Grand Central Partnership

MRI OnLocation for footfall analytics counts accurately, even at height.  Its Grand Central counters on 5th Avenue are in a pedestrian dense area with lots of retailers. One 12-month period showed a 25% increase in the number of pedestrians coming down 5th Ave.

The question

Grand Central Partnership wanted to understand the levels of footfall, path of movement and retailer performance of the mid-town district in New York.

Our approach

MRI Software was appointed by Grand Central Partnership (GCP) in 2010 to monitor the footfall counts and retailer performance of the mid-town district in New York.

GCP was a pathfinder in the US being the first downtown to implement automatic footfall monitoring and quickly grasped the benefits it delivered to its levy payers and stakeholders.

It installed eight counters that are strategically placed on different side streets so that it could get a good sense of what’s going on. In recent years MRI has installed additional counters as a consequence of the evidenced benefits of the service and intelligence that the data delivers.

New York has over 800 businesses at ground level, and GCP reviewed vacancy rates, retailers and business categories monthly to understand its retail landscape. Key recipients of the data are property owners, leasing agents and store operators. All of whom are represented on the board of the GCP.

The highest counting counters are on 5th Avenue as it is a very shopping heavy avenue and there are lots of retailers. One 12-month period showed a 25% increase in the number of pedestrians coming down 5th Ave. With information like this GCP is able to present businesses with factual data and growth potential of a location.

MRI Software’s state of art tech counts 24/7 and gives good idea of everything in the streets pedestrian-wise.

Duane Roggendorff
Director of External Affairs, Grand Central Partnership