'It used to be that you had to reduce the friction for people to come down and shop and enjoy downtown, because they had to come to work, but they didn't have to decide to come to the theater.
Remote and hybrid work, part home and part office, are both challenging what the city's center was built on, but Edwards said The Loop is up for the challenge. 'We – like cities across the country, and around the world, frankly – have had trouble getting people back into their offices.' 'The Loop has long been driven by office workers,' said Michael Edwards, President of the Chicago Loop Alliance. Whether you see the change in the Loop as office buildings half-full or half-empty, slashed office occupancy continues to impact The Loop. RELATED: Downtown Rebound: Pandemic business recovery in Los Angeles
'But it's definitely not the same, but that's not to say it's not going to get back to where it was,' Jackson said, hopeful to see crowds pick back up. So they're opening later and closing earlier now in The Loop. 'A lot of places around here, they close up early, or they're not open on certain days – like Mondays – and the closing early has affected us, because we are the dessert spot,' Jackson said.
