Foot traffic near Philly offices more than doubled since January. Here are other takeaways from a new report on Center City.

Retail occupancy and foot traffic remain up in downtown Philadelphia compared with two years ago, according to the latest report from the Center City District.

The report released Wednesday included optimistic projections about the pace of the area’s recovery since 2020, when the coronavirus struck and public health measures temporarily shuttered many businesses.

“There is a widespread misconception that downtown retail is in bad shape,” said Prema Katari Gupta, a vice president for Center City District, which is funded by local businesses in Philadelphia’s downtown.

“The report shows the city coming back,” said Philadelphia City Councilmember Mark Squilla, whose district includes part of Center City.

Here are five takeaways:

Last month, foot traffic in the heart of Center City — roughly the area between Vine and Pine Streets — reached 77% of what it was in October 2019, according to the district, which uses on-street sensors to measure daily pedestrian activity.

That’s an increase of 82% from the start of the year, the district said, from a daily average of 87,133 pedestrians in January to 158,426 in October.

“I was shocked to see the number of pedestrians that are out the streets,” Squilla said. “That helps not only with business but also with public safety.”

The commercial office district saw the greatest increase during the same period, according to the district, with three street sensors on the 1700 block of John F. Kennedy Boulevard, the 1800 block of Market Street, and the 1600 block of Market showing a 115% increase since January.

The highest activity was recorded on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays, the days that hybrid workers at large employers — including Comcast, which as of September required employees to work in person three days a week — are most likely to be in the office.

“For retailers to be successful, they need all different day parts,” said Paige Jaffe, a real estate broker and managing director of JLL’s retail leasing practice in the Greater Philadelphia region. “We need the office population.”

In Center City, 80.5% of storefronts were open for business as of October, according to the report. That’s a marked increase from the 54.5% that were open in June 2020 and the same percentage that was reported in the district’s June retail update.

“We’re always happy to see a greater increase, but I think part of it is a little seasonal,” Gupta said. “My understanding is folks [business owners] want to be up and running far before the holiday season.”

Before the pandemic, in September 2019, about 89% of storefronts were open downtown, according to the district, and the district in the report said it appears “on course” to get back to that rate soon.

How soon?

“Candidly, I don’t know,” Gupta said. “What I will say is I think we’re in a lot better position than other downtowns because we have the third-largest downtown [residential] population in the country” among major cities.

Since 2020, Center City has lost several national chain locations, including Gap, Banana Republic, Aldo, Talbots, and Ann Taylor, as traditional retailers have struggled financially or gone bankrupt.

During the same period, more than 175 businesses have opened in Center City, the district says, and at least 47 have plans to open soon.

Several stores that have moved in, or plan to soon, are “digitally native brands,” companies that started out selling products online, Gupta said. Next in the works: Faherty, a clothing store the New York Times described as “surf hippie,” the inclusive-sizing lingerie brand ThirdLove, and the athletic clothing company Outdoor Voices.

Several Center City storefronts are set to soon become what the district describes as “entertainment concepts.”

Bankroll, a sports bar and entertainment venue with a Stephen Starr restaurant, is being constructed on the 1900 block of Chestnut Street. Puttshack leased a ground floor space at the Shops at Liberty Place for mini golf and a bar-restaurant. Barcade, the bar-arcade with a location in Fishtown, plans to open a second spot on the 1300 block of Chestnut.

As the city heads into another winter, the number of outdoor-dining seats in Center City remains higher than it was pre-pandemic, with 5,061 total outside seats. There were 3,501 outdoor seats in Center City in 2019.

While that number is lower than it was at the height of the pandemic, it is on par with what it was in June.