The Decline of the Five-Day Commute Is a Boon to Suburban Retail

A growing number of retailers in city office districts are relocating their businesses to the suburbs, where visits to shopping centers are on the rise as fewer people commute to downtown workplaces. 

With average office usage rates still only around half of where they stood before the pandemic in many major cities, many bars, restaurants and other retailers that cater to the five-day-a-week office crowd have been reeling. 

Pedestrian foot traffic in U.S. urban downtowns was down about 25% in April compared with the same month in 2019, according to real-estate software provider MRI...