lot of time in Main Street districts.
For more a copy of the report and/or information about a specific local program’s visitation information, reach out to VMS at mainstreet@dhcd.virginia.gov.
Image Credit (Ashland Train Day) – Ashland, Virginia
Virginia Main Street 