SPOKANE — As temperatures increase, so have visitors in downtown Spokane. The Downtown Spokane Partnership recorded 1.2 million people visiting the area last month.
Businesses are appreciating the recent wave of customers and thank the big events that the city has been hosting that have been drawing in more out-of-town visitors and locals.
Bruttle’s Candy Shop is one business that has benefitted from the recent wave of customers. Melissa Nay, a Bruttle’s employee, said the shop has seen new faces from distant places.
“There’s been a lot of pop in people that aren’t regulars or that have even heard about it, even though they’re like from distant places,” Nay said.
Jacquelyn Waggoner, who’s was visiting from Oregon, was out enjoying the spring weather.
“A huge part of my travel is getting out in the sunny weather. I know that Bloomsday is coming around, so seeing a lot of people running and just getting outside is nice,” Waggoner said.
The Downtown Spokane Partnership says more people have been walking the downtown streets after big sporting events like State B and the PNQ volleyball tournament.
“There was a lot of people from the volleyball tournament that came in that like they all were aware by and stuff for our girls were by and stuff for our parents. And like, yeah, it was really cool,” Nay said.
DSP says there was a 27% increase in visitors from February to March of this year. The average visitor stay in the downtown area was 3.4 hours.
Kevin Campbell, DSP Economic Vitality Specialist, said the growth continues.
“We’re excited to see that much more just vibrancy in downtown,” Campbell said.
DSP tracks foot traffic numbers by using an analytics platform called Placer AI. They also partner with Spokane Public Library and Startup Spokane to the platform.
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