Downtown Winnipeg seeing more visitors

Winnipeg’s core is seeing more visitors and businesses, that’s according to the Downtown Winnipeg BIZ.

Downtown Winnipeg saw an increase of nearly 24 per cent in visitors compared to the same time last year.

About six businesses opened up in Winnipeg’s core, while five closed down or left the core, representing a net gain. It’s the first time the BIZ reported a consecutive net gain in businesses opening downtown prior to the pandemic.

The numbers come from the BIZ’s second-quarter downtown snapshot report.

“There’s a lot of great things happening downtown right now. According to the data we are seeing that folks are visiting downtown restaurants a lot and spending a lot on downtown entertainment in the past year,” explained Rhiannon Hayes, the director of policy and economic development. “We are just really excited that people are excited about downtown.”

Sushi Point is one of those businesses that just moved to Winnipeg’s downtown back in June, looking to find a location where they can grow their customer base and allow for dine-in.

“We are located on Portage Ave in the heart of Winnipeg,” explained Olena Zinchenko the project manager. “People who want to start any food industry business have to be downtown.”

“I hope after some time more people come in. If we prepare a base and make some unique offers, people will want to come and see what we can offer.”

But while more visitors and businesses may be coming downtown, Winnipeg is still trying to bring more people down to live and work.

“The pandemic was an accelerant to a trend we were already seeing anyways, which was organizations were re-thinking how they were using their office space. They were moving away from private offices to more collaboration space,” said Paul Kornelsen, the vice president and managing director of CBRE.

Chief Executive Officer, Jeremy Read with the University of Winnipeg Community Renewal Corporation adds, “You need to ensure there is a wide spectrum of housing types both in terms of the size of the units but also the income level. A vibrant downtown both needs premium market units and affordable units as well.”