Sam’s Club scored a 30% rise in Thanksgiving traffic over 2020

Trader Joe’s, Costco, and Sam’s Club all had plenty to be thankful for last week, all seeing 25%-plus rises in store traffic on “Turkey Wednesday,” according to foot traffic analyst Placer.ai.

Sam’s Club got the most gravy, scoring a 30.2% customer increase. Trader Joe’s was up 26.5%, Costco had a 25.4% rise, and traffic marched into Walmart in numbers 23.2% higher than in 2020.

Traffic on Nov. 24 at the nation’s top seven grocers was up 17.1% over last year and 5.1% over 2019. At the bottom of the list were Kroger and H-E-B, but both with impressive traffic gains in excess of 13%.

“In a year where visits have been up for grocery across the board, there was a real question of whether Turkey Wednesday would drive its traditional surge,” said Placer.ai marketing VP Ethan Chernofsky. “At the same time, the pent-up demand for a holiday filled with family and--perhaps more importantly--food held out the potential to drive traffic that would surpass even the heights set this year. And the latter proved to be true.”