Darryl Freeman has worked in a downtown Minneapolis parking ramp near Target headquarters for the last eight months. This week, for the first time, he watched as the four-story ramp at 9th and LaSalle headed toward capacity.

“It’s a pretty nice crowd today,” Freeman said on Tuesday. Most days the ramp is more like half full, he said. The attendant at another ramp nearby said it was the busiest it’s been in years.

Target employees are back in town.

Once the main feeder of the downtown workforce, the retail giant’s employees have largely worked from home since the onset of the pandemic in 2020. In December, Target announced that it had asked employees to spend at least one week per quarter working out of one of its three downtown office buildings.

The skyways that pass by Target’s downtown store bustled on Tuesday with business casual-attired people, many sporting the easily spotted white security badge with the red logo that marks the company’s employees. Some were seeing each other for the first time since they were hired.

Target’s voluntary return-to-office week comes amid mounting pressure from downtown boosters and Mayor Jacob Frey for businesses to bring workers back and toss a lifeline to the eateries and other establishments that once relied on their patronage.

As they wound through the skyway, a pair of Target employees chatted about a quirk in the company payroll software. Another small group gathered at Qdoba for a meal. Several rushed through the throng to make an afternoon meeting.

Data scientist Mikey Lara said he typically meets with his team about once a week at the company’s northern campus in Brooklyn Park. But he’s seldom seen this many fellow Target employees together in one place.

“I know, it’s crazy,” Lara said as he passed through a security turnstile and disappeared into an elevator.

Derek Figueroa said he met some fellow team members for the first time, and that it’s been nice to spend time in person with colleagues. But he still prefers working from home, he said.

“I like it, but I do prefer to stay home because it’s more cost-effective, and efficient for me, in terms of time,” said Figueroa, who is 25 and lives in Uptown.

Figueroa stressed that the in-office week was not a company mandate. Most Target employees approached by Star Tribune reporters on Tuesday declined to speak on the record about the company’s policies.

Lines for some downtown lunch spots snaked out into the skyways. Still, some service business workers that cater to the downtown crowd said it still didn’t really feel like pre-pandemic times.

“It hasn’t been more people,” said Cuong Le, who works at Elegant Nails & Spa in the skyway. Nearby, his coworker polished the nails of the the store’s lone customer.

Most of the salon’s customers live downtown, Le said. The shop once served a number of Target employees, he added. But that was before the pandemic.

The influx of corporate workers came too late for the Coconut Whisk Café and Bubble Tea Shop on Nicollet Mall. The shop is closing at the end of the month, as the owners plan to shift toward selling pancake and cookie mixtures. Co-owner Myles Olson said more Target workers back downtown might have been positive, but time ran out.

“I wish I would have been able to see what the impact would be,” Olson said.

Across the street from the downtown Target store, the 801 Fish restaurant had a modest-sized crowd around lunchtime. Chad Waldon, the regional service director for 801 Restaurants, said he hopes Target’s new policy is just an opening volley in a move toward more in-person work.

“We want to see it return to weekly, to see these guys downtown, to show them a good time, and give them a good reason to not go home right after work,” Waldon said.

As of now, Target leaders have so far only committed to asking employees to work in-office four times a year.

Michael Roper, who was holding a cardboard sign asking for money on the sidewalk, said he noticed “a lot” more people on Monday walking past him. He made over $9 in 15 minutes.

Sueweda Bashir, a freshman at the University of St. Thomas’ downtown campus, regularly visits the downtown Target store for an energy drink before her afternoon classes. She usually breezes through the store’s self-checkout. But on Tuesday, she encountered the longest lines she’s seen since the start of the fall semester.

“It has never been this busy,” Bashir said.

Her friend Abdiwali Yusef, who goes by A&W, raised an eyebrow as he scanned the bustling crowd about a 100 feet from the downtown Target store’s downtown entrance. He hadn’t noticed the red-and-white employee badges until a reporter pointed them out.

“There was no parking today,” Yusef said. “I’m just starting to put two and two together.”