CLEVELAND — Cities across the state have been struggling since the pandemic to get people back downtown. It comes as more people are working from home.

What You Need To Know

  • A new study by the University of Toronto shows downtown Ohio cities are lagging in foot traffic 

  • Neither Cleveland, Columbus nor Cincinnati have returned to pre-pandemic levels

  • Downtown business owners have plans in place to keep foot traffic up 

A new report shows a recovery is underway, but Ohio’s largest cities are still lagging.

Cleveland is doing better than Cincinnati and Columbus at bringing people back downtown. 

Luke Purcell, the Owner and founder of Collision Bend Brewing Company, said his lunch rush has not been the same with people working from home. 

“So it definitely affected our weekday lunches around here, there hasn’t been a whole lot you can do about that. If people aren’t here, then they’re not here so you just kind of hope for a nice day that people want to come down and sit on the patio,” Purcell said. 

He is not alone. Downtown businesses across the country have seen less traffic after COVID as more and more people work from home.

“We know as attractive as a place that we are for businesses, were not going to fill offices and businesses in quite the same way as before the pandemic,” said Michael Deemer, the President and CEO of Downtown Cleveland. 

It is a similar pattern all across the country.

The University of Toronto looked at foot traffic in 66 cities, comparing this past spring to 2019.

Only Las Vegas has more foot traffic now compared to before the Pandemic.

As for Ohio’s big cities, Columbus and Cincinnati both rank near the bottom, while Cleveland falls in the middle of the pack.

“Communities come to us to figure out how they’re going to repurpose their office buildings to new uses and that just puts us so much farther ahead than other cities when it comes to leading their downtowns out of the pandemic,” Deemer said. 

In Columbus, they are trying to bring more people back downtown by offering more than a million dollars in rent support to small businesses owners who open up shops.

While it’s unclear how quickly these numbers will turn around, business owners like Purcell know it’s important to be proactive.

“We’ve just been adding more events driven stuff, more bands, got more consistent with Friday night’s music,” Purcell said. 

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