Downtown Raleigh sees most visitors in a single month since pre-pandemic

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Downtown Raleigh is thriving in a way it hasn’t in years, according to new numbers from the Downtown Raleigh Alliance.

DRA said more people came to the downtown in June than any other month since before the pandemic. That includes anyone from out-of-towners to people just grabbing a cup of coffee.

Anna Grace FitzGerald, who owns Copperline Plant Company on Hargett Street, says she was happy to hear about the area’s great month.

“It feels great,” FitzGerald said. “We always wanted to be operating downtown and being within downtown Raleigh. A month like June has been proof in the pudding of being located in the right spot. We’re seeing tons of folks coming into the shop, which is really fun.”

What made June so popular? Element Gastropub server Lee Reinstein thinks it was all the festivals. The International Food Festival kicked off the month, the Food Truck Rodeo closed it out, and there were events like Raleigh Pride in between.

“Any time that there’s something kind of going on, they have a lot of festivals and stuff right in the square right here, and days like that are slammed,” Reinstein said.

For FitzGerald, festivals don’t always translate to dollars.

“To me, being here and having that foot traffic means that’s more people getting to explore and understand what we’re doing and just recognize that we’re here,” she said. “We think of it as a good thing for sure.”

There was a lot of foot traffic. DRA said more than 1.8 million people came to downtown last month, that’s 8.8% more than last June.

“It’s really exciting,” FitzGerald said. “I think there’s a lot of positive momentum.”

DRA said the two Downtown districts that saw the biggest visitor increase last quarter were Glenwood South and Fayetteville Street.

This weekend’s shaping up to be another big one for the area, with tens of thousands of people downtown for GalaxyCon.

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