Thursday, January 5, 2017

Taking Stock: North Coast Business Scene -- December 2016

Not surprisingly, items related to Christmas shopping dominated much of the business news for the month of December as North Coast Residents made up their lists and checked them twice before launching their gift seeking expeditions.

Other areas of interest from the Business community in December included some notes from the city's Communication company CityWest, as well as some success in the world of awards for some area businesses and contractors.

The month came to an end with the Chamber of Commerce bringing a close to the first phase of the annual Business Excellence awards, with the last day for nominations arriving on December 23rd.

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

December

The Christmas season started off with the Rotary Club hosting its annual Christmas Tree Sale, once again setting up shop at the Tennis Courts at McBride and Sixth Street East.

The City owned communication company CityWest was in the business spotlight a few times in December,  with an update on the arrival of HD quality programming on the Community Channel, an announcement of a distribution payment back to the city of 400,000 dollars and the launch of their popular Twelve Days of Christmas program.

The students of a number of programs at Charles Hays Secondary also joined the commercial sector last month offering up a range of items for sale over the Christmas shopping season.

If a dedication to a more fit lifestyle was part of your New Year's resolution, keep your eyes open for the official opening of a new Fitness option in the community, as Anytime Fitness announced their plans for the community.

Prince Rupert's Adventure Paving had reason to celebrate in December, as the local contractor was Awarded provincial honours as contractor of the year for work on the Tuck Inlet road project.

The City re-introduced its plans for greater consultation with the Prince Rupert business community, as Councillor Blair Mirau's initiative of a Small Business Advisory Committee began its process of seeking participants.

Three Prince Rupert based businesses are up for awards in 2017 as The Argosy, Good Times Games and Electronics and the Wheel House Brewing Company all made the short list for Small Business BC Awards.

A popular east end destination for shoppers in the City found some acclaim as well in December, as Maverick Mart was selected as Northern Savings Credit Union's Business of the month.

The City of Prince Rupert highlighted the work of the Business Facade program, making note of four businesses that benefited from the program in 2016.

And as we got closer to the Christmas Day shopping deadline a couple of the region's media outlets turned some attention to the travels in the region's shopping destinations, with the CBC's George Baker exploring the increasing trend of online shopping and the impact on the community.  

While over at CFTK, reporter Cierra Wilson took a look at some of the pace of the last minute shoppers as the clock was ticking down.

The month ended with the closing deadline of December 23rd for this years Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards, the next step in that process will see the list of Finalists announced on January 24th.

You will be able to find the archive for Taking Stock from 2016 as a part of our larger page dedicated to the commercial sector of the North Coast found here.

The 2017 edition of the Taking Stock tracker can be reviewed here.

Our new year of following the trends and developments in business for 2017 can be found on our Commercial Sector archive page here.  can be found on our archive page 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

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