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The Center City District's annual Outdoor Seating Report indicates there are more places than ever to sit outside in downtown Philadelphia.
"This last year, we counted just under 7,000 seats out across Center City, and that's about a five percent increase from last year," said the district's Paul Levy.
He says nowadays, there are more varied types of seating in Philadelphia than ever before.
"Traditional outdoor seating at restaurants, retail outdoor seating in non-food establishments, office plazas, places where you can your nails done and sit outside, and grocery stores sometimes with outdoor seating," he said.
Levy says 75 percent of the city's outdoor seating is traditional restaurant seating, which is important to the local economy.
"It expands the seating capacity for restaurants and cafes so they can create more jobs," he said. "The fastest growing job category in Philadelphia today is food services and restaurants."
Why is outdoor seating important?
"For us, it's an incredible sign of just the confidence that people have on the safety of our streets," he explained.
And with many people having the capability to work from anywhere these days, Levy says under the right circumstances, an outdoor chair is attractive.
"Digital technology gives us the capability to work every place. People like to be in attractive places. If you can work and be watching your kids playing in the fountain in the same time, maybe your kids feel neglected but your office doesn't."