São Paulo – SPTuris, the São Paulo city hall agency for tourism and events released this Tuesday (4th) a survey with regular visitors of Rua 25 de Março (March 25th Street), the popular downtown retail street. According to the agency, retail moves around R$ 120 million (US$ 34.38 million) daily in the region, but this amount can reach R$ 300 million (US$ 85.96 million) around holidays such as Christmas, Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and at the time of the São Paulo’s Gay Parade.
The survey also shows that around 400,000 people visit the region daily, with 76% being from the city of São Paulo, 15% of other cities in the state and 9% coming from other regions of the country. Women from 25 to 39 years of age, with a high school or college diploma, account for 67% of the visitors.
According to SPTuris, the goods most sought for in the region are fashion jewelry (21%), clothing (16%) and party items (15%). The main reasons given for shopping at the street are prices, which was cited for 72% of those surveyed, and product variety, listed by 22%. In all, 1,400 people were interviewed.
The Rua 25 de Março is known also as the Arabs Street, since it was there that a lot of Middle East immigrants established their businesses as from the end of the 19th century. Today, the countries of origin of the region’s retailers are many and varied, but Arabs still have a strong presence.
*Translated by Sérgio Kakitani
