FAQs

The City of St. John's opened the Downtown Pedestrian Mall to allow the business community to expand their space/capacity, thereby stimulating the downtown economy.  The Downtown Pedestrian Mall also allowed people to use public space while adhering to required public health physical distancing guidelines stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Businesses were consulted via survey administered by Downtown St. John's.  This feedback, combined with emergency response requirements from St. John's Regional Fire Department, determined the event footprint.

As outlined above, the purpose of the Mall was very specific and it was pulled together quickly to be operational for the 2020 summer season. As with any new initiative, it’s important to try it out, see what works well and what needs to be modified or changed before implementing anything like this on a permanent basis. Our evaluation process will give us insight which can be used to determine how something like this could and should function in the future.

The City of St. John's is conducting various forms of evaluation of the Downtown Pedestrian Mall.  Feedback from businesses and consumers will determine success.

Evaluation comprises a review of various measures and will include public engagement via the following:

1. Point in Time surveys (completed)
2. Business Questionnaire - for businesses inside and outside the footprint.
3. Public Questionnaire
4. Stakeholder Focus Groups

The future of the Downtown Pedestrian Mall will be evaluated once the public engagement is completed, reviewed and presented to Council.

Input will be used to:

1. Determine if future Downtown Pedestrian Malls should occur
2. Identify areas for improvements of the Downtown Pedestrian Mall
3. Highlight concerns and/or positive experiences of the 2020 Downtown Pedestrian Mall

Businesses in downtown, both inside and outside the event footprint, will receive a link to our survey distributed by Downtown St. John's.

We will also be working with the St. John's Board of Trade and other business organizations to distribute the survey link.

The City of St. John's will also be posting links to the survey on our Social Media accounts.

Additionally, the City will be hosting focus groups for business stakeholders affected by the Downtown Pedestrian Mall.