A report presented to Airdrie City council Dec. 21, 2020 showed 65 Airdrie business licenses were cancelled from Jan. 1 to Nov. 30, 2020.
“It’s fair to say that the pandemic has had some sort of impact on every business in Airdrie,” said Sara Chamberlain, the team lead for Airdrie Economic Development.
According to Chamberlain's presentation, 23 of the 65 business license cancellations were from storefronts, while 43 were from home-based businesses.
However, she noted fewer business licenses were cancelled in 2020 compared to 2019, when 350 businesses cancelled their licenses.
On a positive note, Chamberlain said during the same period in 2020, more than 50 new businesses opened in Airdrie. Her report also stated there has been an increase of 432 home-based business licenses, which could be attributed to the economic situation brought on by the pandemic.
“It is very typical in a recession for people to open their own businesses,” she said.
Chamberlain said the recent economic restrictions implemented in November and December directly affected about 500 Airdrie businesses in the last few months.
Her report also brought up the City’s efforts to support businesses during the pandemic. Chamberlain said the municipality's Right for Business Support Program, which intended to provide Airdrie businesses with access to critical advisors and business service professionals to help remain resilient through the pandemic, did not garner the attention Airdrie Economic Development initially hoped it would.
“We have struggled to get direct feedback from businesses that have participated,” she said. “We are also trying to find out why 13 businesses applied for the program, got accepted and never followed through. We believe the timing of the program was off.”
Chamberlain said the program had 23 participants, which featured 12 home-based businesses, four not-for-profit organizations and seven commercial businesses. Additionally, 16 volunteer mentors got involved along with 16 business professionals.
According to Chamberlain, $50,000 was allocated to the Right for Business Supoport Program, but due to the low enrolment, the program was significantly under budget, costing just $5,123.
Another program Chamberlain said saw much more of a turnout was the City’s Put Your Money Where Your Heart Is marketing campaign.
“We were very pleased with the results,” she said.
The campaign lasted for eight weeks and encouraged Airdronians to shop at local businesses to stimulate the economy, and then post photos of their receipts on social media to be entered into a weekly draw. Chamberlain said roughly 530 participants produced roughly 1,600 submissions. Participants shopped at 311 local businesses, more than half of which were non-franchised businesses.
In total, 48 participants took home a prize, with the largest payout being $459. In addition, Chamberlain said $272,000 in receipts were submitted and $15,000 was spent on prizes.
A survey sent out after the conclusion of the campaign, which saw 139 responses, indicated 54 per cent of respondents specifically chose to shop local and the campaign directly influenced their shopping habits.
Mayor Peter Brown praised the Economic Development team for their efforts in helping local businesses navigate the pandemic.
“All I am hearing from my connections in the business community is that they can’t thank you enough,” he said.
Coun. Ron Chapman echoed Brown’s sentiments, saying it was great to know it wasn’t all “doom and gloom” for businesses in 2020.
“There were some successes during COVID-19,” he said. “Some were very successful and still are. I also wanted to thank all of the local businesses for doing what they and continuing to adapt.”
Jordan Stricker, AirdrieToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @Jay_Strickz
