Philadelphia, PA
- Sidewalk seating at outside cafés in Center City has increased 383% since the Center City District began surveying in 2001, and the amenity has been adopted by a variety of other retail and non-retail venues throughout the downtown.
Outdoor seating enables businesses to expand their premises, creating places for patrons to eat, interact and enjoy the outdoors. It adds vitality to sidewalks, increases the opportunity for chance encounters and puts additional “eyes on the street.” Food establishments can show off their menus and give pedestrians a visual sampling of the diversity of their offerings.
A new Center City District/Central Philadelphia Development Corporation report, based on CCD original surveys and research, documents the significant growth of sidewalk seating at restaurants, cafés, bakeries, and ice cream parlors and illustrates how this outdoor amenity has expanded to plazas and under-utilized parks, further enlivening Philadelphia’s downtown.
