The Burns Lake and District Chamber of Commerce will soon be starting pop up shops at its location in a bid to connect home-based businesses with community members directly.
“It is aimed at our small home-based business in Burns Lake and Lakes District because with COVID, a lot of people don’t want people over in their house or don’t want to go in other people’s houses. So this is an opportunity for them to still reach out and connect with their customers,” said Randi Amendt, the chamber manager.
There will be two home-based businesses’ pop up shops each month at the chamber office. Potential vendors are encouraged to stop by the chamber to find out more details on the application process for the pop up shop or find those details online on the chamber’s website. Starting March 5, Jill Elliott will be setting up Interiors by Jill, on almost every Friday for a few hours. After this, the chamber has Outline Design clothing lined up for an entire month.
“We are a central location, it draws people in and it is just one way in which we can help some people,” she said.
The chamber had their open house last week, during which not only did they have a lot of people stop by, they also had four new members signed up. Almost 16 new members joined in 2020 and with the four additional members, the chamber now has a total of 140 members.
Last year, after the village decided to not renew the chamber’s Visitor Information Centre operating agreement, the chamber moved to a temporary new location at 132a Francois Lake Drive.
“Without dealing with the visitor centre, we are able to focus more on our chamber members and what they need. So we are going to be taking on a little more of outreach and finding out what they need — no matter how big or small. Chances are, if one business has issues, so does another one,” she said.
The chamber will also be hosting the community market this year in July and August, as well as their annual Pitch-In Day for community garbage clean-up in May.
They will also be opening up nominations for the 2021 Business Excellence Awards in August, host the annual Fun, Frost & Family Festival for the third year in a row in November and have also been discussing a potential collaboration with the fall fair committee, to combine the trade show with the fall fair.
The chamber board has also been discussing what they could do for Canada Day, however that would be dependent on any COVID-restrictions at the time.
ALSO READ: Burns Lake & District Chamber of Commerce to host an open house in February
Priyanka Ketkar
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priyanka.ketkar@ldnews.net
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