If you’re looking to see how busy a store is right now, Google Maps is a great tool to use. Just type in the store’s address and the map will show you the location of all of its open seats and active customers. You can also see how many people are currently in the store and what types of products they’re selling.
You can find this information on the Google Maps website in your browser or in the Google Maps app for iPhone, iPad, and Android. Search for the name of a store, restaurant, business, or other location—it even works for parks.
Click or tap the name of the location to view more information about it. Look for the “Popular times” chart in the panel—you may need to scroll down to see it. Look for a “Live” time that tells you how busy a business is right now.
You can also click the name of the weekday and select another day of the week to check when the location is usually the busiest. Do more people tend to shop on Wednesday or Sunday? Is the store less busy early in the morning or late at night? The chart will tell you.
It’s worth noting that this historical data may not be as predictive as usual right now. Shopping patterns (and store hours) have changed. However, the Live data should be useful—if it says a location is busy right now, you can wait until Google says the location is less busy to head there.
This information isn’t available for every location. It won’t be available for some locations that don’t “get enough visits” from people who have enabled Google Location History, according to Google.
How Does It Work?
This feature takes advantage of the location data Google receives from people who choose to enable Google Location History on their phones. Using this data, Google will estimate how busy it is at a particular location right now.
It also remembers historical data and can average it to show you when a store is usually the most—and least—busy every week.
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