Americas Branded Consumer Goods Apparel & Accessories August store traffic update

Equity Research 21 September 2026 | 5:01AM MDT

Americas Branded Consumer Goods: Apparel & Accessories: August store traffic update

In this note, we update our trackers for August store traffic on a visits per venue basis Brooke Roach, CFA | (sourced via Placer.ai) for department stores, off-price, select specialty retailers and Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC others within our coverage. Mentesnot Adamu | On balance, store traffic trends moderated across much of our coverage universe in Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC August. Department store traffic moderated sequentially, with Bloomingdale’s Carly Chasen continuing to post the strongest Y/Y growth and Kohl’s seeing more muted trends. | Off-price traffic also moderated sequentially, although Ross Dress for Less and dd’s Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC DISCOUNTS continued to outperform peers, while Burlington remained the most pressured. Across GAP banners, traffic trends weakened, led by a notable deceleration at Banana Republic. Within URBN, Free People improved sequentially, while growth moderated at Urban Outfitters and remained muted at Anthropologie. Across global brands, traffic decelerated, with the most pronounced declines at Levi’s and Polo Ralph Lauren. Sportswear traffic also weakened in August, with choppier trends at Under Armour Outlet and Nike Factory Store.

We provide a more comprehensive update below.

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Goldman Sachs Americas Branded Consumer Goods: Apparel &

Exhibit 1: Department store traffic trends moderated Exhibit 2: Bloomingdale’s posted the strongest Y/Y traffic sequentially in August growth in August, while trends were more muted at Kohl’s Monthly average visits per venue Y/Y for department stores since Monthly average visits per venue Y/Y for department stores since May 2026 (visits of all durations) January 2024 (visits of all durations)

Jan-24 Mar-24 May-24 Jul-24 Sep-24 Nov-24 Jan-25 Mar-25 May-25 Jul-25 Sep-25 Nov-25 Jan-26 Mar-26 May-26 Jul-26 -4%

-6% May-26 Jun-26 Jul-26 Aug-26 Dillard's Nordstrom Bloomingdale's Dillard's Nordstrom Bloomingdale's Nordstrom Rack Kohl's Macy's Nordstrom Rack Kohl's Macy's

Source: Placer.ai, Data compiled by Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research Source: Placer.ai, Data compiled by Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research

Exhibit 3: Traffic trends moderated sequentially in August Exhibit 4: While growth moderated, Ross Dress for Less across off-price and thrift retailers and dd’s DISCOUNTS continued to post strong traffic Monthly average visits per venue Y/Y for off-price and thrift trends; Burlington remained the most muted within the retailers since May 2026 (visits of all durations) group Monthly average visits per venue Y/Y for off-price and thrift retailers since January 2024 (visits of all durations)

-10% Jan-24 Mar-24 May-24 Jul-24 Sep-24 Nov-24 Jan-25 Mar-25 May-25 Jul-25 Sep-25 Nov-25 Jan-26 Mar-26 May-26 Jul-26 May-26 Jun-26 Jul-26 Aug-26

dd's DISCOUNTS HomeGoods T.J. Maxx dd's DISCOUNTS HomeGoods T.J. Maxx Savers Marshalls Ross Dress for Less Savers Marshalls Ross Dress for Less Burlington Burlington

Source: Placer.ai, Data compiled by Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research Source: Placer.ai, Data compiled by Goldman Sachs Global Investment Research