Amazon Return-to-Office Boosts Sidewalk Traffic in Seattle

An order by Amazon for workers to report to their desks five days a week has flooded downtown Seattle sidewalks with people.

Worker foot traffic rose 22 percent during business days in January, from December, after Amazon told its employees to return to their offices in Denny Regrade and South Lake Union, the Puget Sound Business Journal reported.

The foot traffic was 36 percent higher than in January of last year, according to a report by the Downtown Seattle Association, the first publicly available update of the impact.

January was the first month Amazon ordered its employees to report to the office five days a week.

The two neighborhoods had a weekday daily average of nearly 46,000 workers, which was still 26 percent fewer than in January 2019, according to Placer.ai, which collects geolocation data from mobile devices.

Across all downtown neighborhoods, average weekday worker foot traffic in January had a 9 percent bump from a year earlier, but was just 57 percent of January 2019’s average.

For Jon Scholes, CEO of the Downtown Seattle Association, the Amazon impact was clearly visible.

“Coffee shops are full, lunch spots are buzzing and there’s more activity in the area,” he said in a statement.

Downtown continues to “feel safer” as Seattle carries out a plan launched last fall by Mayor Bruce Harrell that includes “restoration actions” such as sidewalk cleanings and adding more cops as well as art, activities and live music, according to the Business Journal.

At the same time, stretches of Third Avenue in Belltown and Pioneer Square around the King County Courthouse remain “uninviting,” especially in the evening, according to the paper.

Across Downtown, unique visitors were up 14 percent last month from a year ago, while hotel visits rose 5 percent, and apartment occupancy ticked up 4 percent, according to the Downtown association.

— Dana Bartholomew