The Burnaby Board of Trade held its first ever Business Walk July 14, with members of the board and Burnaby council, along with city officials, going door-to-door asking business owners how they feel about the business climate and outlook in Burnaby.
The walk, which consisted of touring approximately 120 businesses along Henning Drive, was designed to gather feedback – both for the board and the city – on how business in the city could improve.
As for why most businesses said they chose Burnaby to set up shop, the most common response was location.
“It is very centrally located for their staff to go and visit with their clients, for their clients to go and visit them, for their employees to come to work,” said Paul Holden, president and CEO of the Burnaby Board of Trade.
“Generally speaking, business was good, according to the vast majority of organizations.
“The response we’ve had from the businesses that we visited, a significant number of them have contacted me and said this is a really good initiative.”
The board plans to look into implementing some of the ideas business owners shared, such as providing networking opportunities or access to education about business issues.
The board plans to compile the results of the walk and prepare a public report, which is expected to be out the week of July 21. This report will be shared with the businesses and posted online.
Holden said the board plans to conduct similar business walks in the future, although the next neighbourhood and timeframe have yet to be determined.
“It’ll take a while to get around the whole city, but in the future we’ll be making sure we cover the whole city off,” he said.
-With files from Jacob Zinn, Burnaby Now
@EmmaHampelBIV
