There are many business achievements worth celebrating this year, the Downtown Moose Jaw Association Inc. (DMJA) believes, while there are also areas that require further work to ensure a healthy community.
The association was created this summer to provide a unified voice for the downtown business community and contribute to the community’s economic growth. Its objective is to aid, stimulate, develop and beautify the downtown development area, while also working with business owners, managers and building owners in an efficient and successful manner.
“The downtown community is driven,” Anita Minter (Temple Gardens Mineral Spa), first vice-president of DMJA, said in an email. “All around we see businesses working hard to ensure they are putting their best forward, not only in Moose Jaw but to be seen across the country.
“We live in a vibrant city and the framework is there to encourage growth. We are all working hard on the rest.”
Since the executive formed only this year, it did not want to speculate on how the past year has been for downtown businesses, especially without any hard data, she said.
However, it did want to highlight several positive items:
- The association was established;
- The City of Moose Jaw and Tourism Moose Jaw performed good work, particularly during the Moose War;
- The municipality won a national marketing award;
- The Scotties curling championship was announced;
- Moose Jaw rebranded to be Canada’s “most notorious city.”
One issue that DMJA noticed was how summer construction resulted in less foot traffic in the downtown during that time, which was to be expected.
“Overall, the sentiment is the work needs to be done to ensure the viability of the area,” Minter said.
There seem to be many more empty storefronts these days in the downtown area. To counteract this, explained Minter, one of the association’s major projects in 2020 will be to work to encourage economic growth in the area. This will include a program to assist entrepreneurs through mentorships and to assist business owners with grant opportunities.
The primary objective of the association moving forward will be to not only see storefronts filled but also existing storefronts to look shiny and new, she continued.
“Providing support and fostering a sense of community is what we are here for,” added Minter. “We have members in this association from large and small business, (so) each of us plays a role in the other’s success.”
Since the downtown has existed for generations, it is the job of the association and other businesses to ensure its vitality for many years to come, Minter remarked.
She thanked everyone for working to ensure a positive future for the downtown and encouraged everyone to watch out for the Downtown Moose Jaw Association’s annual general meeting in March.
