Can North America's downtowns reverse their downturns?

Image source, Clay Simpson

Clay Simpson is confident that the addition of a cocktail bar will bring in more customers.

Six months before the start of the coronaviruses epidemic, Mr Simpson and his co- founder opened a leather goods store in Louisville, Kentucky.

He said that customer numbers are still below where they were three years ago.

Mr Simpson doesn't think walk-ins and foot traffic are the same as they used to be. The swine flu had an effect.

The East Market district of Louisville is where his shop is located. The area has upscale restaurants, bars, art galleries, and other stores.

The aim is to make cocktails a part of the experience. The area is starting to buzz again, but it isn't at its best.

Image source, Clayton & Crume

There are other people who have to deal with fewer customers. Many downtowns in the US and Canada were damaged by the Pandemic.

More and more people are choosing to live in the city instead of going to work in the city. The number of tourists remains below the levels of the previous year.

People don't want to work in bars and restaurants so it's hard to find staff.

One factor that hit the downtown area particularly hard during the Pandemic was the fact that many of Humana's employees were allowed to work from home.

He says that that hurt downtown shops and restaurants.

Many of the people who were laid off from hotels and museums didn't come back because of a desire for remote working. Staffing shortfalls have arisen as tourists have begun to come back.

Image source, Louisville Tourism

Bourbon is one of the main factors in the popularity of Louisville. Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky and the home of whiskey.

The "Urban Bourbon Trail" in Louisville has nearly 50 bars and restaurants that tourists from all over the US and beyond typically visit.

Every May, the city hosts the Kentucky Derby, the most famous horse race in the US. More than 147,000 people attended the Louisville racetrack this year, up from 51,838 last year.

One of the challenges we have to overcome is getting the workforce to match the demand for tourism. We're fortunate to have tourists here.

"We were joking at the office that you can tell the tourists are back when they are walking around with Louisville Slugger mini-bats," said the person. They are made in the city and are well-known in the US.

Image source, Getty Images

There is a shortage of workers in the hotel sector in Kentucky. Mary Ramer is the president of VisitLEX.

They went on to work in other industries. To be gracious day in, day out requires a lot of energy. Wouldn't it be better if I could stay at home and sell insurance?

According to Michael Hecht from Greater New Orleans Inc., the city took a huge hit from Covid because of its large tourism sector.

He says the city can't get enough staff to work in the hotel industry.

According to Mr Hecht, if you talk to the restaurants, they will tell you that they are operating at a third of their capacity. A lack of staff is not the reason for a lack of customers. We call it the "covid hangover" if you look at shortages of workers.

Image source, Michael Hecht

According to Mr Hecht, a lot of office and retail workers in New Orleans prefer to work for the ride-sharing service rather than return to their old jobs.

John Kay says that office firms in the downtown area are still being affected by the great resignation.

Workers have left their jobs in droves since the start of the Pandemic. They are usually inspired to relocate away from the big cities and find new employment that will allow them to work from home more often.

Mr Kay is the chief executive of Realize Strategies. A lot of people are trying to solve the recruitment gap.

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It means they don't need as much office space since other companies in the area allow staff to work from home. In the downtown area, between 15% and 18% of offices are empty.

He got an interesting response when he asked about it. We have a lot of floorspace coming on stream in the next few years.

Companies that don't need an office are some of the ones we have. That's going to be a huge backdraft of the epidemic.

In Toronto, Canada's largest city, the mayor said the challenge was to get people back downtown.

Image source, Yaron Eini

He says that passenger numbers on the city's public transport system are only half of what they were before Covid. The lack of transportation income has a financial toll on the city, according to him.

There is probably little the government can do to increase employment in the city.

He says that Toronto has staff shortages in restaurants, bars and hotels. He says the city's tourism sector is doing better than expected.