Taking Stock: North Coast Business Scene -- November 2016

Raising funds for community projects and raising awareness of small business were a pair of themes for the month of November when it comes to city's commercial class.

The month got underway with the annual Rotary auction, the three day event which finds much success in getting the city's businesses involved in the fundraising project for local Rotary projects and services.

Arts and Crafters were also the focus for the mid month period with the annual Craft Fair at the Civic Centre taking place, a once a year opportunity to find just the right holiday gift.

Other business related notes on the month saw some attention for the nomination period for the Chamber of Commerce Business Achievement awards, a new head for CityWest, the final notes on the Hawkair story and another business putting its roots down in the Cow Bay area.

Some of our observations on the Commercial and economic scene in the region for November can be found below:

November

Rotarians kicked off November with three nights of great bargains, witty banter and the odd pun worth a pondering as the Annual Rotary Auction took to the stage at the Lester Centre for the Arts. The event which is heavily supported by local businesses by way of donations and participation in the Auction, was broadcast on Channel 10 and streamed live by CityWest . Money raised over the three days is directed towards a number of local programs and services that the Rotarians deliver in the region.

The work of the region's home based crafters and artisans was on display in November as the Annual Kaien Island Craft Fair took over the Prince Rupert Civic Centre to offer up a range of Christmas gift giving suggestions for local residents.

Local businesses in Prince Rupert put up a challenge to the massive attention delivered to the Black Friday sales, taking a unique approach of Plaid Friday to remind local residents of the importance of the small business sector to the community.

The final chapter of the Hawkair story was written in November, with word that the Terrace based airline had entered bankruptcy proceedings, the airline which had been struggling with the arrival of increased competition over the last few years, had previously suspended its service to Prince Rupert in 2015.

It's the run up to Awards Season on the North Coast, with the Prince Rupert and District Chamber of Commerce currently accepting nominations for its Business Excellence Awards.  The deadline for nominations is December 23rd, making for the first round of the road to the Awards show in March. Fifteen categories are available for potential nominations, you can review our notes on the process here.

The city owned communication company CityWest made news in November, announcing that a change is coming to Board room, with Chris Marett taking over as the new CEO as of December 1st. He takes over from departing CEO Don Holkestad who will bring his 37 years with the company to an end on December 31st.

Our final note on the month highlights the continued migration towards the city's Cow Bay District, with Kaien Business Essentials the latest of commercial ventures to make its way to the area, setting up shop in the old NIS building on 1st Avenue East.

You will be able to find the archive for Taking Stock as a part of our larger page dedicated to the commercial sector of the North Coast found here.

We imagine we probably have missed a few here or there, so if you know of a business having opened, or seen the Going out of business sign appear somewhere in the area, drop us a line at our email account of northcoastreviewpr@yahoo.ca

Or send us a short message through our twitter feed of @CharlesHays