Owners – ZWWBusiness

Bike Lanes Are Good for Business, but Store Owners Still Hate Them

Businesses hate bike lanes. Sure, they reduce pollution, slow the pace of climate change, cut traffic fatalities, and make cities healthier and more pleasant. But they also take away parking spaces, which makes it tougher for shoppers to load up their cars with piles of stuff. Freaked-out business owners have been fighting bike lanes coast to coast, in cities from San Diego to Cambridge, Massachusetts. They worry — not unreasonably — that anything that makes it harder for customers to get to their stops will eat into their already precarious margins.

“As someone whose family had a small business when I was growing up, I know how invested you get in it,” says Joseph Poirier, a senior researcher at the urban-planning consultancy Nelson Nygaard. “It’s your whole life. Anything you think could threaten that, even if the government and their consultants tell you it’s not going to be a problem, is very scary. It makes sense.”

It’s also wrong. Four decades’ worth of research proves it. I know this because I’ve read every study and report I could find that looked specifically at the economics of bike lanes since 1984 — 32 research articles, to be exact. The results show that making streets friendlier for bikes — and sidewalks friendlier for pedestrians — is actually good for business. The rise of “complete streets” and “road diets,” as urban planners call them, has been a huge boon to businesses in cities.

I won’t walk you through every study, because most of them actually use survey data. Do you think bike lanes discourage shopping? How much do you spend when you ride your bike here? Surveys aren’t the most reliable way to look at this question. People lie, they misremember, they get stuff wrong. And anecdotal experience tends to loom too large. One angry customer who complains about not being able to find parking trumps the 10 who rode their bikes to your shop and didn’t say boo.

More confoundingly, survey after survey has shown that business owners overestimate how many of their customers drive to their stores, versus walking or biking. In a study of the effects of street improvements on a shopping corridor in Los Angeles published in 2012, more than half of the store owners on the bike-laned part of the boulevard thought most of their customers drove. The actual number was 15%.

So what we need is financial

Happy Valley-Goose Bay business owners map road to success in small, remote town

Even though there are less than 10,000 people in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, business is booming.

It is, at least, for entrepreneurs who identified distinct gaps in the town’s services, and jumped at the opportunity to fill them.

Business owners in the community will tell you that responding to specific needs and providing good quality work and service is enough to keep you going.

Terry Whey is one of them.

He took his shoe repair business to Happy Valley-Goose Bay in 1992 after learning the town was in need of one.

Because he was moving from St. John’s to a rural area, he was able to get a hand setting up shop from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA).

We don’t go looking for work. It just keeps coming in the door.– Terry Whey

The shoe repair shop was busy, but after a little while he learned customers were often looking for specific canvas products that weren’t locally available.

That’s when Whey’s focus shifted into manufacturing canvas tents and knapsacks, and Terry’s Tents was born.

“We don’t go looking for work. It just keeps coming in the door,” Whey said.

“I think people have seen our products and they’re happy with them, and then they just tell their friends … and sometimes good products just sell themselves.”

Whey works six days a week and hasn’t spent a dime on marketing in the last 20 years.

The work isn’t slowing down, but he is. After 32 years, Whey is preparing for retirement.

He’s trying to find a buyer for Terry’s Tents, but if he doesn’t find one his booming business will have to close its doors, and people in Happy Valley-Goose Bay will have to look elsewhere.

MÓR Meats is a specialty butcher shop in Happy Valley-Goose Bay. Owner Niamh Roche said business is good, but could be better, so she’s decided to expand. (Mór Meats/Facebook)

Niamh Roche, meanwhile, only opened her butcher shop in 2022. But after 18 months in business, she’s ready to expand.

“We feel that we’ve kind of maxed out what we can do in our current location,” Roche said.

“I feel in order for the business to survive, it really does need to take this step. It’s a huge investment for us and it’s a huge risk, but we feel that we’ve built up a strong customer base.”

Roche believes a larger and more centralized storefront

Fire that destroyed popular N.B. restaurant has local business owners feeling uneasy – New Brunswick

The cause of the fire that burned down the Aboiteau Seafood Paradise restaurant and Aboiteau Fisheries fish market at the Aboiteau Wharf in Cap-Pelé, N.B., on Sunday is still under investigation.

The restaurant was a popular tourist destination and community gathering place, according to Anthony Azard, the CEO of Cap Acadie’s Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a total loss for the business but also the whole community,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.

Cap-Acadie fire Chief Ronald Cormier told Global News that firefighters fought the blaze from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday.

He said no one was injured as the restaurant was closed for the season.

Between 2019 and 2022, the Cap-Acadie region, which includes Cap-Pelé, saw several businesses burned down due to arson.

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These included Chez Camille, another seafood restaurant in Cap-Pelé that burned down in the spring of 2022, as well as M&M Cormier Fisheries’ smokehouse in 2021.

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Mario Cormier, the president of M&M Cormier Fisheries, said he had to lay off half of his employees as a result of the fire.

