Two businesses in Weyburn's downtown area announced their closing on the weekend. Monica Osborn, executive director with Weyburn Regional Economic Development, says it's unfortunate to see them go, but where one door closes another one opens.
“The individuals that had owned those businesses are community leaders that were very impactful and I would hope that other businesses or people that were wanting to start their own businesses have been inspired by those individuals to be able to open up their own ideas and bring forward new businesses to Weyburn.”
Osborn says the closing of these businesses is not due to economic factors, however the turnover of businesses is a factor when looking at the economic health of the city. She regards the prevalence of small business downtown as an asset.
“You don't see the big box stores in Weyburn, which I think gives us an advantage over a lot of the other cities and towns in the province because we do have those niche markets, we do have those family orientated businesses that they just want to serve our community well.”
She continues that more businesses coming to Weyburn both grows the community and serves the needs of more people. More immigration in our community creates cultural changes in what stores offer and therefore encourages new people to stay in town as their culture is catered to.
“The only way that we are going to grow is when we have outsiders come in and we need to ensure that we are providing to their culture as well to ensure that they do stay and that they are comfortable with what we have to offer in our city.”
When new businesses appear on our streets, Osborn says it's important to show interest and support. Small, local businesses in turn support the entire community.
“When a new business opens up, I highly recommend everyone to come and check it out. Those businesses are the ones that are going to be supporting the local sports teams or other organizations and you know, when we come together as a community, that just provides that much more growth and that much more opportunity for attraction for other businesses to come into our community, which ends up being more growth.”
When asked about other factors contributing to economic growth in Weyburn Osborn mentioned the appearance of businesses. Many businesses downtown have been updating the signage and façades on their establishments. She says there are incentives from the city of Weyburn to assist in updating business exteriors.
“The improvements to the buildings brings a buzz to downtown and it's great to see business owners capitalizing on the programs that the city of Weyburn currently has for them.”