Seattle Culture
Downtown Seattle Gains Ground
Foot traffic is on the rise
By Rob Smith July 17, 2024
Downtown Seattle foot traffic continues to increase even though major retailers are increasingly moving out.
The Downtown Seattle Association says more than 90,000 daily workers were downtown in June, the highest daily average since the start of the pandemic. Almost 3 million visitors also came downtown, or 91% of the visitors in June 2019.
The number of downtown hotel rooms sold in June even exceeded that of June 2019, with 104% of the demand five years ago. Seattle ranked No. 3 nationally for hotel occupancy during the last week of the month, trailing only New York City and Oahu, according to Visit Seattle. Seattle ranked No. 7 for hotel occupancy among the top 25 markets in the U.S., behind New York, Las Vegas, Boston, Oahu, San Diego, and Washington, D.C.
Retailers, however, continue to move out. Saks OFF 5th recently announced that it was closing its location in Westlake Center on July 20, joining other major retailers including Nike, North Face, and Vans in decamping from the downtown core.
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