Data shows downtown Portland business is making a comeback. But what do the business owners think?

Published 5:00 am Monday, December 16, 2024

Alshiref Eskander moved to Portland in 2007. He went to school, settled into city life with his family and fell in love with the community and culture.

Years later, in 2014, he started a business, and a handful of years after that, he opened a storefront, Amity Artisan Goods on Southwest Morrison Street, just as the pandemic went full swing.

Still climbing out of the pit the pandemic put many in, Eskander has finally found time to rejoice in 2024.

“We had some obstacles in the last four years, but I’m seeing the bright side,” Eskander said.

A number of data points shared by the Portland Metro Chamber claim that, after years of recovery, things are looking up for downtown.

“I really believe that Portland is not going to let itself go,” Eskander said.

Kristin Van Buskirk, owner of Woonwinkel on Southwest Washington Street, said she, too, has seen a new life being brought back to the city.

“It’s not like some big surge happened overnight. It’s just been slow and steady,” she said of the past few years.

Finding solace in stats

Since the onset of the pandemic, Downtown Portland Clean & Safe has been keeping tabs on the impact to the local community using its Downtown Vibrancy Tracker.

This data tracks foot traffic, vacancy rates of buildings, hotel performance and more in its service district.

Visitor counts are tracked within its district on a monthly basis using Placer.ai, which is geofenced around the 213-blocks area that makes up the Downtown Portland Clean & Safe Enhanced Service District.

This map shows the district boundaries:

The two data points collected — called “Foot Traffic” — distinguish employees versus visitors to the region, showing who is coming to work and who is coming to shop.

Pre-pandemic, data shows total foot traffic values between 3.1 million and 3.8 million, including both workers and visitors in 2019.

Eskander said during that time he was making about triple what he does now. It was the reason why he pursued opening a storefront in the first place. By now, he planned to have multiple locations opened based on his pre-pandemic profits.

“I feel sorry, but you know, challenges come and you work it,” Eskander said.

In 2020, total foot traffic plummeted from about 3.4 million in February to about 732,000 in April. Slowly climbing each year, it grew to a total of 2.4 million in October 2024, which is the highest value seen since April 2020.

Van Buskirk said it felt like tourists and out-of-towners were the first to return, while local folks in surrounding cities are slowly trickling in.

Workers in April 2020 were at 270,000, and have steadily increased to the highest value since at 614,500 as of October 2024.

As for visitors, it fluctuated in 2024 from about 1.1 million to 1.6 million, a major increase from 334,000 in April 2020. The data shows highest peak of visitors between 2020-24 was 1.7 million in June 2022.

Eskander said every day he hears folks coming to downtown from other states, or even from just across the river, saying how impressed and taken aback they are at the city’s comeback.

Crime

Not only did the world face a global pandemic, but other factors have persisted to make owning a business difficult. The city of Roses has its thorns, which for business owners, looks like crime.

Van Buskirk said, “Every pocket of Portland, or downtown, can be different, but my area has improved hugely in the last year and a half.”

Data from the Portland Police Bureau, called the Monthly Neighborhood Offense Statistics, shows crime rates have dropped in downtown since 2019 after peaking in 2022, with its most recent data being October 2024.

Just before the pandemic spread in large, downtown saw 342 monthly offense counts for the month of October 2019.

In October 2020, the monthly offense count was at 400, which crept up to 431 in October 2021, eventually hitting a high at 529 offenses in October 2022.

Eskander faced a large amount of homelessness and crime impacting his business in the past two years, on top of recovering from financial deficits due to the pandemic.

“Even though I can go anywhere in downtown and I see that so many people are walking by the Pioneer Square … or all the streets around us, our block was really vacant because it was taken by homeless and drug users,” Eskander said.

At one point, he remembers his children not being able to visit him at work because of the fear of stepping on someone or coming across drug paraphernalia on the sidewalks.

“From my view, from my shop here, I’m definitely seeing less and less,” Eskander said of the crime. “It’s day and night.”

Since 2022, the offense count has dropped to 457 in October 2023, with the most recent data showing a monthly offense count of 406 in October 2024 — only six more than in October 2020.

So, what comes next?

The ball is rolling in the direction of a resurgence of downtown and its lively, fun, vibrant culture. Those that lived in the region pre-pandemic know what that was like.

“The reasons that I love living here are coming true yet again coming out of the pandemic,” Van Buskirk said.

But the question left for residents, business owners, visitors, workers and more is, what comes next?

For some business owners, like Eskander, there’s a belief that “we have to be part of the solution.” Rather than continuing to complain or point fingers, energy should be spend working to rebuild the city.

Eskander said he’s felt supported by his community, both those living and working here, and those in positions of power. In the past year, he said the city has stepped up, and he is glad to see bicycle police riding by, graffiti being cleaned up and more.

“There was a collaboration going on between business and the city,” Eskander said of a number of meeting held to talk about business owners’ needs.

It’s a sentiment Van Buskirk shares, and she said she is never ceased to be amazed at how collaborative the city’s small business community is.

“We truly are stronger together,” she said.

When walking around the city, even after 13 years of having a business here, Van Buskirk sees new retailers, restaurants and more all over the place. New growth is becoming the norm again.

With a foundation placed that is moving toward success in revitalizing downtown Portland, some business owners are feeling hopeful for the return of what the city once was.

“I really hope things get back to what they used to be. I feel like it’s already happening,” Eskander said. “I want to take it easy and enjoy our time in the world together. And that’s not just in Portland, I hope that happens all around, too.”