BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KERO) — Data from the University of Toronto shows that there are more people coming to Downtown Bakersfield post-pandemic than there were pre-pandemic, giving the city one of the highest downtown recovery rates in the nation. Bakersfield has consistently rated this way year on year, but more people being in the area doesn't necessarily translate into increased prosperity for downtown businesses.
"Us as a store is doing okay post-pandemic. I think downtown as a whole, no," said Ronald Ramirez, who owns Going Underground Records in Bakersfield. "There are lots of boarded-up buildings. There's lots of homeless. Third, lots of businesses that did not make it out of the pandemic."
According to the data, there has been an 18 percent increase in the amount of people that have come downtown in the past 3 months as compared to the same period of time in 2019. This runs counter to many major cities, like Los Angeles and San Francisco, which are still well below pre-pandemic visitation rates.
But Ramirez says he doesn't see more people bringing more business into his store.
"Customers, they come to our store, they feel good, they go home. I don't think that there's a lot of walking to different places. They just come and leave," said Ramirez.
Since 2020 when the University of Toronto began tracking this data comparing 66 cities in North America, Bakersfield has always ranked as having one of the highest recovery rates. Karen Chapel, one of the researchers who helped collect the data, says that small and midsize cities have consistently ranked higher in recovery.
"It's the fact that a lot of these cities, number 1, don't have a tech economy, and those were the ones that went home to work and haven't really come back," said Chapel.
According to Chapel, downtowns with high recovery rates are those with jobs in specific sectors.
"Governments, education, health care, manufacturing, maybe some logistics and transportation, so kind of bread-and-butter kind of economic sectors," said Chapel. "They're always in demand and they have workers that need to be on-site 5 days a week."
The term "recovery" might be misleading. There are more people coming downtown, but maybe not for shopping or recreation. Many are coming just because their job is here. As for the current state of downtown, Ramirez believes there is still much left to be desired.
"So let's say you are shopping at our store, you are not really safe to walk too far. You have to get into your car and drive," said Ramirez.
Another reason Downtown Bakersfield has more people visiting it may be the central location and the ample amount of parking found around the area.
