Shopping and dining area finds another hurdle in pandemic

Things are different on St. Armands Circle this year. The outdoor shopping and dining area in Sarasota with about 130 business spaces has seen the inevitable downturn in traffic during the pandemic.

During the summer, traffic would normally be slower since seasonal residents typically arrive in October and leave around Easter, but usually other visitors make up for that. “This time of the year we have a real strong customer base from Canada and from Europe, especially the U.K. and Germany, and we don’t have that this year,” says St. Armands Circle Association Executive Director Diana Corrigan.