Chamber opens office in new downtown location
The Swift Current and District Chamber of Commerce is beginning a new year in a new location.
This past Tuesday the Chamber hosted a ribbon cutting ceremony to officially unveil their new office location at #4-240 Central Ave N. The relocation from their former home in the Swift Current Business Centre a block over on 1st Ave. N.E. was completed in order to provide the Chamber with a slightly more prominent location.
Karla Wiens, CEO of the Swift Current & District Chamber of Commerce, noted the Chamber Board of Directors began exploring the possibility of an office relocation dating back to 2019.
“The board at the time wanted to have a more visible presence. Central Avenue has a lot more traffic than where we were previously,” Wiens noted shortly following the January 12 ribbon cutting ceremony.
The board made the relocation a higher priority this past year, but there was not a lot of downtown office space available during 2020. They explored a trio of possibilities before moving into their new home at the start of the month, with the new location now boasting a recently enlarged board room and other improvements.
The relocation provides them a more visible and more accessible location, which they share with Community Futures Southwest who were also looking for a new location.
Wiens said the office move comes at the start of what will be a busy start to 2021.
At the end of 2020, the
Chamber began exploring the possibility of developing a new online shopping platform to encourage more local spending.
“We are diligently exploring any and all possibilities,” Wiens said of the online shopping platform.
“All Chambers across the province have spent countless hours research the various platforms available, the bells and whistles that are associated with that.”
She noted that back in mid December they made a social media call asking business owners to participate in a survey gauging interest in a local online shopping platform for the community. The survey asked if businesses would participate in a Chamber-provided local online shopping marketplace at no cost to assist businesses with the marketing of their products and services.
And where there is “intensive investigation underway”, Wiens admitted “hopefully we will have an announcement, I’m hoping by the end of January. As soon as we know and finalize some details away we go.”