Vending Machine Locations in North Carolina, by Numbers

A single very short bar alone on a wide baseline — One very short bar on a wide baseline: the whole North Carolina record. AI-generated image

North Carolina contributes one placement, and it sits at the bottom of the dataset on both measures that matter. The Wilmington arcade agreed 30% of net — the lowest share of all 87 placements — while reporting 27 visitors a day, among the five lowest of the 69 that report a count. Its category cannot be ranked at all.

Figures below come from the 87 signed listings open on PinPoint Vending’s marketplace on October 5, 2026. Traffic is venue-reported and unaudited; no listing reports sales.

By the numbers

Measure	North Carolina
Signed placements	1
Share agreed	30% of net — the record’s lowest
Reported visitors	10,000 a year, 27 a day
Rank on traffic	Among the five lowest of the 69 reporting a count
Convertible into visitor-hours	0
National median share	40% of net

What is on the record for North Carolina

A single arcade on the Atlantic coast.

Field	Value
City	Wilmington
Venue type	Arcade
Tier	Standard
Signed	July 23, 2026
Reported visitors	10,000 a year, 27 a day
Revenue share	30% of net
Minimum term	16 months
Machine	Cotton candy

Standard tier is consistent with the traffic: premium requires a venue reporting 100,000 or more annual visitors, and Wilmington reports a tenth of that.

Two bottom-of-the-table positions at once

Most listings in this record are unremarkable on one measure and average on the other. Wilmington is near the bottom on both.

Measure	Wilmington	Distribution across the record
Share agreed	30% — the lowest	55 at 40%, twelve at 50%, eleven at 30%, two at 35%, one at 45%
Traffic	27 a day	Median of the 69 reporting is 140; the highest is 1,100

The share is not an anomaly in itself: eleven placements agreed 30%, seven of them bowling alleys. What makes Wilmington unusual is the pairing — the venue with one of the lowest traffic figures in the dataset also accepted the lowest share, which is the opposite of what a negotiation story would predict in either direction.

Nothing in the listing explains it, and the record contains no second North Carolina venue to compare against.

Why the listing cannot be ranked

Because arcades have no published average visit length. Converting footfall into hours of exposure needs a reported visitor count and a published visit length for the venue type, and only five of the 26 types in this record have the second — filling stations at three to four minutes, indoor playgrounds and trampoline parks at 1.5 hours, family entertainment centres at 2.5 and bowling alleys at 2.7. The method is set out in our ranking of vending locations.

Arcades appear four times nationally and none of the four can be converted. So North Carolina’s single listing reports its traffic and still produces no position on the captive-time table — the same outcome as New Jersey’s three listings, by the same mechanism.

What one bottom-of-range listing is good for

Establishing a floor, and nothing else. The Wilmington deal shows that a North Carolina venue has accepted 30% of net, which is a real fact with a date on it.

Reading	Supported?
“A small North Carolina arcade signed at 30% in July 2026”	Yes
“North Carolina venues get 30%”	No — one listing
“Arcades get 30%”	No — the three arcades stating a share run 30%, 35% and 40%
“North Carolina is a weak market”	No — one listing says nothing about a market

The third row is worth checking because it is the inference a single listing invites. Four arcades appear in the record and three state a share: Wilmington at 30%, a Burlington, New Jersey arcade at 35% and a Kingsport, Tennessee arcade at 40% — so even inside the category the number moves across the whole lower range. What the revenue-share data shows across all 87 placements sets out which comparisons the dataset supports.

What is missing from North Carolina’s record?

Every measurable category and all three metros. North Carolina shows one arcade; bowling alleys, trampoline parks, indoor playgrounds and family entertainment centres supply 44 of the 87 national placements and none of North Carolina’s.

Charlotte, Raleigh, Durham, Greensboro and Winston-Salem hold all four, and any one of them would give the state its first rankable listing. For a state of North Carolina’s size that is a thin row — on Census Bureau estimates it is among the more populous states in the dataset, with a single coastal arcade to show for it. Vending machine locations by state shows where every state stands.

Frequently asked questions

How many vending machine placements does North Carolina have?

One in the record collected on October 5, 2026: a standard-tier arcade in Wilmington, signed July 23, 2026, reporting 10,000 visitors a year at 30% of net.

It is the lowest in the dataset. Eleven of the 87 placements agreed 30% of net and none agreed less, against a median of 40% and a high of 50%.

How does its traffic compare?

Twenty-seven visitors a day is among the five lowest of the 69 placements reporting a count. Only a New Jersey gym, a Kentucky indoor playground, a Florida rage room and a Kentucky family entertainment centre are at or below it.

Can it be ranked on captive time?

No. Arcades appear four times in the record and the category has no published average visit length, so there is nothing to multiply the visitor count by.

What does the listing support?

That one small North Carolina arcade signed at 30% of net on that date. It cannot describe the state, and the combination of lowest share and near-lowest traffic makes it an unusually poor basis for anything.

Next step

Treat North Carolina’s row as a floor marker rather than a benchmark. The one listing establishes that 30% of net has been agreed in the state, by a venue seeing twenty-seven people a day in a category the dataset cannot rank — so for any North Carolina comparison, the venue’s own traffic and the national distribution are the only usable numbers.