Charted: Richmond's nightlife sees a bounceback

Virginia's nightlife is coming back.

Driving the news: 35% of bar and restaurant transactions across Richmond occur between 7pm and 4am, per Square data taken from the second quarter of 2023.

• That's up 12 percentage points from 2019, before COVID crashed the party, but slightly less than last year.

In fact, Richmond is tied with Miami for the No. 2 slot as the city with the most nightlight Square transactions, behind only NYC.

Why it matters: The pandemic made us a "nation of early birds," as the Wall Street Journal recently put it, in part because it shifted how we spend our time, Axios' Alex Fitzpatrick writes.

• One contributing factor: "hybrid and remote workers itching to leave the house as soon as they close their laptops," per the WSJ.

Yes, but: Virginia was one of a handful of states where searches for nightlife or bars increased more than any other category of searches last fall and winter versus the previous year, per a recent Yelp report.

• The most popular Richmond nightlife destinations: Quirk Rooftop, Get Tight Lounge and The Tobacco Company.

Of note: The figures only reflect transactions made on the Square platform.

• Still, its use is widespread enough to suggest some broad trends.