Love it or loathe it, Walkable Main Street — the City of Edmonds initiative to make the heart of downtown a weekend pedestrian-only zone — will continue at least through the summer according to Patrick Doherty, Director of Economic Development for the City of Edmonds. Now after four weekends, the growing pains are beginning to smooth out, and merchants, restaurants and the public are coming to grips with the reality of a car-free downtown.
“We embarked on this for two main reasons,” Doherty explained. “First, we want to provide a safe, open area for pedestrians to stroll downtown. Second, we see it as a great way to kick-start our economy after the huge financial hit many businesses and restaurants suffered when they were forced to close up shop for weeks earlier this year due to the COVID shutdown.”
After Edmonds was almost totally shut down for four months due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the thaw finally came June 5 when Snohomish County was approved for Phase 2 reopening. This gave the green light to Edmonds businesses to once again welcome customers.
But it was not a return to life before COVID; Phase 2 came with a host of restrictions aimed at minimizing chances of spreading the virus. One aspect of this “new normal” required limiting the number of customers inside the business at any one time, prompting restaurants and businesses to adjust operations — and for many this meant moving tables and racks of merchandise onto the sidewalks.
The first weekend of Phase 2 reopening saw downtown filled with walkers, diners and shoppers emerging from weeks of semi-quarantine and reveling in the freedom of at last experiencing a degree of normalcy. And it was this, combined with the desire to boost the local economy out of the COVID slump, that led to the transformation of downtown into a car-free, walkable, pedestrian-only zone.
After discussion among city officials, local business owners and others, on June 11 the city announced that it would pilot the Walkable Main Street idea, starting the weekend of June 20-21.
After a bit of logistical planning – which streets would be closed off, how to best ensure crowd control and public safety – it happened.
Early on Saturday, June 20 the barricades went up, tables were moved to the streets, racks of merchandise appeared in front of stores, and the people showed up in droves, also attraced by perfect sunny weather and the first day of the Edmonds Summer Market.
With a promising first weekend, the City decided to extend the experiment to the next weekend, June 27-28 – but Mother Nature chose not to cooperate, blanketing Edmonds in clouds, intermittent rain, and cool temperatures. People still showed up, but crowds were noticeably thinner.
“After the first weekend I interviewed about 30 merchants,” Doherty explained. “Some said it was great, some said about the same, but no one said it was worse. After the second weekend several were saying it was worse, but that might have been due to the rain.”
The pilot was put on pause for the July 4th weekend for re-evaluation, but according to Doherty after additional discussion it was decided to give the experiment a chance and extend Walkable Main Street into the “foreseeable future.”
“We ‘piloted’ the idea with the first two weekends of closure (with different specific street closures) and detailed input from retailers, restaurateurs and the public,” said Doherty in an email. “After this we decided that we needed to land into a more consistent, predictable street-closure program, starting last weekend [July 11-12]. By ‘foreseeable future’ we mean the rest of the summer with no commitment as yet to Labor Day weekend.”
Fast forward to the present.
With four weekends now in the books, patterns are emerging. But so far opinions on the success of the project — and whether it should continue or perhaps even become permanent — are decidedly mixed.
“One of the changes we’re seeing in the wake of COVID is that folks are feeling increasingly uncomfortable being indoors in public settings,” added Doherty. “They feel safer out in the air and are preferring to dine and shop outdoors, and we’re seeing merchants and restaurants adjusting to this during Walkable Main Street.”
According to Doherty, while restaurants are “over the moon” about the street closures and having tables outside, the reaction from merchants is varied, with some decidedly bullish and others seeing it as a business-killer.
Shubert Ho, who along with partner Andrew Leckie operates three restaurants in the Walkable Main Street area (MarKet, Salt and Iron, San Kai Sushi), is a strong supporter.
“It went really well for us,” Ho said. “We’ve expanded our outdoor dining capacity to accommodate our patrons’ desire to eat outside in the fresh air where they feel safer. This meant spending money buying umbrellas, stands and partitions, but those few extra tables are really helping our bottom line. These improvements also boost our street appearance, and this helps draw customers into our business – especially those who are just not comfortable being indoors where the risk of infection is higher. We’re still hurting from the pandemic and are not out of this yet, but we’re looking forward to things continuing to improve as we move into the rest of the summer.”
Jenny Murphy, who has owned and operated Sound Styles clothing store for 35 years at the corner of Fifth and Main, has a decidedly different take.
“There are a lot of business owners like me who depend on convenient parking for their customers, and when this is taken away it kills us,” she said. “I’m not necessarily opposed to the idea of a pedestrian downtown, but I feel we jumped into it without much discussion, and what discussion there was did not include merchants like myself. It’s like the decision was made and it was just dropped on us. A few people created this idea and it was put forth without discussion. I think there should be discussion, but I’m afraid the people who are orchestrating this don’t want to hear negative feedback.”
