As Pokemon Go moves into the real-world partner marketing business with McDonald’s, one might wonder what businesses potentially stand to gain the most from association with Niantic’s world dominating location-based collect’em game. Well, Red Robin should plan a Squirtleburger™, if data gathered by location analytics firm Placed is any indication.
The company used info gathered from its opt-in audience of app users to figure out where people with Pokemon Go installed were shopping and eating, leading to a ranked index of which real-world U.S. retailers and restaurants are trainer favorites – and which ones are Pokemon poison.
To on one’s surprise, teen thirst emporium Hot Topic is the most popular according to Placed’s data, while the top restaurant is Red Robin, as alluded to above. Other top retail locations is Fred Meyer, Victoria’s Secret and GameStop, while other popular choices for eats include Buffalo Wild Wings, In-N-Out Burger and Cold Stone Creamery.

Businesses that Pokemon people don’t tend to frequent include supermarkets Food Lion, Publix, comfort food destination Cracker Barrel, and oldster-focused retailers like Bed Bath & Beyond, The Home Depot and Marshall’s. Pokemon Go is like a barometer of brick-and-mortar youth relevance.
Currently, Pokemon Go’s worldwide downloads are estimated at around 30 million globally, according to dat from SensorTower, with over $35 million in worldwide revenue grossed so far. With those numbers, becoming a real-world Go hotspot could have a non-trivial impact on store or restaurant business, so it’ll be interesting to see if current trainer destinations do more to amp up the appeal – or if the less popular locations try to turn things around.
