Taking Stock: North Coast Business Scene: June 2019

As we head into the mid point of the summer of 2019, the downtown core is starting to see some signs of a bit of renewal, with a number of storefronts gaining makeovers or full fledge renovations with the arrival of new tenants.

How those changes play out will be chronicled in future editions of our Taking Stock feature, however June already has delivered some interesting notes and we have catalogued some of the newest items of interest below.

Among some of the news of the last month, the ongoing commitment to the community from local businesses in the way of bursaries and scholarships as the school year came to an end,  surveys of the business community and the public, and a look at the scope of the City of Prince Rupert's financial impact on local business through it's purchase of goods and services in 2018.

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:

June

The end of the School year saw a number of local organizations and businesses step up to offer scholarships and bursaries and among those who have offered to help students towards the next stage of their education was Northern Savings through their Bursary opportunities.

After decades of serving the floral needs of Prince Rupert Alison Brunelle has bid farewell to the flower businesses with Four Seasons Flowers closing its doors in lat June.

A local business owner caught up in the spotlight of the city's small livestock bylaws spoke to City Council in June, as Terese Lee of the Moby Dick Inn shared her account of the arrival of goats on her property, asking questions of future plans by the city towards the livestock bylaw. From that session, City Council members sent staff off to compile a report on the issue.

Planning for development of a number of lots near Five Corners and Biggar Place moved forward a bit, as the landowner, Marogna enterprises began the process towards rezoning the land now listed as residential towards a commercial designation.

Work picked up significantly on the make over of the old Raffles location at Five Corners, with much of the project now on display as the renovation project moves forward.

The Prince Rupert Chamber of Commerce hosted a luncheon in late June which put the focus on the city's labour shortage and some options available towards attracting immigrant workers to the community.

June was also the month that the Chamber celebrated the success of its recent Business Walk, which sent a number of volunteers out into the community to hear the state of business in the city.

The race towards retail cannabis delivered the first store in the Northwest to the Terrace are in June, with the opening of KJ's Cannabis in the downtown area of the city, Prince Rupert cannabis aficionado's continue to be in a holding pattern, that as the applications for the North Coast continue to work their way through the provincial system.

In mid June, the City of Prince Rupert reviewed the status of the three proposed locations for the community and where they were at in the process towards approval.

Prince Rupert's Argosy Antiques and collectibles location on Third West became the latest urban art backdrop, as work got underway on the wall mural that has taken up residence on the eastern side of the downtown building.

The annual listing of which businesses and services both local and out of town which benefitted from purchases and work with the City of Prince Rupert was released in June, with the city having spent over 28 million dollars on purchases or services with 102 suppliers in 2018.

The popular Business of the Month program at Northern Savings returned to the Prince Rupert commercial sector in June, featuring the Pavilion on Stiles Place as their selection of the month.

Some background on the city's efforts towards the theme of downtown revitalization was outlined in early June, with the results of a recent Rupert Talk's Survey put out on the city's website.

Work planned on a Ketchikan fibre optic link will put Prince Rupert's CityWest in the spotlight when it comes to communication infrastructure this summer, as the Alaskan city moves forward with their planning for a sub sea fibre link to Prince Rupert and beyond.

Small business owners and those of larger ones as well found the pay scale on the rise in June as new minimum wage rates and requirements came into effect in British Columbia.

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

To return to the most recent blog posting of the day, click here.