Downtown BIZ supporting local connections

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This article was published 22/12/2020 (2111 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In normal times, the Downtown BIZ organizes and pays for many of the small public events that add vitality to the streets of downtown.

Since it can’t do those kinds of things this year, the organization is finding other ways it can help.

Earlier this year, it gave away $1,000 grants to about 50 small businesses to help them with projects.

Now, after finding another unspent $50,000 in its piggy bank, the BIZ has launched a program to connect downtown businesses that need support with the businesses that can provide it.

Kate Fenske, CEO of Downtown BIZ, said “Our goal always was to eventually give it back to businesses to support them through this time.”

There are very loose criteria for eligibility for the Winnipeg BIZ Connect Grant — must be in the Downtown BIZ catchment area and have fewer than 50 employees — and BIZ staff will match them up with the service providers (who will get paid, but likely not at their full rates).

“There are so many small businesses who don’t have access to marketing or advertising support or legal or accounting or website development,” she said. “This is really a chance for them to say ‘This is where I could really use some help.’”

Barry McCort is hoping to take advantage of the program to build an online store for his Global Connections at The Forks.

The store has always been sustained by a reliable flow of foot traffic that has dried up during the code red restrictions.

Rightly or wrongly, McCort has always believed the 50,000-odd items for sale at his Johnson Terminal store —some of it one-of-a-kind — was not suitable for online sales.

While his website now includes about 250 of his items, it does not allow for digital purchasing.

He is keen on applying to the Connect Grant to help him build a website that can accommodate that.

Customers can do everything but pay for the item on the site. To actually close the sale requires emails, and communication with McCort himself leading to arrangement for curbside pickup.

“The perception — at least it was my perception — was that it would be tough for us to sell on line, so I hesitated to do much,” McCort said. “But people kept asking… and now with the pandemic, everyone wants to buy online. There is no other option.”

He is applying for the grant (Global Connections also got in on the previous Downtown BIZ program) and hopes to be able to use the funding to fully enable his website for e-commerce.

Fenske was getting applications as soon as mention appeared on her website. Luckily she also got an overwhelming response from about 20 professional services providers to participate, including TDS, MLT Aikins, KPMG, Brandish Agency, Tetro Design, Tandem Collaborative, iQmetrix, Vantage Studios, Legacy Bowes, NSD Tech and David Aplin Group.

“All of us have been looking for ways how to help during this time,” he said.

Earlier this year, Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP did its own $50,000 pro bono project and helped a handful of companies.

Keith Labossiere, the CEO and managing partner of Thompson Dorfman Sweatman LLP, said his firm has been privileged to be able to keep working and has not had the impact on its bottom line that many of its clients have experienced.

“We feel that we have an obligation to our community and we want to do what we can to help,” he said. “We have been relatively unscathed, but just from a perspective of being downtown and seeing the impact on a daily basis on business in the downtown it is hard not take that seriously.”

He said participating in something like the BIZ program is not entirely selfless.

“We think it is good business practice to be a good neighbour,” he said.

It also gives some of the firm’s young lawyers some up-front and personal experience in real-world situations.

Larissa Peck and Amelia Laidlaw, the partners in Tandem Collaborative, are keen to provide marketing and strategic planning support for businesses.

They may be uniquely positioned to provide that as the firm was started as both Peck and Laidlaw lost their management jobs at The Forks when cutbacks there were required at the start of the pandemic.

“We are a product of a pandemic pivot ourselves,” Peck said. “We can do things like building and launching additional revenue streams that may help them get through the challenges.”

Fenske is not alone in thinking that it’s important that downtown stays strong for when the pandemic ends.

“It has been extremely challenging for small businesses who really rely on downtown workers as their primary customers,” she said.

“We all realize that a strong downtown benefits all Winnipggers.”

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca