Workers expected to return downtown, but not full-time: Downtown BIZ

Downtown employees could soon be returning to Winnipeg's core but a downtown advocate doesn't think it will be on a full-time basis.

Like many downtown businesses, Bison Books owner Aimee Peake relied on office workers and other visitors to come through her doors on a daily basis. Then the pandemic hit, and many were sent home to work.

“So with those places going remote it’s certainly bit into our over-the-counter traffic,” said Peake.

Peake is hoping the office towers in Downtown Winnipeg fill up again soon.

“Everybody who lives in Downtown Winnipeg wants the downtown to be vibrant. Nobody wants to see empty spaces on the street.”

Last fall the Downtown Biz estimated only 20 to 24 per cent of workers were back downtown. Then the Omicron variant forced many of them back home.

Commercial Real Estate Firm CBRE said office vacancy rates in downtown went up during the pandemic – from 11.6 per cent in 2020, to 15.3 per cent last year, improving slightly in 2022 to 15 per cent.

Downtown Biz CEO Kate Fenske said people are starting to return downtown with an expected ramp up between April and June.

“We are seeing more people walking on the streets, we’re seeing more cars in the parkades,” said Fenske.

But Fenske said she doesn’t expect everyone to come back five days a week. She said supports are needed for the ground floor storefronts that have stuck it out, and those that are vacant.

She stresses more people need to move downtown.

“We’re really starting to think about the shift from a central business district to more of a social gathering district.”

The city has a $30 million plan which includes tax grants for affordable housing, and money for economic and heritage development and improvements to spruce up the area and make it more inviting.

“So people have public spaces to be in and when they go downtown they feel safe, they feel comfortable, they’re happy, they love being downtown,” said Coun. John Orlikow.

Peake believes a lot of the efforts planned will help, because the only way to make it is to change with the times.

“A lot of the businesses that are downtown and still open managed to kind of limp through this and find ways to adapt,” said Peake.