She reports that her sales on the first two Walkable Main Street weekends were dismal, with “maybe four customers” on the first Sunday, and only two on the second. “And don’t blame it on the weather,” she added. “We live in the Pacific Northwest and have had lots of shoppers during rain, snow, whatever.”
Traditionally open Tuesday through Sunday, Murphy is adapting by adjusting her schedule to be open Monday through Saturday. “My foot traffic has been way down due to the street closures, so rather than be open on Sunday when there’s no parking for my customers, I decided to shift to Mondays,” she explained. Murphy also says she is reluctant to move merchandise onto sidewalk racks, citing concerns about theft and maintaining pandemic disinfection standards when browsers touch and handle items.
In a July 14 letter to Mayor Mike Nelson and the Edmonds City Council, Murphy described the project as “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” that is to designed benefit “a small interest group of 17 restaurants” while disproportionately hurting downtown merchants by eliminating parking on two of the most lucrative shopping days of the week.
“Sales on street closure days in some cases have declined by half or more,” her letter concludes. “Would patrons come to town if there were only restaurants?”
According to Murphy the letter was not just her take on the issue but included feedback from 10-12 other merchants who for various reasons felt disinclined to go on the record and speak up. “I’m just the messenger – that letter is a compilation,” she said. “I’m not the only one wondering if I just might not be able to do business in this town any longer.”
But across the intersection, the picture is decidedly less grim.
Little Bipsy, a children’s clothing and baby supply store at 5th and Main, reports increased business on Walkable Main Street Weekends.
“We were slammed this past weekend,” said sales clerk Krissy Stanton. “We put stuff out on sidewalk racks that had accumulated during the COVID shutdown – winter styles, closeouts, etc. – and I know that really drew people in.”
With a merchandise line that attracts families, Little Bipsy has thrived during market weekends, and the momentum is carrying through to Walkable Main Street. Also helping is the Bipsy business model, which includes a strong online presence to supplement its single brick-and-mortar store in Edmonds. “Many folks from Seattle find us online and then come up here to shop our store,” Stanton added.
Two doors down, the Wooden Spoon is likewise seeing a boost.
“This past weekend was phenomenal,” said co-owner Dolly Null. “Our Sunday business was double the usual level. Up till now we’ve had just one clerk come in on Sunday, but with the uptick we’re increasing that to two. We’re putting some merchandise on the sidewalks, and that seems to help draw people in. Even on the rainy Walkable Weekend we had a steady flow of customers, right up there with a typical Sunday. The street closure thing may take a while to really catch on, but so far it’s been good for us.”
But just across the street, Cline Jewelers owner Andy Cline was less sanguine, and shares Murphy’s opinion that there was not enough business involvement going into the Walkable Edmonds plan.
“I understand how the public might think this is great for business,” he remarked. “But every business is so different; you really can’t generalize.”
Sensing the perception that restaurants are disproportionately benefiting from the street closures at the expense of merchants, Taki Tiki owner Bryan Benn decided to do something about it. He’s offering customers a 10% discount on their restaurant tab if they show a current receipt from a downtown merchant.
“We’re all in this together, and it makes sense to spread the wealth,” said Benn, who began the practice on Father’s Day weekend. “I’ve spoken to other restaurant owners, and several like the idea and tell me they plan to implement it.”
Similar to other restaurants and businesses, Taki Tiki took a big hit during the early months of the COVID shutdown. But Benn reports that things have been picking up steadily, and being able to expand into the street is giving him an additional boost.
“The extra four to five tables really help,” he said. “We’re not running in the black yet, but things are going in the right direction.”
Merchants and businesses, however, are only part of the equation. What will ultimately make or break Walkable Main Street is the people who show up to shop, eat, walk, browse and generally have an Edmonds Kind of Day.
“I think it’s wonderful! The whole town should be closed to traffic,” exclaimed former Rotary president and self-proclaimed street artist Doug Lofstrom as he and wife Carol Kinney settled into a sidewalk table at the Loft Restaurant on a sunny July 18 Saturday. “I hope they make it permanent. What a great thing for our town.”
Edmonds residents Aseem Prakash and partner Nives Dolsak, both University of Washington professors who have lived in other areas of the world where pedestrian downtowns are more common, are also big fans of Walkable Main Street.
“The questions I ask myself in evaluating the success of the project are first, am I motivated to go downtown to shop, have dinner and spend money, and second, do I want to take friends there to show off our city?” said Prakash. “To both, my answer is yes.”
