Guide: footfall and site selection
Footfall around a premises: what the figure means and how to use it to choose a location
Footfall (pedestrian traffic or flow) is the number of people a day moving within a five-minute walk of a premises, from measured location data, not the listing. Claro splits it by weekday and weekend, time of day, and residents, workers and tourists, for every premises in Madrid and Barcelona. Set a threshold in your brief and read the profile, not only the total: coffee bars and dinner restaurants need different curves.
What the footfall figure is
In Claro, footfall (in Spanish, afluencia peatonal) is the number of people a day moving within a five-minute walk of a premises' address. It comes from measured location data supplied by a Casafari group company, not from the listing, and it is shown with every premises in Madrid and Barcelona, the free search included.
It is not the number of people who enter a shop, and it is not a count taken at the door. It describes the street and the blocks around the address. Compare it across candidates of a similar format on similar streets, using the same measure and the same date.
- Unit: people a day.
- Area: within a five-minute walk of the address.
- Source: measured location data from a Casafari group company.
- Coverage: Claro searches premises across Spain by city or province, and premises outside Madrid and Barcelona are added every night; footfall, catchment figures and places nearby are shown only in Madrid and Barcelona.
- When the figure is unavailable for an address, Claro marks the criterion 'not stated'.
The splits and what each tells you
Two streets with the same daily footfall can serve very different businesses. The splits show when people are there and who they are, which matters more to most formats than the headline number.
Behind the street sits the catchment (área de influencia): the people who live within reach. Claro shows it for each premises in Madrid and Barcelona alongside the footfall figure.
- Weekday vs weekend (entre semana / fin de semana): a weekday-heavy street is usually office-led; a weekend-heavy one points to residential or leisure trade.
- Time of day (franja horaria): morning, lunch, afternoon and evening separate breakfast and coffee trade from lunch trade and dinner.
- Residents, workers and tourists: residents suggest repeat custom, workers drive weekday peaks, tourists bring seasonality.
- Residents within a 10-minute walk and a 10-minute drive (isócrona a pie / en coche).
- Age mix, household income (renta familiar) and spending power (capacidad de gasto) of the catchment.
How to set a threshold in a brief
Write footfall as a measurable criterion, together with the profile you need. For example: 'at least 20,000 people a day within a five-minute walk, mostly weekday, strong morning'. This figure is an illustration, not a benchmark; set yours from your own best-performing sites.
As of 10 October 2026, a brief asking for retail premises for rent with at least 20,000 people a day within a five-minute walk matched 3,478 premises in Madrid: 3,329 meeting it with the figure stated and 149 where the figure is not stated. In Barcelona the same brief matched 4,786 premises: 4,778 with the figure stated and 8 not stated. Add the profile and the unit criteria to narrow the list further.
- State a number and a unit: people a day within a five-minute walk.
- Add the profile: weekday or weekend, the time of day that matters, and the mix of residents, workers and tourists.
- Add catchment criteria if they matter to your format: residents, age mix, household income, spending power.
- Premises without the figure are marked 'not stated', never estimated, so you can decide whether to review them.
Reading footfall together with the unit
High footfall does not make a match on its own. A unit with no shop window, on the quiet side of the street or above ground floor may not capture the people passing. Combine footfall with the criteria Claro checks in the listing's own words: street level (a pie de calle), corner position, frontage and shop window.
Places nearby explain why people are there. Claro shows the restaurants, cafés, shops, supermarkets and gyms around each premises in Madrid and Barcelona, which also gives a first view of nearby competition (competencia cercana).
- Footfall plus unit criteria: street level, corner, shop window, size, rent.
- If a listing does not mention a shop window or corner, that criterion is 'not stated', not 'missing'.
- Use places nearby to judge both draw and competition.
Limits and honest use
Measured data has a date and a method; the methodology page describes how the figures are produced. Treat footfall as an indicative measure for comparing candidates, not as a sales forecast.
Claro does not model sales or cannibalisation between your own sites. It tells you which premises meet each criterion in your brief, with the evidence and the location figures behind each verdict.
- Compare candidates on the same measure and the same date.
- Do not compare Claro's figure with footfall figures measured another way.
- Use your own trading data to decide what a good figure is for your format.
Example brief and free search
A coffee operator might write the brief below. Footfall, its profile and places nearby are checked against measured data; corner, shop window, street level, size and rent are checked against each listing's own words.
For more detail, see the guide to writing an expansion brief, the city pages for retail premises in Madrid and retail premises in Barcelona, and the guide to site-selection tools.
- Paste or upload your brief in any language.
- Claro shows the brief as it understood it, the exact counts, and each premises with a met, not met or not stated verdict per criterion.
- Footfall and catchment figures come with every result in Madrid and Barcelona, the free search included.
Questions
What does 'people a day within a five-minute walk' mean?
It is the daily number of people moving in the area reachable on foot within five minutes of the premises' address. Claro splits it by weekday and weekend, by time of day, and between residents, workers and tourists. The figure comes from measured location data supplied by a Casafari group company, not from the listing.
Is footfall the same as store visits or customers?
No. Footfall measures people moving near the premises, not store visits (people who walk in) or customers (people who buy). How many passers-by become customers depends on your format, the unit's frontage and shop window, its position on the street, and whether they match your target profile by time of day and type of visitor.
What is a good footfall figure?
There is no universal number. Set your threshold from your own best-performing sites, then compare candidates on the same measure and the same date. The thresholds on this page, such as 15,000 or 20,000 people a day, are examples to show how to write a brief, not benchmarks for any format.
Where does the footfall data come from?
It comes from a Casafari group company specialised in location data. The figures are measured, dated and shown with their source for every premises in Madrid and Barcelona, and only there for now. The methodology page describes how they are produced. When the figure is unavailable for an address, Claro marks it 'not stated' rather than estimating.
Can I filter premises by footfall in Claro?
Yes. Write the threshold and profile in your brief, for example 'at least 20,000 people a day within a five-minute walk, mostly weekday'. Claro checks it as a criterion for every premises in Madrid and Barcelona, marks each one met, not met or not stated, and returns exact counts of matching premises.
See the footfall around premises that fit your brief
Run your one free search on the homepage. Type or upload your brief, including the footfall and profile you need, and see matching premises across Spain by city or province, with exact counts, a verdict and evidence for each criterion, and the footfall, catchment figures and places nearby for every address in Madrid and Barcelona. No sign-up needed.
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