SEATTLE — The holiday season is in full swing with people doing last-minute shopping. And a new report by the Downtown Seattle Association reveals the downtown’s retail core in November saw an uptick in visitors compared to last year.
"We just got our last Christmas present right here. Picked up some good stuff," said Debbie and Michael Diaz, who were visiting Seattle for the first time. "This is one of our cities on our bucket lists to come visit. To come see and check out, I think it met all of our expectations."
They're not the only people making their way downtown.
According to the Downtown Seattle Association, November saw more than 2.1 million visitors, which is still less than pre-pandemic numbers in November 2019, but it is slightly higher than last year. On the weekend after Thanksgiving, downtown's retail core had more than 115,000 visitors, a 6% increase over 2021's count. That trend has been ongoing with plenty of foot traffic on the weekends following.
"Last night seemed busy, and the marketplace was pretty packed yesterday. Friday afternoon, Friday evening, Saturday morning was busy, really busy," said Michael Diaz.
Despite this slight increase. People still can't ignore the vacant spaces up for lease.
"We did realize it was a couple of restaurants are no longer open but for the most part it was very easy to find stuff still," said Michael Diaz.
But for the Diaz family, it still won't deter them from coming back for more.
"It's great, would definitely love to come back maybe in the summertime when it warms up," said Michael Diaz.