N.S. news: Downtown Sydney businesses benefiting from visitors [Video]

The sidewalks were crowded in downtown Sydney on Monday with two cruise ships in town, and mid-September weather that felt more like midsummer.

“It has definitely picked up since the summer,” said Alison Uhma, owner and operator of On Paper Books in Sydney’s downtown core.

For people like Uhma, it’s a far cry from the long months of the recently-completed Charlotte Street construction, when the street was torn up.

“It’s exactly what I hoped the fall would look like, and with NSCC open now too there’s just this really upbeat feeling downtown,” Uhma said. “I have a pep in my step.”

The owner of Louann’s Cafe just across the street from the recently-opened Nova Scotia Community College Sydney Waterfront campus said while her restaurant has been busy enough most days, not everyone has been buying quite like she had hoped.

“It’s up and down. You can’t predict it,” said Louann MacDonald. “Because they (cruise ship passengers) have so much food …