Special Features - Small Business 2012

THE FREE PRESS Thursday, October 11, 2012

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CELEBRATE

MONTH MONTH Why celebrate Small Business Month?

October first lauched another start of Small Business Month across British Columbia. The month long event is intended to celebrate and recognize the contribution of small businesses to the BC economy and our local communities.

With one out of 10 people living in BC being self employed, the celebration of small business month has become a widely celebrated event.

YOUR TEAM WE’RE YOUR ADVOCATES. The credit union person who serves you represents you. When financing decisions are being made, you’ll find we have more local influence over these decisions.

Doing business.

Together through life.

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THE FREE PRESS Thursday, October 11, 2012 CELEBRATE

MONTH

The Board and Staff of Tourism Fernie would like to thank and celebrate all the tourism and related businesses working with us to help promote Fernie as a year-round destination.

Together we can achieve great success!

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From business to service and everything in-between…

We have you covered.

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Supporting Elk Valley business since 1898 342 2nd Avenue, Fernie • 250-423-4666 • customerservice@thefreepress.ca

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Small business events across the Elk Valley Event: Seminar - Tess Menges Date: Monday, October 15th Time: 8am - 9pm Hosted by: the Sparwood Chamber at Causeway Bay Hotel Details: Tess Menges, from the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises with The Government of Canada, will provide members information on how to be come a supplier of goods and ser-vices to the Federal Government.

Contact: John Himel, Email: manager@sparwoodchamber.bc.ca Cost: Free Event: Online ‘Business Town Hall’ Date: Monday, October 15th Time: 12noon Hosted by: Scotiabank, Fernie Details: Small business customers are invited to join Arlene Dickinson (of CBC Dragons’ Den fame) for an online ‘Business Town Hall’- full details can be found at www.getgrowingforbusiness. com - Arlene is Scotiabank’s new Business Champion.

Contact: Scotiabank Fernie 250-423-8440 Cost: Free Event: Home Based Business Networking

& Coffee Morning Date: Tuesday, October 16th Time: 9:30am - 10:30 am Hosted by: Fernie Chamber of Commerce Details/Contact: Please contact Rachael Bone at the Fernie Chamber of Commerce at 250-423-6868 or members@ferniechamber.com Cost: Free Event: Small Business Week Chamber Luncheon Date: Wednesday, October 17th Time: 12noon Hosted by: Fernie Chamber of Commerce Details: At the Park Place Lodge.

Reservations required before Monday October 15th.

Contact: RSVP to the Fernie Chamber at 250-423-6868 Cost: $20 for members, $25 for nonmembers Event: RCMP/Sparwood Fire

Department presentation

“Business Security and Protecting Assests” Date: Thursday, October 18th Time: 8am - 9pm

Hosted by: the Sparwood Chamber at Causeway Bay Hotel Details: Business Owners and Managers will get some great advice and tips from these two organizations to keep your business safe.

Contact: John Himel, Email: manager@sparwoodchamber.bc.ca Cost: Free Event: Small Business Appreciation Day Date: Thursday, October 18th Time: 9:30am - 5pm Hosted by: CIBC, Fernie Details:We will have refreshments for clients and be featuring our CIBC Small Business Start Strong Program which has been launched this month. www.cibc.com/ca/features/start-strong. html Contact: CIBC Fernie 250-423-4426 Cost: Free Event: Social Media Marketing for Business Date: Friday, October 19th Time: 8am - 9pm Hosted by: the Sparwood Chamber at Causeway Bay Hotel Details: Join us as Marcia Johnson leads us through the electronic world of Social Media Marketing.

Contact: John Himel, Email: manager@sparwoodchamber.bc.ca Cost: Free Event: Coffee & doughnuts Date: Friday, October 19th Time: 9:30am - 2:00pm Hosted by: Scotiabank, Fernie Details: We’ll be offering existing and prospective small business customers coffee & doughnuts, we’ll also invite them to enter a draw to win a copy of Arlene Dickinson’s book ‘Persuasion”.

