I recently had a craving for some fish & chips, so I thought, being a strong supporter of local business, I would go over and visit my friend John at British Isles Fish & Chips, however, I found the doors locked and since it was the middle of the day, I could only assume, he was no longer in business.
I had spoken with John several months before, to see if he was going to be part of the annual car show this year, but the discussion soon turned to overhead expenses, and he proceeded to mention to me that his rent was going up again?? and it was a large increase, making it harder for him to survive in this town, and I sensed that he was not going to be long for the business community, and felt sad, since, he had a good steady client base, and it was simply a matter of expenses, rent in particular, that would eventually bury him to the point that he could no longer survive in this business climate.
John’s struggle is part and parcel of a bigger problem in Chestermere, simply that small business here is struggling to survive, I have personally heard this story over and over again in Chestermere,
that the rents are high, and they constantly find it hard to attract labour, two key issues in any business plan, that eventually sinks the business if not solved, and we lose valuable assets in our community.
Anyone who has lived in a small town, will tell you that the business community is the life blood of the town, we are lucky here in the sense that we live next door to a giant, but, the point is not lost, we are not talking about the Costco’s and Safeway’s of the world, we are talking about the small business person. The Chamber of Commerce here I know recognizes this, but their efforts alone won’t stop the bleeding!
Chestermere is one of the fastest growing areas in Canada, and I know that it is difficult for council and the likes to keep a handle on the growth, however, as I have stated many times before, (reference my article of April 25/13) we need more people to come to the table, namely, the Melcor’s and other developers operating here, to sit down and find some solutions to these issues facing our small business community, we need to stop the bleeding, losing good business’s in Chestermere is not good for anyone living here, now and in the future, it certainly does not look good for prospective business that may be looking to come here at some point, before we move to City status, lets find some solutions to these problems before we lose more good business people!