The smokehouse had been built just five years prior, and was built primarily to modernize his business.

He said the fire on the Aboiteau wharf stirred up painful memories, but he’s hopeful the cause of the fire wasn’t criminal.

“When a fire happens, people say, ‘Well, is it going to start again?’” he said.

“It’s on the back of everyone’s minds that it might happen again,” he said of the rash of fires.

Azard said one of the chamber’s main messages to the community was that “there is no need to panic.”

“I don’t want to connect (the Aboiteau wharf fire) to the past fires,” he said.

He said that when the original rash of fires occured, the chamber advised businesses to reinforce their security measures, saying many businesses installed security measures.

He said it was also important to check the structural integrity of the building to prepare for possible accidental fires.

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“Whether it was criminal or not, whether it was accidental or not, we will have an adequate response to that. For now, I am sending

For business owners, knowing where to invest limited time and resources can be a matter of survival

As small and medium-businesses become more digital, having control over devices is vital – especially in remote settings – to reduce downtime and IT support costs, among other benefits.Supplied

From tight margins to tight timelines, small and medium-sized business owners face multiple challenges – but new technologies have come a long way in empowering them to accomplish more with less.

Business owners need tech solutions that are easy to use, reliable, flexible, secure and energy efficient. That is what inspired Intel to develop Intel vPro® – powered by the newest Intel® Core™ processors and made specifically to meet their needs.

Its suite of business grade security solutions, remote management and performance capabilities are designed to deliver value to businesses of all shapes and sizes, right out of the box.

Business owners have countless options when it comes to PC technologies. Choosing one that’s designed to support their unique needs and ensure ongoing productivity can offer a real advantage. Intel vPro® offers business-class performance, hardware-enhanced security features and modern manageability and stability to minimize disruptions and reduce IT support costs.

Comprehensive multilayer security

When it comes to protection, small and medium-sized businesses face unique challenges. Whether they offer digital products or manage payroll online, they’re increasingly relying on technology to manage their operations, which makes them vulnerable to cybersecurity threats, underscoring the need for a robust security platform.

According to a recent study, there has been a 600-per-cent rise in cybercrime and a 238-per-cent increase in cyberattacks since the start of the pandemic, yet only one-third of Canadian small business owners feel confident in their cybersecurity defences.

Intel vPro® was designed to address this gap and offers specialized hardware-based security. Its threat detection software uses artificial intelligence to detect and prevent malicious threats, in real time, providing businesses with an added layer of protection, and one less thing to worry about.

Professional-grade performance

You don’t need to run an enterprise company to expect enterprise-level performance from your devices. Keeping pace with best-in-class technology enables small and medium-sized businesses to minimize disruptions while maximizing employee productivity.

Intel® Core™ i5 and Intel® Core™ i7 processors ensure day-to-day performance doesn’t lag during busy periods, when they’re needed most. With industry-leading Intel® Core™ processors at the heart of the Intel vPro® platform, business owners can ensure their vital applications aren’t slowed down by substandard hardware.

Complete management

Aging, high living costs prompt small business owners to sell

An aging Canadian population and demand for higher wages are among the factors pressuring small Canadian business owners to sell their companies, according to a seasoned expert in mergers and acquisitions.

Michael Morrow, managing director of merger and acquisitions and capital markets at BDO Canada, is forecasting a rise in the sale of businesses within the next five years compared to the previous half decade.

He attributes that forecast to a lack of succession options for aging Canadian business owners, post-pandemic burnout among entrepreneurs and pressure to match competitive salary expectations amid high cost of living.

“The drivers for business owners to sell that we’re seeing have a lot to do with an aging population and no plans for family members to take over the companies,” Morrow told BNNBloomberg.ca in a telephone interview.

SUCCESSION GAPS

After decades of growing a business and steering it through the pandemic, many owners feel it is time to sell their companies now that their businesses have recovered, Morrow explained. However, many business owners do not have successors in place to take over their operations, he added.

“Another reality that is pushing owners to sell their businesses is the lack of management they have been able to retain since COVID,” Morrow added.

HIGHER WAGE DEMANDS

Demand for higher wages is also posing challenges for small businesses, Morrow said.

Small businesses can’t find the right employees, he said, because qualified candidates are seeking opportunities at larger corporations that can pay higher salaries or offer better employment perks, he explained.

Morrow is observing these trends through clients he works with at BDO Canada which offers accounting, advising and professional services to businesses.

“Someone with 20 to 30 years of expertise in a field is now a highly sought after resource in this labour market and large companies will bid to have them,” Morrow said. “This leaves smaller companies with less competitive options to offer them.”

TECHNOLOGY COSTS

Another challenge driving business owners to sell is the steep cost of new technology used in business operations today, he added.

“We’re seeing a lot of owners who have been in business for years who are now simply unable or unwilling to invest in the technology needed to bring their companies up to speed. They either

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