Jan. 26, 2025

Getting in a traffic accident is bad enough — not to mention when it involves a car you borrowed from someone else.

I happened to call for an interview right after it had happened to the Twin Cities business owner on the other end of the phone — and believe it or not, the story got worse from there.

Turns out he’d borrowed the car because his own had been stolen — from in front of his downtown business — then used in a gang-related shooting in which someone died. So his own vehicle is now considered evidence in the case — and the theft happened, he thinks, when the thieves hacked into his remote start because the car was locked.

I tell you this to frame up the fact that in comparison our own downtown issues feel more minimal and manageable.

This generally is the time of year when I anticipate some business closures, and we’ve seen that, but I’m also working on reporting multiple new deals, so I am not seeing glaring warning signs of a broader issue yet despite the well-documented challenges we know independent businesses have faced in the past year.

This year’s Downtown Burger Battle surpassed last year’s numbers already early last week, and last weekend — despite the chilly weather — “it was a big weekend,” said Brandon Hanson, interim president of Downtown Sioux Falls Inc. “There were a lot of people downtown. There’s so much activity on social media, and everyone is creating reviews and blogs. It’s just fueling the fire in a great way.”

He thought I might be interested in seeing all of 2024’s reported foot traffic within the downtown boundary — this is the area in purple that it encompassed:

The bottom line is that there were an estimated 6.6 million visits downtown last year by an estimated 1.1 million people, meaning that the average visitor came downtown 6.12 times in 2024.

Not surprisingly, the most visits came on Friday and Saturday and peaked in the evenings, but I was pleased how steady they were throughout the week and throughout much of the day.

The numbers are fairly consistent year over year. They were down 0.8 percent from 2023 to 2024, but up the same amount from 2022 to 2024. There has been a clear increase since the pandemic, up 8.3 percent versus 2021.

“I pulled it before December, and it was up (year over year),” Hanson said. “So we had a really strong Small Business Saturday and got lots of anecdotal comments off events like the Parade of Lights. It slowed down toward the end of December, and a lot of this is weather-dependent. You can match it up with the weather and cold days and see it drop pretty drastically.”

Last weekend brought positive traffic for the Winter Crazy Days shopping promotion according to retailers, he said, including some who said it was the strongest one they’ve seen in awhile based on foot traffic, sales data and overall gut feel.

You also see clear parallels with events downtown such as shows at the Washington Pavilion and Levitt at the Falls.

“I think you see sort of a tide lifts all boats mentality,” Hanson said. “Every time the Pavilion hosts a Broadway show like it did last weekend with “Hadestown,” that carries some through that overrides the weather. So as we’re doing all things downtown, it supports everyone. It’s a density mentality.”

Keeping the idea of a density mentality in mind needs to drive other investments downtown — and beyond. For instance, the most density downtown is found on Phillips Avenue between Ninth and 13th streets, and there’s opportunity to build on it.

“It’s pulling in the most amount of people versus getting closer to where the three subdivisions connect by the Orpheum, where there’s no retail or food and beverage and people aren’t even walking in the middle of the day,” Hanson said.

This is why we really could use some movement on the Wells Fargo block in terms of redevelopment. It’s also why we shouldn’t skimp when we finally get to redo Phillips Avenue between Eighth and 10th streets. It’s why we should look at opportunities between Sixth and Eighth streets to further redevelop in a way that promotes density and by extension walkability. And why we should wait for the right developer to take on the underutilized parking ramp and maybe bring something that will be a greater destination for visitors.

“Even the bump-outs we did to slow traffic so the human and car can coexist and feel safe is such a big deal in making sure people show up to shop,” Hanson said.

Candidly, so is literally feeling safe. If people don’t feel safe, warranted or not, while walking downtown, it’s a problem, and it’s detrimental to business activity. I was encouraged to see early efforts made between the public sector and nonprofits to be proactive in providing services and education so that we aren’t in a more reactive situation again this year if behavioral issues arise on downtown streets.

I also was encouraged to learn from Hanson that the ZIP codes shown to be visiting downtown are a “really healthy balance” of visitors and locals. Downtown businesses that are focused only on tourists risk missing out on half the people who come downtown. We’re also nearing 4,000 residents downtown, “and downtown has grown so big, these neighborhoods right next to it are essentially part of downtown, so it becomes easier for them to come down here and shop,” Hanson said.

That’s a good reminder to businesses to look for products that generate recurring revenue. I can think of many small or independent retailers who are doing a great job bringing people in regularly to stock up on everything from tea to laundry soap.

At a biweekly retail meeting this past week, retailers repeatedly mentioned that while they might have two stores in Sioux Falls, it’s the downtown one keeping both spaces in business, Hanson said.

“There was lots of hope looking forward to opportunities like The Summit League, the St. Patty’s Day parade and other events that draw people downtown,” he said. “Over and over again, the crew talked about the benefit of retail density and the importance of managing a healthy mix of offerings in town.”

A density mentality works only if the market is there to support it. While I’d love to see it in many neighborhoods, starting in our core areas, downtown is the obvious place to prove the concept. The more we can do to increase the number of visits, the more business activity naturally follows.

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