When it comes to choosing the right retail location, many business owners understandably zero in on one metric: how many people pass by the storefront each day. But here’s the thing—not all traffic is created equal. A high number of vehicles on the road might look good on paper, but if none of those drivers are stopping to shop, that number doesn’t mean much for your bottom line. Understanding the difference between foot traffic and traffic count—and when each matters—is key to making a smart leasing decision in the Triangle or anywhere else in North Carolina.
In this post, we’ll break down the difference between the two, explain how each impacts retail success, and help you figure out what matters most for your business goals.
What Is Traffic Count?
Traffic count refers to the number of vehicles that pass a specific point on a roadway over a given time period—usually measured as “Average Daily Traffic” (ADT). This data is collected by departments like NCDOT or city planning offices and is commonly cited on listing flyers for commercial spaces.
Traffic count gives a good surface-level view of how visible your storefront may be from the road. Businesses that benefit most from this include:
Gas stations
Fast food restaurants
Auto service centers
Big-box stores or national chains
But raw numbers don’t tell the whole story. A site on a busy bypass may show 40,000 cars per day—but if there’s no nearby exit or no signalized intersection, those cars may never convert into customers.
Questions to consider with traffic count:
Are the numbers one-directional or combined?
Is there a natural reason for drivers to stop?
How close is the property to traffic lights, exits, or U-turn points?
For many small or independent businesses, vehicle traffic is only useful if it brings people to your door.
What Is Foot Traffic (and Why It Matters More Than You Think)?
Foot traffic measures how many people are walking near or past a location during a set time. This can include people passing by a storefront, entering a shopping center, or navigating a plaza.
Foot traffic is often a better predictor of potential in-person sales, especially for retail categories like:
Boutiques
Salons and spas
Coffee shops and bakeries
Fitness studios
Gift stores and bookstores
Unlike traffic count, foot traffic speaks directly to engagement potential. If people are already walking, shopping, or dining nearby, they’re more likely to visit a neighboring business.
How Is Foot Traffic Measured?
Traditionally, foot traffic was tracked through manual counting or camera systems. Today, commercial real estate teams have access to more sophisticated tools like Placer.ai, which uses anonymized location data from mobile devices to estimate real-time and historical foot traffic at specific properties.
At Pickett Sprouse, our team uses Placer to:
Compare two potential retail sites based on actual visitation data
Analyze peak hours and seasonal trends
Evaluate co-tenancy impacts (how a grocery anchor drives visits to nearby stores)
Support tenants during lease negotiations with objective third-party metrics
This type of insight helps paint a much clearer picture than what you’d get from traffic count alone.
When to Prioritize Foot Traffic
Boutique Retailers and Specialty Shops:
For businesses where discovery and impulse visits are key, foot traffic is essential. Think coffee shops, gift stores, and apparel boutiques. These rely on walk-ins, casual browsing, and being part of a vibrant pedestrian area.
Restaurants and Cafés:
Dining establishments—especially fast-casual spots—benefit greatly from high foot traffic. Visibility from sidewalks and busy downtown intersections can be the difference between packed tables and slow nights.
Fitness Studios and Wellness Services:
Yoga studios, massage therapy clinics, and fitness boutiques gain from being in areas with high pedestrian activity. Being visible and accessible increases drop-ins and word-of-mouth referrals.
When to Prioritize Vehicle Traffic (Traffic Count)
Drive-Thrus and Fast Food Chains:
Businesses designed for convenience, like national QSRs, prioritize being visible from high-traffic roads and easy access to arterials.
Auto Services and Big Box Retail:
Locations like tire centers, hardware stores, or large-format retail benefit from vehicle accessibility and visible signage along major roadways.
Medical or Professional Services:
Even if they don’t depend on walk-ins, practices like urgent care centers and dental offices benefit from being in high-traffic areas where they stay top-of-mind through visibility.
Local Patterns: Triangle Retail Trends
Here in the Triangle, site selection can look very different depending on whether you’re in Durham, Chapel Hill, Raleigh, or a smaller market like Hillsborough or Mebane.
Durham’s downtown core has strong foot traffic, especially near Brightleaf Square, American Tobacco Campus, and along Main Street. These locations work well for small-scale retail, coffee shops, and salons.
Hillsborough and Mebane tend to rely more on traffic count due to their smaller urban core. Roadside visibility matters more, especially along Churton Street or Highway 70.
Raleigh’s mixed-use districts (like North Hills or The Dillon) offer a blend of both, making them attractive to a wide range of tenants.
We also monitor foot traffic shifts over time—for example, how a new apartment complex, park, or event venue affects nearby visitation numbers. These changes can alter the long-term success of a site in ways that raw traffic counts won’t reflect.
Final Thoughts: Location Decisions Built on More Than Just Numbers
When you’re evaluating a retail space, don’t let high traffic counts distract you from what actually drives sales. It’s not just how many people see your storefront—it’s how many of them have the opportunity (and reason) to walk through the door.
At Pickett Sprouse, we use tools like Placer.ai and years of local experience to help you understand both the visible and invisible factors behind a successful site. Whether you’re launching your first store or expanding across the Triangle, we’ll help you read between the lines—and the numbers.
Want help finding a space where foot traffic meets your goals? Reach out to our team anytime.