The downtown Pedestrian Mall is making a return this summer following much fanfare from last year’s trial run, but the businesses that did not reap the rewards of the situation are calling foul on this year’s plans.

Chris O’Dea owns a real estate brokerage in the St. John’s area, and his daughter Meghan owns Pi Gourmet at the corner of Kings Road and Duckworth Street. O’Dea claims that last year’s pedestrian mall resulted in a 35 per cent loss in revenue during peak season. However, when the mall ended, business bounced back to where it had been previously.

Now that the city has increased funding for the mall and is planning to expand it to select sections of Duckworth Street, O’Dea worries the situation will only worsen because businesses cannot sustain such a dramatic loss in revenue during peak season, which he argues will force some people to close up shop.