They suggest that in the interest of safety and a quality experience, cars should be eliminated from cross streets and people movers such as golf carts should be brought in to improve accessibility for the mobility impaired.
As a professional social scientist, Dolsak suggested a survey be conducted as soon as possible, followed by the same survey at the end of the season to assess how attitudes change. “This would really help in measuring success,” she added. “And we should not be afraid to try something new. There’s a saying, ‘Don’t waste a good crisis.’ COVID has pushed merchants to where it’s very tight, and this crisis provides a perfect springboard to rethink and try something new.”
Dolsak loves Benn’s idea to offer a discount to customers with a merchant receipt.
“I would rather have dinner at a restaurant that gives the discount,” she said. “It’s not about the money; it’s that I care about my city and I want all businesses to flourish. I want to support those who are working to make Edmonds a better place.”
But arguably no one has been a more enthusiastic booster of the idea than Rick Steves, who has seen numerous European cities embark on similar initiatives during his decades of operating Rick Steves Europe.
“In Europe every time a pedestrian-only zone was proposed, merchants were against it,” he explained. “But then after a season they counted their beans and realized they were making money. And ultimately merchants outside the zone felt left out and wanted in.”
And beyond the economics, Steves touts the value of the less-tangible benefits.
“The value of bringing people together, having the community see each other, hanging out together and having fellowship, connecting, crossing paths – it all helps to weave and enrich the fabric of our community,” he said. “And if it’s good for the fabric of the community, it’s good for shops, restaurants, children – indeed all of us. Our downtown with the fountain, the charming mix of architecture and rich history presents the perfect setting for this. If you want to sell your soul to cars, good. Spend your life looking for a parking spot. But I truly believe that it would be short-sighted of us to design the whole city around someone’s need to park a car.”
For better or worse, Walkable Main Street will be in Edmonds for at least the rest of the summer. Without a doubt, the upcoming weeks will provide more information on how many people show up, more opportunities for businesses to innovate and get creative about how to best take advantage of the new arrangement, and more grist for the public opinion mill.
“The possibility of extending beyond this summer is not even being discussed,” concluded Doherty. “For right now we hope this will be a good experiment. It’s a chance to attract folks downtown, re-engage with merchants, enjoy our community and connect with each other. I’m sure we’ll hear and learn more in the coming weeks.”
— Story and photos by Larry Vogel
How about the restaurants outside the walkable area….. I am pretty sure they are so unhappy because their locations do not get the hype… This is just not fair but support only 5-6 restaurant in entire Edmonds
As cool as it is, we cannot close down the whole city to cars. Let’s just enjoy what we have before moving towards such a major expansion of this program.
Closing off Main St. to automabile traffic in Edmonds is greatly beneficial for both business owners and patrons. My family and I live in Edmonds and would like to see Main St. Closed to cars permanently. Doing so has created easy and safe access to shops for us, especially for our two young children. We frequent the shops more often because walking down the street and visiting our favorite shops has become less stressful, particularly when dealing with distraction drivers who can’t seem to navigate the beautiful round-about. Simply put…we spend more money on Main St. businesses because fewer cars equals safer conditions. We promote the idea of blocking off more of Main St. to accommodate the outlying businesses as well. Simply put, we need fewer cars and more opportunities to walk and ride our bikes to visit our favorite Edmonds shops.
Some kind of low cost, non-polluting small transportation option comes to mind. Bicycle human powered rickshaws, perhaps, to bring folks in from the surrounding parking areas for say $1.00 per ride. The city could buy a tiny fleet of these and contract with local teens or exercise seeking adults to pilot them for the minimal fees to be earned. These machines could haul people or larger purchased items from the non-food oriented business’. Suspect lots of folks would also tip these “pilots” beyond the official fees.
Maybe Mr. Steves could spring for the purchase of these vehicles and work them as another venue out of his downtown business facility. Keeping it non-government would be a plus I think. (Rick is my neighbor and can feel free to stop by and yell at me personally if he doesn’t like this idea. He’s a very good guy and probably won’t do that).
It has had a negative impact on my shop as folks park in front of my store for hours to go to Main Street. Customers have remarked that they skipped shopping because it was “shut down the street day”.
Agree that walkable streets are nice and certainly work in Europe, but during a pandemic? I don’t want to eat outside and with many people walking by, and if not eating, I don’t want to walk by people eating on the sidewalk and not wearing masks to get to a shop. No easy answers. First we get rid of the pandemic, and then we’ll be able to open up sooner? I don’t see the numbers making sense for that yet, with the % of those tested up from June. Especially with people coming in from Seattle to experience getting away. Yikes.
What about people with mobility issues, and with covid issues spiking help a few hurt a lot is that the city’s message.
