The pandemic brought downtown Iowa City to a virtual standstill for 13 months, its storefronts full but its sidewalks empty.
In early March 2020, an estimated 155,000 people were walking downtown streets weekly. A month later, that foot traffic plummeted to fewer than 10,000 visitors as the COVID-19 pandemic forced restaurants to close and kept potential shoppers in their homes.
Most local businesses were able to find aid, adjust and persist. But, of the 31 area businesses the Press-Citizen recorded closing in 2020, roughly half were located in or around downtown Iowa City. Places like Peninsables Grocery, The Mill and La James International College have left behind barren storefronts.
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