How do you help small business compete in the growing St. Albert? You make them look pretty, offer workshops and create angle parking.
That’s how executive director Guy Boston described the work of his 10-member team in a 90-second speech to almost 300 business owners at Thursday’s Small Business Awards ceremony at the Arden Theatre.
He later said in an interview that he should have added the “way-finding” program to the mix.
“The way-finding signage is a big component of that too, because the way-finding that was built around directing people to come to St. Albert through areas of St. Albert,” he said.
St. Albert’s economic development team works with a budget of $1.2-million, with a cost to taxpayers of about $700,000, said Boston. The rest of the funding comes through licences and other revenue.
About $40,000 of that budget was used this year in a cost-sharing program to aid business owners in beautifying their storefronts. The team also held a number of workshops, to help businesses develop a pitch and improve their marketing.
Other initiatives included an attempt to create pop-up patios downtown and the introduction of angle parking in the Perron District. That program was spearheaded by economic development, he stressed.
Boston said Friday that his team has also worked to attract new big box businesses and developments to the city. But Mayor Nolan Crouse touched on that in his speech at the ceremony, he said.
“We’ve done many more things that are on the attraction side, right, but these ones were the highlights from a business retention and expansion (perspective) in support of existing business,” he said.
Asked about Crouse’s speech, which mentioned that two big announcements would be coming forward in the next month, Boston said he could not comment.
“It’s just a pinch premature here and it caught me off-guard that (Crouse) said that last night because it’s in the bag, but it’s not under our control when it gets announced,” he said.