Hi neighbors. I understand that this is a complicated issue. I’m not advocating for anything personally. My recent editorial simply asked people to “imagine” a piazza and a people-friendly, quiet, and car-free commercial zone which would not be controversial in Europe. I did remind people that once upon a time replacing traffic with cobbles and people-friendly spaces–benches, flower boxes, shops and cafes and restaurants spilling out into the cozy pedestrian-only little boulevards was dicy in Europe too. But now it’s a standard small town design and considered good for business for shops as well as places to eat and drink. Of course they deal with traffic patterns, parking, and weather smartly–and with more tax revenue to invest in the common good than we have. It is hard to judge it when it’s weekends only, summer only, and so temporary that you have saw horses and folding tables rather than nicely designed fixtures. As a community, I remember we discussed this 15 or 20 years ago and I made the case which was rejected. And I raise it again today. Sure I love European lifestyles. But I know America is not Europe. When people ask me what I think (as they often do), I share my opinion. But good people will differ on this and it’s a big issue to act upon without a general consensus. Let’s remember there are no “bad guys” in this discussion. Our mayor and city officials are like the rest of us: we are well-intentioned and all want what’s best for our town.
It is not that surprising to me that retail businesses that get a significant proportion of their revenue from older people would be hurting when a bunch of older folks are excluded from the town center every weekend. Turning our suburban American town center into a “European” plaza without the infrastructure of those European models is a fantasy, and unfortunately one that is hurting a town population that includes many older and disabled people. The ideas of trollies and and rickshaws are meant well, I am sure, but this population can’t easily get into those vehicles. If the town’s new restaurant-centric design is what everyone wants (although I’m not sure it is) then the town should be developing the infrastructure before they exclude a significant portion of the town population. And I remind the city administration that retail businesses were here long before Edmonds became restaurant-centric. I’m not sure the town really should be “catering” (haha) to the restaurants at the expense of retail. With a little more thought and ADVANCE planning you can avoid excluding retail and the senior/disabled population.
As much as I admire and respect Rick Steves a no car zone in the heart of Edmonds is a mistake. Edmonds is not a quaint little city in Italy as some people would like us to believe.
Nor could it become like Santa Monica CA or Boulder CO as others would like us to believe. The pedestrian malls are not the heart of those cities like Main street is to Edmonds.
Traffic on Fifth and Main has never ever been a problem on weekends in the 21 years I’ve lived in Edmonds. Crowded, yes but not a problem. After attending the summer market my partner and I enjoy sitting on the corner with coffee in hand people watching and meeting acquaintances. To me it has the feel of a vibrant healthy town. The comments about how “unsafe” it is are an overstatement or an exaggeration.
Like the closing of Sunset Avenue (that’s also been taken away from us), it’s a selfish idea that only benefits citizens that live within walking distance.
The closings of Main Street and Sunset Avenue are feel good solutions for problems that don’t exist.
Edmonds is becoming a “gated” community.
This is a re-post of exactly the same thing that you wrote on July 09, 2020.
How does it contribute to the conversation by just repeating yourself?
Maybe because it still true. Thanks Bob.
So glad to see the discussion is open now. Keep the comments coming.
Reading this article gives the impression that merchants in Edmonds were asked or involved in a decision-making process of the street closure. That is far from the truth! There was no advance information, nor discussion. The decision was made unilateral by the city and the supporting restaurant owners. No one asked for feedback or input, nor was interested in it. It would have been nice to have a discussion, brainstormed different ideas and have come up with a compromise that benefits merchants, as well as restaurants. Non-essential stores have been hurt more than restaurants during this pandemic, since they did not even have the option of take-out service during shut-down.
I am still hopeful we can come up with a compromise that benefits the stores, as well as restaurants with an open discussion.
While the ‘walkable” area idea superficially sounds (ed) good. Congenial, village type walkable area — the tone of which seems to naturally fit the charm which we all appreciate about Edmonds. But —
In doing the walking myself (with some effort due to my cane/walker — broken back) I have found that the back side of the charm is —
Heavy favor of restaurants in the walking area and discrimination of equally excellent restaurants that have been part of the backbone of the Edmonds economy and life style for years.
Heavy discrimination against merchants who, particularly in light of Edmonds acute parking challenge, find their patrons not only complaining abut actually going to merchants outside the zone where they can park adjacent to or nearby the merchant.
Serious discrimination against handicapped citizens. And, while we are delighted to the lowering age demographics in Edmonds, still, a significant number of our citizens — due to age or disability — faced real ambulatory issues.
As a 60+ year resident, I know that Edmonds was attractive and charming long before the ‘walkable’ idea emerged. Can we please return to the former configuration and provide a level playing field for all restaurants, merchants, and citizens?