Another holiday shopping season has come and gone, and the stats are in.

Shopping malls across the U.S. saw foot traffic increase by 20 percent during the final full week before Christmas, whereas foot traffic in downtowns increased by only 1.1 percent, according to data from software company MRI Software.

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Meanwhile, Super Saturday — the last Saturday before Christmas — seemed to lure mostly mallgoers, as foot traffic rose in malls by 11.3 percent compared to the previous week, while visits to downtowns dropped 13.6 percent, MRI found.

In addition, visits to indoor malls increased 177.1 percent on Dec. 21 compared to the year-to-date daily average, making for a successful Super Saturday at U.S. malls this year, according to data from location analytics company Placer.ai.

“Super Saturday visitation data provides valuable insights into consumer behavior as the holidays approach,” R.J. Hottovy, head of analytical research at Placer.ai, said in a statement. “While value has been a primary focus for much of 2024, consumers are still willing to spend on discretionary items, as shown by the relative strength and visits to beauty and self-care stores, department stores and sporting goods retailers.”

The most popular stores for shopping this year did seem to be retailers in the beauty and self-care category, where visits were up 38.4 percent this year compared to 2019, according to Placer.ai. Plus, visits to discount and dollar stores were up 21 percent.

Some of the most popular retailers on Super Saturday were Ulta Beauty at a 50 percent increase in traffic from 2019, HomeGoods at 32 percent, and T.J. Maxx at 26.2 percent, Placer.ai found.

As for shopping on Christmas Eve, malls saw a 6.1 percent increase in visits compared to last year, while downtown stores only saw a 0.4 percent increase, MRI found.

“Malls were the clear winners for last-minute shopping on Christmas Eve,” Jenni Matthews, marketing and insights director at MRI, said in a statement. “It’s likely that the momentum will continue with post-holiday sales and New Year’s events as shoppers take advantage of bargains and entertainment, and gravitate to indoor environments amid cold temperatures.”

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.