ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — The pedestrian mall on Water Street in St. John’s is scheduled to close Sept. 7, but some business owners are calling for the city to push back the date when the full length of the downtown street will revert to vehicular traffic.
Peg Norman, who co-owns The Bee’s Knees and The Travel Bug on Water Street with her partner Gerry Rogers, sent a letter to Mayor Danny Breen and St. John’s City Council asking them to extend the date to Jan. 2, 2021. They say an extension will give businesses more opportunity to recover from financial losses that resulted from January’s state of emergency/Snowmageddon and the government-mandated shutdown of business due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In the perfect world… we would have the entire fall with the Water Street promenade continuing and a winter market and celebrate the end of 2020 on Water Street,” said Norman.
“Why not? Why change something now that’s working very well?”
Norman says the pedestrian mall provides businesses the opportunity to regain at least a portion of what was lost.
“In the perfect world… we would have the entire fall with the Water Street promenade continuing and a winter market and celebrate the end of 2020 on Water Street." — Peg Norman
“There’s no bonanza happening on Water Street in terms of money being made,” Norman said. “This has simply given us an opportunity to recoup some of the losses that we’ve suffered over the last eight months.”
The pedestrian mall is not just good for business, Norman says, but also good for the whole community.
“People are coming downtown with their families, they’re walking and they’re rolling, and it’s just been a really positive, feel-good event the entire summer for the entire community,” Norman said. “It feels like a different city.”
Enjoying a coffee at one of the picnic tables after a stroll from Churchill Square to downtown, Jackie Hesson echoed much of what Norman said about the benefits of the pedestrian mall for both business and the community.
“If it’s continuing to bring people to the downtown area, why would you want to close it down?” Hesson said. “I’ve lived here for 50 years and I have never seen as much pedestrian traffic in downtown St. John’s as I have since this pedestrian mall opened.”
And despite the change in weather the fall and winter will bring, Hesson says she can envision people strolling the street and warming up with some hot chocolate.
Catherine Moret is an employee of Saucy Pots Pottery. On Saturday, she was placing pieces of handmade pottery onto a table as part of a pop-up for the Water St. business.
“It’s been great, and you get to talk to everybody on the street and promote your business,” Moret said.
She can think of no reason why businesses wouldn't benefit from keeping the pedestrian mall restricted to walking traffic past Sept. 7.
“Obviously, weather is the only downside, but other than that, I think it would be an awesome opportunity for the city,” Moret said.
Twitter: @AndrewLWaterman
