Taking Stock: North Coast Business Scene April/May 2019

We play a bit of catch up on our Taking Stock feature this month, as we were away for a portion of April we have combined our findings for April and May into this report.

Among some of the notable passages of the last two months, some new names for the Chamber and a new CEO for Northern Savings.

One more application made its way onto the pile of those looking to launch a retail cannabis store in the community and the Summer Cruise season got underway, set to deliver thousands of potential customers into the city's downtown area.

Surveys of what we think of the downtown also figured prominently over the last sixty days, with the City launching a consultation on the downtown core through its Rupert Talks initiative, as well as to conduct the annual Business walk at the end of May.

Those themes and many others, can be be found as part of our review of the Commercial and economic scene in the region for the last month below:

May

The annual Business walk hosted by the Prince Rupert Economic Development Office took place at the end of the month, as city staff and their partners at the Chamber, Community Futures, Redesign Rupert and Ecotrust Canada hit the streets to gauge the state of the local economy.

Prince Rupert's financial services showed their community spirit in May with many hosting fundraising events to show support for the Relay for Life, at the CIBC, May 24th brought the annual Jail or Bail, with a cross section of the community found "behind bars" to help raise funds for the May 25th Relay.

The commercial sector saw the start of the Summer cruise ship season arrive in May, with the first vessel call of the year on May 23rd by the Seven Seas Mariner,  the port call sending a potential for over 500 customers into the streets of the city. By the time the fall arrives, Prince Rupert will have seen 22 vessels arrive and a potential 11,138 guests making their way around the city.

Business owners found out the final dollar amount that the City of Prince Rupert has in mind for taxation this year, as the city's 2019 Property tax bills began to arrive.

The latest applicant to operate a cannabis location in the city began its public consultation period in May, as the BC Liquor Distribution branch moved forward with their application for a store to be adjacent the city's liquor store location on Second Avenue West.

The City of Prince Rupert stands to make some money from the expansion plans for Rupert Lawn and Garden area at Seal Cove, with the City leasing land in the area to the Gitmaxmak'ay Nisga'a Society.

The Downtown core will soon feature a new mural for viewing, with Third Avenue's The Argosy set to be the canvas for Paint the Town, a Transition Prince Rupert project that will create a new mural on the west side of the downtown area.

Prince Rupert based CityWest expanded on its customer service options in May, reopening their Kitimat office found in that city's Industrial park, the communication company re-opened their storefront as Kitimat prepares to see significant growth in the local economy as the LNG Canada and other industrial projects begin to move forward.

CityWest also provided an update on some of their latest moves towards expanding their core network to the community, part of a newsletter campaign that was delivered to homes in May.

Prince Rupert's clothes shoppers have a new location to explore, as Ansens Clothing consignment opened for business over the May Long weekend, setting up shop in the old J and E tackle location in the 900 block of Third Avenue West.

A Northwest initiative to study workforce attraction and retention issues in the region took its first steps in May, with the tendering of the contract towards further study in Prince Rupert, Terrace and Kitimat.

Northern Savings, the Prince Rupert based financial services organization introduced their newest CEO in May, with Robert Marshall bringing over 20 years of experience in the credit union system to the North Coast.

Cel Phone users were given a heads up on a new player coming to town this summer, with Freedom Mobile announcing their plans to provide service to Prince Rupert over the next few months.

The city's weekly newspaper began a new distribution model in May, returning some of their black boxes to city street corners to help to get copies of the paper to residents in areas where they seem to have difficulties in recruiting carriers for home delivery.

The commercial real estate listings once again delivered an unusual property up for sale, with the iconic labour home in the city of Fishernen's Hall up for sale.

April

The city's motorists spent a good portion of mid May watching the price boards at local gas stations as the price at the pump rose and fell in a regular pattern.

The long desired arrival of some additional fast food options became the talk of the town in mid April as the Mayor and Rupert Square officials squared off as to who was responsible for the missed opportunities to dig into a teen burger or some chubby chicken.

Prince Rupert city council offered up a bit of tax relief for 2019 as they put the wrap on their budget planning discussions for the year.

The City of Prince Rupert rolled out its plan for community consultation on the city's downtown core, launching a community engagement study through its Rupert Talks program.

April delivered the first word from the BC Liquor Distribution office, which outlined its plans to seek a licence to operate a BC Cannabis Store in the city, with space adjacent to the city's liquor store identified as the location for the new commercial venture.

The month of April got underway with some news from the Prince Rupert and District Chamber of Commerce, which introduced the new Board that is set to steer the Chamber agenda for the year ahead.

You can keep up to date on the ebb and flow of the Prince Rupert commercial scene through our Taking Stock Archive for 2019. 

More notes on the commercial sector across the Northwest in 2019 can also be found from our from 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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