'I have a pep in my step': Downtown Sydney businesses benefiting from crowds of visitors

The sidewalks were crowded in downtown Sydney on Monday with two cruise ships in town, and mid-September weather that felt more like midsummer.

"It has definitely picked up since the summer,” said Alison Uhma, owner and operator of On Paper Books in Sydney’s downtown core.

For people like Uhma, it’s a far cry from the long months of the recently-completed Charlotte Street construction, when the street was torn up.

"It's exactly what I hoped the fall would look like, and with NSCC open now too there's just this really upbeat feeling downtown,” Uhma said. “I have a pep in my step."

The owner of Louann’s Cafe just across the street from the recently-opened Nova Scotia Community College Sydney Waterfront campus said while her restaurant has been busy enough most days, not everyone has been buying quite like she had hoped.

"It's up and down. You can't predict it,” said Louann MacDonald. "Because they (cruise ship passengers) have so much food on the ship, a lot of people don't want to get off to eat. So they just buy a coffee, and like I said have the WiFi. It's hit and miss."

While Monday was busy, the rest of the fall could get even busier. There are a couple three cruise ship days on the schedule, and a four-ship day on October 2.

"It's good to see, and it's going to pick up even more,” said Eldon MacDonald, councillor for CBRM’s District 5, which includes downtown Sydney.

MacDonald said some of the momentum could be even carried into the typically slow winter months, which will include a couple of cruise ship days of their own.

"We're going to have one ship come in in January, one ship come in in February,” MacDonald said, adding that most visitors will be booking trips to enjoy winter activities in the Cape Breton Highlands. “So we'll look at that, work with those marketers and those companies and see if we can grow that."

"It's been really interesting to see everything turn around, and to have people from all over the world get to see that and enjoy that is really remarkable,” Uhma said.

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