The holiday shopping season is about to kick off, which means crowds of shoppers hitting the Magnificent Mile as Chicago's top shopping destination is recovering from the pandemic, high vacancy rates, safety concerns, and changing consumer trends.

The National Retail Federation said it expects record numbers of shoppers to kick off the holiday shopping season this year. Experts and officials said that's a critical part of the Mag Mile comeback story.

Maria Belokurova, owner of Raw Edge inside The Shops at North Bridge on Michigan Avenue, said foot traffic is up along the Mag Mile, helping not just major stores like Nordstrom just down the hall, but smaller ones like hers.

"Every year, we see more and more [customers] come back," she said. "We are extremely excited to do the holiday season here."

Magnificent Mile Association president Kimberly Bares said holiday shoppers this season will see a Mag Mile continuing its recovery from the pandemic, when stores left and pedestrian traffic decreased.

"All of the markers are going in the right direction. Our occupancy is up, our vacancy obviously is down," she said.

Bares said in-person shopping is resurging.

"The reason retail still remains something that's very special and something that's resilient is because of that experience," she said.

Keely Polczynski, senior managing director of retail capital markets for commercial real estate firm Newmark, said the Mag Mile is headed in the right direction.

"Retail vacancy peaked in 2023 around 34 percent. Today, it's down to around 22 percent," she said. "Retail vacancy on Michigan Avenue is projected to be in the mid teens by 2027, 2028, and then below 10 percent by 2030."

Polczynski said Michigan Avenue suffered from large multi-story retail spaces that didn't fit most tenants before the pandemic, but that narrative has shifted.

"You've seen brands like Aritzia, Mango, Uniqlo, H&M really embrace those spaces and invest heavily in flagships along the avenue," she said.

Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), whose ward includes most of the Magnificent Mile, said "We need to show that Michigan Avenue is back.

Hopkins said a lot of work has been done to attract more people to the area, including improved public safety.

"We have a retail theft task force, and we have a very aggressive state's attorney that's prosecuting criminals a rate that we didn't do for the past decade," he said.

Chicago police data showed a 3% drop overall in crime from last year in the area. Hopkins said those efforts contribute to strengthening the mag mile.

"It's important. This is really the economic engine for the entire city of Chicago," he said.