Contact: Scotiabank Fernie 250-423-8440 Cost: Free

Event: Community & Business Excellence Awards Night Date: Thursday, October 25th Time: 6:00pm Hosted by: Fernie Chamber of Commerce Details/Contact: For more details and to reserve your seat please contact Rachael Bone at the Fernie Chamber of Commerce at 250-423-6868 or members@ferniechamber.com Cost: $40 cash bar

THE FREE PRESS Thursday, October 11, 2012

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CELEBRATE

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Support small businesses: shop local

By Nicole Liebermann Reporter

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mall businesses are essential to the success of any community and its economy. From tourism outlets and community services, to retail outlets and construction trades, the City of Fernie is home to many locally run small businesses.

With a location conveniently close to the U.S. border, it’s important for Fernie residents to remember when you shop local, you’re supporting local jobs and local families.

The temptation to visit the States to shop has grown, with the recent increase of the duty free limit for Canadians from $50 to $200 for a stay of more than 24 hours, and from $400 to $800 for more than 48 hours.

Co-owner of local business, The Guides Hut, Beth Gallup said she’s noticed a huge trend in cross-border shopping that is affecting her shop. “According to Stats Canada, the new rules helped a 14 per cent jump in overnight travel and a 12 percent hike in same day travel to the U.S. via B.C. border crossings in June, compared to the same month in 2011,” stated Gallup.

“So it’s a huge impact. It’s not just our imagination, it’s an actual phenomenon.”

With a lower dollar, duties, and taxes, Gallup understands why people make the trip to the U.S., however she hopes they understand the positives to shopping at home. “Employment is one way that supporting small businesses really helps, in terms of just keeping the whole community vibrant,” she explained. “For example, if you’ve got a rental suite that you want to rent out to someone who needs a job, then if there’s a small business that needs to employ that person, you’ve got a tenant for your rental. It’s all so interconnected.”

Gallup knows the support of the Fernie community is crucial to the success of her business, which contributes back to the success of the community itself.

“By supporting all of these small businesses, you’re keeping the money in the community, and that in turn allows for small businesses to support the charitable initiatives in the community,” said Gallup. “I can’t count

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the number of times that we’ve been asked to sponsor events or fundraisers, and I’m sure that we’re not alone in that, there’s a lot of other businesses that get the same requests.”

She added, “When all of the dollars go out of the community, that means that there’s less dollars in the community to do things like building and supporting people living here year round.”

As we celebrate Small Business Week, now is the time to recognize the importance of shopping locally and supporting the local businesses our community depends on.

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THE FREE PRESS Thursday, October 11, 2012 CELEBRATE

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A fashion Odyssey for every woman

By Nicole Liebermann Reporter

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dyssey has been providing fashion to Fernie women for 14 years.

An essential part of the downtown s h o p p i n g district, the store offers a wide range of clothing for a wide range of women.

Owner, Yvonne Molle, describes Odyssey as a casual, career, and special occasion clothing store. From career clothing and outerwear, to weekend outfits and a variety of dresses, there’s something for almost every occasion.

“We sell a lot of dresses through the summer and throughout the season,” commented Molle. “The lifestyle in Fernie doesn’t maybe always dictate dresses, but women love wearing them and men love seeing women in dresses.”

And it’s not just all about the clothing.

“We carry a large range of accessories,

from belts, scarves, hats, purses, jewellery, just fun accessories from season to season,” Molle said. “There’s always something novel that’s on the marketplace that we try to bring in. That’s just an ongoing thing with accessories, they’re fun to sell, people that are just totally browsing can grab something if they’re not into trying on that day, they love their accessories.”

After moving to Fernie with her husband years ago, Molle noticed there wasn’t much shopping in town available specifically for women. She explained, “I was working as an optician before [coming to Fernie] and needed to do something, and really saw a void in the community as far as ladies clothing went.”

Odyssey opened in September of 1998, and is now entering its

fourteenth year in business, and still going strong. “It’s been a good run,” Molle remarked. “There have been ups and downs. The struggle now is the dollar and cross-border shopping. So there’s always something around the corner that you have to be adjusting to and dealing with, but for the most part, it’s been really good.”

She added, “I think you’re always evolving, you’re always trying to read the customer.

There’s always those little hiccups along the way where you have to make adjustments.”

What keeps not only the store going, but Molle herself, is helping out her customers. “The service side of things I really like. There’s quite a bit of satisfaction that comes with helping people,” she said. “We have a lot of fun with what we’re doing, and really try to provide good service.”

A 2011 TOP

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