Despite a soggy weekend, Alexandria’s King Street Pedestrian Plaza pilot program was a success, said retail shop and restaurant owners Sunday.
“The weather didn’t cooperate, but the response of people was overwhelming,” said Franco Landini, owner of Landini Brothers restaurant at 115 King St.
Right before the Fourth of July “is a notoriously slow business time, but if [Saturday] is any indication that people liked [the program], the street was packed with kids and families, people just strolling around,” Landini said.
The City Council approved a four-weekend trial earlier this month that would close the 100 block of King Street to cars and open the street to pedestrians — a measure the city hopes will boost business for the roughly 20 retail shops and restaurants along the street. Friday kicked off the trial period and the street will be closed from 3 p.m. Friday through Sunday evening for the next three weekends.
The city has been toying with the idea of closing the street for years, but worries about parking and the impact on neighbors put the project on hold more than once.
The proposal finally came together because the business community got behind it, said Jo Anne Mitchell, president of the Alexandria Convention & Visitors Association.
“It’s only been within the last year or so that there’s been a consensus among business owners that they’d like to try it,” she said. “They’re always looking over their shoulder and saying, ‘what can we do to make it better?’ ”
In addition to closing the street, the city scheduled street performers, such as a cellist and a storyteller, to attract people.
Landini estimated his restaurant took in 10 percent to 15 percent more in revenue Saturday than it did the same Saturday last year as a result of the increased foot traffic.
“If you have a thousand cars zooming in front of your door, it’s unlikely somebody will stop in,” he said. “But if you have a thousand people walking by it’s more likely someone will stop in.”
However, the city needs to do more to make the pedestrian plaza a true success, said Jeff Albert, owner of Decorium at 116 King St. Albert’s store also did about 15 percent more in revenue Saturday, but he didn’t attribute that all to more pedestrians.
“It was interesting to watch because people were still walking down the sidewalk. No one was actually walking down the street,” he said.
“The city is certainly going in the right direction, but if the whole point is to get them to walk in the street, how do you do that? I think you have to create more excitement down here.”
