The Analog Life Comeback
Meredith@meredithwoodclark
+2.4%
since Sep 15
The idea
I believe people are pulling back from screens and pushing to spend time and money in person, and that this is a lasting shift, not a passing trend. The basket spreads across travel and hotels, the gyms and gathering spots where people meet, the gear hobbies run on, and games and racket sports that could be the next pickleball. I keep a small cash buffer, avoid concentrating in any one name, and expect to hold this for years, only rethinking it if in-person spending genuinely stalls out.
What it owns
- Hotels, bookings, and tour operators capture the biggest-ticket versions of in-person experiences, so they benefit when travel spending grows faster than overall consumer spending. · Booking HoldingsIt takes a cut of a huge share of the world's trips without picking specific winners, so it collects fees as long as global travel spending keeps growing faster than overall consumer spending., AirbnbIt owns group trips and pushes hard into bookable in-person experiences, so it belongs as long as nights booked keep growing and the experience push gains real traction., Marriott InternationalIt makes fees on rooms it mostly does not own, so travel demand and room growth staying on trend means fee income keeps flowing with minimal extra cost., Hilton WorldwideIt makes fees on rooms it mostly does not own, so more trips means more fee income with little extra cost as long as occupancy and room rates stay on trend., Royal Caribbean GroupA cruise is a week of forced in-person time, and it sells full ships with bookings made far in advance, so forward bookings and onboard spending are a loud signal that people pay up for shared experiences., Trip.com GroupIt is the way to own Asian travelers getting back on planes and trains, a piece of the shift the US-listed hotels do not fully capture.30%
- Gyms, bowling alleys, golf ranges, and social restaurants are the physical third places people return to when screens lose their appeal. · Life Time Group HoldingsLife Time operates premium fitness and lifestyle clubs where membership growth and pricing power reflect sustained demand for in-person community spaces., Texas RoadhouseIt is built for the long table dinner with friends and family and keeps growing traffic when most sit-down chains cannot., Planet FitnessIt is the cheap entry point to the gym habit for millions of people, so member counts signal whether showing up somewhere in person is becoming routine again., Lucky Strike EntertainmentLucky Strike runs bowling and entertainment venues where foot traffic and spending per visit rise as people choose screen-free nights out., Darden RestaurantsIt runs the default American sit-down dinner chains, so it is the proof point that casual dining traffic holds or grows instead of leaking to delivery apps., Dave & Buster's EntertainmentDave & Buster's aggregates food, drinks, and games in group settings where same-store traffic reflects demand for in-person social spending.28%
- Every hobby runs on equipment, and many gear makers remain undervalued after the post-Covid slowdown. · Dick's Sporting GoodsIt sells the gear every in-person hobby runs on, from golf clubs to pickleball paddles, and it gains share while smaller sporting goods stores fade., Academy Sports and OutdoorsAcademy Sports offers hobby gear at value prices, capturing the lifestyle shift toward in-person activities across budget-conscious households., YETI HoldingsIt makes coolers and drinkware that are the equipment of tailgates, campsites, and backyard weekends, and it is still cheap after the post-Covid inventory hangover., Pool CorporationIt supplies the parts and chemicals that keep backyard pools running, and most sales are maintenance people cannot skip, so it is the steady way to own in-home gathering., Brunswick CorporationIt makes boats and engines, a big-ticket hobby purchase that got crushed after the Covid boom, so it is the recovery bet if people keep committing weekends to being out on the water.20%
- Board games, card games, and racket sports are where a next major social craze would appear first. · Amer SportsIt owns Wilson and sells the rackets and paddles for tennis, pickleball, and whatever social racket sport booms next, so a new craze hits its income statement first., HasbroIt owns Magic: The Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, the games actually played across a real table, so it wins if tabletop play keeps growing., MattelIt owns Uno and a shelf of family game and toy brands that fill screen-free time at home, so it rounds out the tabletop bet if its games segment keeps growing.11%
- Broad leisure and travel funds steady the basket so no single venue or brand can undermine the take. · Invesco Leisure and Entertainment ETFIt holds a wide spread of leisure and entertainment stocks, so it catches winners the take did not pick by name and provides ballast against single-stock mistakes.4%
- Cash6%