Final touches being applied to Aspen s new City Hall aspentimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aspentimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Financial and industry data for the first quarter of 2020 aren’t exactly a portrayal of a thriving local retail economy, but they also show that a recovery is in motion.
A report issued Monday by the city of Aspen’s finance department was a mixed bag. It showed the hardest hit retail sectors January-through-March were restaurants and accommodations, with their respective sales totals respectively down 27.1% and 27% from the same three months in 2020. On the brighter side, of the 12 other industries tracked by city, 10 saw sales increases in this year’s first quarter over January through March 2020, the report showed.
“While sales are pacing even with quarter 1 of 2020 in total, the city’s two largest industries accommodations and restaurants continue to lag behind, each down about 27% to date, and are being offset by the recoveries experienced in other industries,” wrote Anthony Lewin, who is the city of Aspen’s senior financial tax auditor, in the report.
Mountain towns have always been a place to which one can escape the noise, pollution and daily grind of the concrete jungle, and conversely have been magnets that attract folks with peace and quiet, clean.
People walk by the now officially closed Tatanka on restaurant row in downtown Aspen on Friday, April 30, 2021. (Kelsey Brunner/The Aspen Times)
It appears that the effects of the pandemic have only made Aspen’s commercial real estate scene even more desirable than it has been in recent years.
Downtown Aspen has one retail space available for summer occupancy, according to Angi Wang, a broker at Setterfield & Bright.
She and fellow broker Karen Setterfield said they haven’t seen this kind of demand ever.
“It’s stronger than it’s ever been, and I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Setterfield said. “Everyone wants Aspen. … We are out of spaces, and we have unlimited demand for retail spaces.”
The Political Orientation of a Destination is Shaping What Visitors See and Who Might Visit aspentimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from aspentimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.