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 worked while the four-story ramp at 9th Street and LaSalle Avenue headed toward capacity.

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

The 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 Tuesday with people in business-casual attire, many sporting the 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.

Company spokesman Brian Harper-Tibaldo said thousands of the company's employees regularly work in its downtown offices already but that the quarterly "core weeks" provide additional time and space for them to connect and collaborate.

"It's one component of our hybrid work model that balances in-person and virtual work, providing the team with flexibility in how they collaborate," Harper-Tibaldo said in a statement.

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 Michael Lara said he typically meets with his team about once a week at the company's northern campus in Brooklyn Park. He's seldom seen this many fellow Target workers 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 it was nice to spend some time in person with colleagues, including some team members he met for the first time. But he 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 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 who 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 in the skyway. Nearby, his coworker polished the nails of 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 & Bubble Tea Shop on Nicollet Mall. The shop is closing at the end of the month, and 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 restaurant 801 Fish had a modest crowd at lunchtime. Chad Waldon, regional service director for 801 Restaurant Group, said he hopes Target's new policy is just the start of 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.

So far, Target leaders have 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.

Suweyda 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. 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 entrance. He hadn't noticed the red-and-white employee badges until they were pointed out to him.

"There was no parking today," Yusef said. "I'm just starting to put two and two together."