Thunder Bay Economy Steady
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Thunder Bay Economy Steady

 

Thunder Bay Economy Steady

 

By Scott A. Sumner
Thunder Bay Business
    “ My crystal ball is I see much of the same in terms of growth and decline in Thunder Bay. We  are going to see sectors like mining, high tech, the hospital and research become more and more prominent. We see a lot of houses for sale and an equivalent number of buyers.  That is a good thing.” stated Royden Potvin Manager of Thunder Bay Ventures. “  I believe small business thinks the economy has bottomed out and is going upwards. The bottom has to be at some point.”

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    “ We used to get some city councillors here at the press conference and are not immune from criticism ourselves.  Thunder Bay Ventures is not the type of agency that will make changes. We present the information to the community and say here you go, what will you do with it?” noted Potvin. “
    Thunder Bay Ventures feel the local small business population to be about 2500- 2800 businesses. There is really not a comprehensive list of businesses according to them so  it makes it harder for this investigative work. “ We eliminate businesses like Bowater  and those
that have over 32 to 35 or more employees as well as  large national chains. We think our study is a good reflection of our small business community,”stated Smith LU Business professor. “  19% of our sample  completed the study this year which is a high response rate. Small Business is very free with their time You don’t need more responses
than 130 out of 2500  which is a good sample and accurate to within  3 or 4 standard defiance.  Our lowest employees business in the sample was 1 part time staff.  Some businesses we couldn’t find but used the Chamber list and Tourism list from Thunder Bay.  TB Ventures now has the most comprehensive list of small business in Thunder Bay.”
    “ I think there is a sideways thing going on. We will be much the same a year from now as we are today. We may lose some of those marginal small businesses that have not been able to adapt to the new economy. There is always a danger if you don’t modernize your business
and keep updating your activities. There will be businesses that fall off the map,” stated Potvin.  “As discretionary incomes drop the big box store may not do as well as before. We believe small business that is locally owned will be here for the long term while the big box
stores as soon as they fall below a level will leave in a heart beat.”



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