The leisure industry is facing a surge in demand for afternoon services, especially in fitness and cosmetics. It’s the rise of the “afternoon fun” economy, and it's being fueled by remote workers.
A woman works on her laptop while at the “Cut Loose” hair salon in Brooklyn on Thursday afternoon, March 9, 2023.
A new study from Stanford shines a light on the rise of afternoon leisure. Using geolocation data near golf courses in the United States, the study found there was 278% more people playing golf at 4 p.m. on a Wednesday in August 2022 than in August 2019. And there were 83% more golf games being played on a weekday in August 2022 than in August 2019, according to the researchers, Nick Bloom and Alex Finan, who studied data, from the company Inrix, at more than 3,400 golf courses.
The effects of this shift are being felt across the leisure economy. ClassPass, a platform that partners with thousands of fitness and beauty studios, found that the most popular time for people to schedule a salon or spa treatment last year was noon; in 2019, it was 6 p.m. The Chelsea Piers golf club, which had its busiest year ever in 2022, increased the fee for its off-peak membership to $1,825 last year from $1,520 because of rising demand.
“We didn’t have a crystal ball to look into as we were budgeting for 2021 and 2022, and we were elated,” he said. “We’re seeing people during the week that we never saw before.” Of course, many remote workers have reconfigured the shape of their workdays for the opposite of leisure: child care. People are working 28% more after the traditional 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. hours, according to a report from Microsoft. For many working mothers, remote work didn’t initially bring any time for leisure.
And for some people straddling office and leisure, there’s a delight in the fusion. Tyler Kevorkian, the assistant general manager of Bouldering Project in Washington, D.C., said he had seen one person help run a gelato company from his gym. He has also seen government employees and lawyers writing memos steps away from the rock climbing walls.
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