Taking Stock: Prince Rupert Business Tracker for December 2019

December started off in grand style with a pair of community celebrations that set the tone for a busy month for merchants in the community with a number of themes counting down the final days of 2019.

From studies on the challenges of employee retention to nominations for this years Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards, the commercial sector was a focal point for much of the month.

Along the way we explored notes on CityWest's distribution payment for the City of Prince Rupert, the travels of the Jingle Boat Express, the annual Rotary Christmas Tree Sale, along with some notes on what may have been the most gifted item under those trees on Christmas Day as WalMart found a winner with Rupertopoly.

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:

December

December could not have gotten off to a better start, as Winterfest and the arrival of Rogers's Hometown Hockey broadcast created some significant buzz in the community with the city's business community taking part in the spirit of both events.

The start of the month brought an end to the first stage of this years Chamber of Commerce Business Excellence Awards process, with the last of the nominations received prior to midnight of December 5th. Later this month the Prince Rupert and District Chamber of Commerce will reveal the finalists and outline the voting process ahead towards the Gala of February 29.

A glimpse into the challenges being found by the commercial sector was revealed by the redesign rupert initiative, as they outlined the findings of a labour market study that highlighted the impact that Port jobs is having on some of the small and medium businesses in the community.

CityWest the Prince Rupert based communication company delivered some good cheer to their owners in December, with the City of Prince Rupert receiving a 600,000 distribution payment from the company.

The Prince Rupert Golf Course Pro Shop got into the spirit of the Christmas season, offering an advent calendar of goodies and some good values on Golf Course swag prior to Christmas Day.

One of Prince Rupert's most popular spots for a cup of coffee and some social time was recognized by Prince Rupert based Northern Savings Credit Union, with Cowpuccino's named as the Northern Savings Business of the month.

Prince Rupert's business community once again provided for a helping hand as the Jingle Boat Express took to the waters of Prince Rupert harbour for four sailings in aid of the Salvation Army.

The City's Rotarians once again found a brisk business at the McBride Street Tennis Courts as the annual Rotary Christmas Tree sale provided strong results for Rotary projects ahead in 2020.

WalMart passed Go and collected more than 200 dollars, as supplies of the board game Rupertopoly were claimed from the stores shelves as quick as they could be put out over the pre-Christmas buying season.

The month ended with a temporary setback for a Prince Rupert based transportation service, as SG Shuttle suspended their twice daily bus service to the Terrace airport, with the company citing technical issues, it's anticipated that the service will resume before the end of January.  In the interim SG Shuttle is operating a Ski Express bus to Shames Mountain.

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

For 2020 our future instalments for the Business updates can be found here, with the January results to be featured early in February.

More notes on the commercial sector across the Northwest in 2020 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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