Since the coronavirus pandemic changed the way we work – and where we work – almost 60,000 fewer people walk through Brisbane’s Queen Street Mall on average each day.Foot traffic in Queen Street Mall has not returned to pre-pandemic levels, falling nearly 20 per cent.The trend is playing out across the CBD, as working from home changes the rhythm of the River City.In December 2019, the last festive shopping period before COVID, 317,811 people on average walked through the mall each day, compared with 255,928 post-pandemic in December 2025.Pedestrian movements through Queen Street Mall are recorded by six council sensors positioned in key areas, including the Albert, Edward and George street entrances, as well as Burnett Lane and the stage area near the long-standing Oasis Juice stand.The sensors record movements, rather than individual pedestrians, so a person who walks over the same sensor five times is counted multiple times.Analysis of the foot traffic data debunks the myth that Brisbane, which did not endure extended COVID lockdowns like Sydney and Melbourne, emerged unscathed from the pandemic.The virus changed Brisbane permanently, particularly the CBD.Working from home – or hybrid working – is the biggest contributor to plummeting pedestrian numbers in the city, says Gary Mortimer, a professor of consumer behaviour and retail marketing at QUT.The Queen Street Mall has also been beset by the loss of Myer in July 2023, which created a five-level retail hole in the heart of the city.The old entrance to Myer from Queen Street Mall is still permanently closed, and the windows covered in hoarding.Marissa CalligerosAlso in 2023, two Queen Street Mall venues – the Pig ‘N’ Whistle and Milano – were demolished as part of a Brisbane City Council plan to improve connectivity between the CBD and South Bank.The Wintergarden has closed and parts of the building, including its distinctive butterfly exterior, will soon be demolished to make way for a new office tower, as well as the redevelopment of the former Hilton Hotel, now branded as Intercontinental Brisbane.Despite the introduction of Brisbane City Markets every Wednesday in Reddacliff Place, the top end of the mall, near George Street, has been notoriously subdued and marred by vacant shopfronts.A vacant shopfront at the upper end of Queen Street Mall, near George Street.Marissa CalligerosRetail vacancy rates in Brisbane’s CBD remain the second-highest in the country, behind Perth. According to commercial real estate agency CBRE, 17.5 per cent of shops in Brisbane’s CBD were empty in February.Mortimer says that figure reflects broader retail trends, as fewer people choose to shop in the city over the likes of suburban Westfields in Carindale, Mount Gravatt and Chermside.Darlia Argyris, 36, who works in the energy industry, is rarely in her CBD office more than three days a week.“I love it,” she says of hybrid working. “I can’t see myself going back [to the office] full-time.“I am now able to use my before and after work time and even lunch breaks to head to appointments without having to take leave, or leave work early, prepare dinner, catch up on housework and exercise. “At times there are more distractions in the office, especially when all of us are hybrid [workers] and on different schedules … so you may not have seen a particular co-worker for a number of weeks, so at times my office days can become very social.” A busier section of Queen Street Mall, near the intersection with Albert Street, on a Wednesday afternoon.Marissa CalligerosAccording to figures from CBRE, however, Brisbane’s CBD is flush with office workers compared with Sydney and Melbourne.“The Brisbane office market has actually been one of the better performers in the Asia-Pacific region since the pandemic,” CBRE head of office research Tom Broderick says.“Office vacancy in the CBD peaked at 15.4 per cent in late 2021 and is likely to be under 10 per cent by the end of 2026.“Our estimate is office attendance in Brisbane is at 92 per cent of pre-COVID levels compared to the national average of 81 per cent.”But traders in the mall and its adjoining arcades are experiencing the drop in pedestrian traffic firsthand, and have been forced to accept consumer behaviour has changed radically.Fridays are typically the busiest day in Queen Street Mall by a small margin, followed by Tuesdays and Wednesdays, according to the council’s data.On weekdays, foot traffic unsurprisingly peaks around lunchtime as office workers venture outside for food.Michael Makras, owner of Italian cafe Marchetti, is not sure Brisbane will ever return to being a “five-day-a-week city” and feels the CBD is yet to find its new rhythm.“Friday used to be the biggest day for us, undoubtedly. But post-COVID, there is no pattern. Sometimes Monday is the biggest day, sometimes Tuesday. It’s very unpredictable,” he says.“We’re just ready for any day now, which makes staffing a bit more challenging.”Michael Makras, owner of Marchetti cafe in Tattersall’s Arcade and Makras Optical on James Street.An optometrist by trade, Makras is in a unique position to observe changes in trends across the city, having owned businesses in the CBD and on James Street in New Farm.The highly curated James Street precinct has seized upon changing consumer preferences for local, unique shopping experiences.“Having a business in the city and having a business in the James Street precinct, I’ve noticed the shift,” Makras says. “The business in James Street was growing faster than the one in the city.”His cafe is arguably at the “right” end of Queen Street Mall, near Edward Street, an area dominated by luxury retailers and dubbed by some as the “Paris end” of the city.Marchetti cafe, located in Tattersall’s Arcade off Queen Street Mall.It is located in the 100-year-old Tattersall’s Arcade, which features marble floors and intricate plaster horse friezes by prominent sculptor Daphne Mayo above the shop doors.“It feels like you’re coming into this romantic little hidden spot,” he says.Similarly, The Pen Shoppe owner and handwriting expert Barbara Nichol says her bespoke offering in the historic setting of the Brisbane Arcade is key to the survival and growth of her business.Nichol has watched the Queen Street Mall grow, shrink and change over nearly five consecutive decades in business.Barbara Nichol first opened The Pen Shoppe in Brisbane’s CBD 47 years ago. She has become a stalwart of the historic Brisbane Arcade.