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Wellington CBD
- Kevin Dee
- Nov 20, 2024
- 2 min read
What influence has people working from home had on the city's pedestrian counts?
Annual pedestrian counts were common 15-20 years ago. They highlighted trends and were helpful to landlords negotiating rent reviews with retail tenants, as well as to retailers looking to relocate or open a store in the CBD.
With all the talk of the impact that working from home has had on city retail, particularly cafes and hospitality, we decided to survey the spots on the city's golden mile that previously recorded the highest counts.
The group that used to undertake the surveys stopped doing them in 2013. From their last survey, we picked the two busiest spots on Lambton Quay and Willis Street and the busiest spot on Cuba Street. Below are the results. The counts are the estimated typical mid-week hour.
(Note: our count was taken this month on a fine Tuesday, similar to the timing of the earlier counts. None of the counts were influenced by factors such as roadworks, neighbouring construction sites, or special events like protest marches.)
Location | Building/Shop | 2024 | 2013 | 2012 | 2007 |
Lambton Quay | No. 208-218 (Farmers) | 2,255 | 2,265 | 2,591 | 2,756 |
No. 280-290 (Flight Centre, entrance to Cable Car Lane) | 2,348 | 2,216 | 2,558 | 2,748 | |
Willis Street | No. 8 (Macpac) | 1,779 | 1,917 | 1,888 | 1,890 |
No. 68 (New World) | 1,825 | 1,564 | 1,335 | 1,094 | |
Cuba Mall | No. 63 (Spark) | 1,252 | 1,633 | 1,307 | 1,512 |
Well, well, well? I would never have expected the numbers to be so similar. Am I missing something?
It got me thinking: why has there been no real change? Other than the city not attracting the same number of shoppers it once did, the answer may be that the CBD has spread its wings. We only have to look at where the city's new office developments are located:
PWC Centre, BNZ Place, Bell Gully Building and Deloitte Centre are all along the waterfront on Customhouse Quay.
Precinct’s $500 million Bowen Campus development has not only brought government agencies closer to Parliament, but has also attracted companies like KPMG.
Was it a pointless exercise? I would like to hear your thoughts and comments.
Why are cafes in the city struggling? New developments often include cafes on the ground floor. We have also seen owners of CBD office towers, Robt. Jones Holdings and Prime Properties, convert underutilised ground-floor space into cafes and food tenancies, particularly along Featherston Street and the northern end of Lambton Quay.
The answer may simply be that there are too many cafes and food places. Another factor is the road closures and major works disrupting traffic and pedestrian flow, especially around the Civic Centre area.
Do these pedestrian count trends surprise you? Join the discussion—what factors do you think are shaping the future of the CBD?
Stunning idea to repeat the old Valuers ped count and really interesting results particularly the Lambton Quay ones given the popularity of WFH practices, particularly public sector workers who dominate the bottom of the Quay. I expected the Quay would show a 20% drop. Willis St New World count increase shows the popularity of buying lunch from there rather than cafes and lunch-bars. It's difficult to buy lunch outside of a supermarket for less than $15 and I am guilty of using supermarkets more often than small lunch providers.
Great research Kev, well done.