Pedestrian mall opens on Water Street to rainfall and fanfare

A rainy Fridaycouldn't dampenthe spirits of business owners in downtown St. John's, as the Water Street pedestrian mall opened to the public.

The City of St. John's has opened up a lengthy stretch of Water Street for a two-month experiment, to help lure peopleto downtown shops, restaurants and bars, and to help with physical distancing guidelines brought in because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I think it's really going to make a lot of citizens of St. John's curious and get people down here, and I really believe we're going to get a lot of people that don't typically come downtown, just out of curiosity alone," said Lorne Loder, owner of Cojones Tacos and Tequila on Water Street.

Loder opened his own deck seating onWednesday, to what he described as a great response from customers.

"It was Canada Day, and there was a lot of people about. It was ideal," Loder said.

"There were people waiting for a table on the deck, [we] couldn't have had a better turnout and reaction. A lot of positive response people seem to love it."

Themall covers four blocks onWater Street, where traffic will be pedestrian-only between noon and 10 p.m., seven days a week. It stretches from Bishop's Cove and Adelaide Street to Job's Cove and Prescott Street. Affected roads will be closed until Sept. 7, and open for delivery purposes only.

As part of the pedestrian mall, businesses and restaurants are now able to bring their store into the streets with decks and picnic tables set up in the area. Loder said the move will help businesses as it will be easier for walkers in the area to see what is available in the downtown.

"A lot of retailers, they have to get the customerinto their store," he said. "If they put their wareson the street, I think a lot more people will notice them. It's just going to be a different experience across the board," Loder added.

'They need to come down and support it'

St. John's Mayor Danny Breensaid the city has been working quickly to get the pedestrian mall plan ready for Friday's opening,after itwas approved two weeks ago.

"I don't know if it's a record or not, but you know, we're in interesting times," he said.

"It's very challenging for businesses, and there was definitely a need here. The restaurants with the capacity restrictions,they were limited and the reopening was going to be very challenging so this is one of the ways we had of helping."

The area had briefly been a pedestrian mall back in 1969, where Breen said he remembers walking as a boy. He said if the city were to continue with the mall idea, the city would need to see how this summer works out and do other kinds of analysis.

"The public have asked for this for a number of years," he said. "And now they need to come down and support it."

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