DTC seeks input from residents about Downtown retail

Downtown Kansas City residents! Do you have thoughts and opinions about Downtown retail and amenities? Then we want to hear from you!

As part of our retail recruitment initiative the Downtown Council has created a Downtown Retail Survey. We want to hear from our residential community about the types of retailers and amenities they would like to see in our neighborhood. Their responses will help direct our recruitment efforts.

Access the survey here – http://bit.ly/44jlJrN

Since 2000, more than 80 new retailers, restaurants, and service-oriented businesses have opened in Downtown Kansas City. A diverse tapestry of customers – office workers, residents, and a number of tourists and convention attendees animate our sidewalk from the early morning well into the evening hours.

While hybrid work may persist and limit recurring purchases of office workers, Downtown Kansas City’s growing residential population and returning visitors have generated significant demand. As of July 2023, Downtown Kansas City has restored more than 100% of the unique visitors (4.7 million to 4.1 million) year-to-date (January 1st – July 14th) of 2019. In addition, Downtown has recovered 92% of the number of visits (the visit frequency of unique visitors) from 2019 with 36.3 million visits as of July 14th, 2023 according to Placer.ai data.

Despite the end-of-the-world stories about city living written in the bleakest months of 2020 and 2021, Downtown Kansas City’s residential population increased 13% (3,824 residents) since 2020, as more people are continuing to choose an urban, mixed-use district to call home. Downtown residential development continues with 1,247 units currently under construction and more than 6,100 planned to start over the next few years.

Downtown endures as the fastest-growing residential neighborhood of both Kansas City and the entire region, as the population has increased 60% since 2019 to more than 32,000 residents – blend that with returning employees and visitor numbers reaching 2019 volumes and you have a robust market for national and local retailers.