wl + Al4 «The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, November 11, 1998 | TERRACE STANDARD Business REvIEwW Businesses seem to be | weathering the storm By JEFF NAGEL MERCHANTS bracing for economic doom here are in many cases finding things aren’t as bad as they feared. At least so far. “There scem to be a lot of businesses that are some- what surprised that they’re doing fairly well,'? says city economic development of- ficer Ken Veldman. While some businesses are hurting badly, Veldman says he’s had reports from many others of unexpectedly good revenue numbers so far this year. “They're not breaking any records, but ithey’re close to historical levels,” he said. And, Veldman says, in the absence of any further dis- asters — like a complete shutdown of a local sawmill — it may be possible for many retail and other outlets to hang on at present tevenue levels for eventual economic § improvement, possibly by mid to late next year. “if you're doing okay now and you’re making ends meet it’s probably not going to get any worse.” “Barring nothing more disastrous happening, I think we’re starting to level out,’ Veldman said. It’s now been close to two years since the Skeena Cel- Julgse. crisis began and. many entrepreneurs are now realizing they can survive it. Veldman said most businesses have made the necessary adjustments to reduce costs and survive on somewhat lower revenue levels. Staff hours have been trimmed, inventory is pared down and on a personal level people are often decid- ing to make do with the same car or couch for anoth- er year, Veldman noted. He zlso suspects savings rates at’ well up. ‘*Phings have stabilized out over the last year or so,’’ he said. “So if you’re doing okay now and you're making ends meet it’s prob- ably not going to get any worse,'” he said, There’s been a flutry of business closures in Prince Rupert in recent wecks. But Terrace so far hasn't seen significant casualties, Veldman said. The Co-op shutdown in June was the only major closure so far. And that’s viewed by many as some- thing that would have hap- pened regardless of the econonty because of compe- tition fom new big box retailers that came to town, Also encouraging, Veld- man says, is the fact con- struclion hasn't dried up completely and that major developers — including one thinking of building a strip mall — are still eyeing the ci There is some interest in Terrace from potential in- vestor types,'’ he said. ‘“The fact that they’re looking is a positive comment.’’ Veldman said businesses that have had the best suc- cess in keeping _ their revenue up are the ones that are marketing to the larger region and getting customers from Prince Rupert, Kitimat, the Nass, the Hazeltons and Stewart. “People targetting regional customers are still doing surprisingly well,’’ he said. “So thank you Kitimat, and to a certain ex- tent thank you Rupert.” Retail merchants are now looking ahead to the critical Christmas season, Veldman said, The key to surviving 1999 will be how good Chrisimas is, how badly sales slump in the normal post-Christmas slowdown and whether major industries manage to keep local people working, he added, March is one critical date because that’s when Skeena Sawmills’ work-sharing program runs out. West Fraser has said it will then reduce the mill to just one shift — laying off up to 90.----; workers — if markets aren’t“~ improving. “Next spring is going to be a real telling time,” Veldman said. If a sawmill does dramati- cally cut its workforce or go down altogether, Veldman said, businesses may have to drop down another siep to even lower revenue levels. However by then there’s also some hope that the key Japanese economy could be showing signs of life, with a commodity price rebound not far behind. “If Japan gets its act to- gether and does some pretty needed restructuring within its banking sector this winter, by next spring you | May see some turnaround in . terms of commodity: prices,’’ he said, Again, many businesses have been expecting worse © and are trying to build in room in their budgets to deal with any more trouble that could arise. “A lot of people have de- cided to go at a lower level to be on the safe side.’’ Terrace Forest Northwest Loggers Asseciation is having a Commercial Thinning And New Forest Opportunities Information Workshop WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 25 1:00 pm - Located at the Coast Inn Of The West, Room 328 Presentations by: M.O.F; BC Wood Specialties Group, SCI, City of Industry Development Strategy, Harvesting & Training Consultants Work Shop Starts At 1 pm Sharp! 5:00 pm ie COMIC SHOP owner Gerry Mattson says his regional and mail order business is providing steady revenue —-aven in a recessian, Even comic store’s okay. HOW DOES a comic book store stay alive during a recession? Gerry Mattson, owner of Comic Encounters on Lazelle Ave., says his seven-year-old business is alive and well thanks to a combination of steady regional sales, mail order business, Internet sales and even tourist traffic. He admits the comics and games he sells are purely discretionary spending for his customers” — and theoretically one of the first things to go when times are tough. “It’s certainly a luxury, but people tend to find the money,”’ he said. One advantage is that his shop is well established. So when two similar out- lets in Prince Rupert closed recently, his store immedi- ately began seeing more customers. Like other entrepreneurs, Mattson is being defensive and trimming his costs as much as possible, When his one employee left town to go back to school this fall, he didn’t hire a replacement and opted to run the store solo for a while. But he says he’s optimistic that his store and Terrace will be here for the long run. Networking.session here ‘-A CHAMBER of Commerce business mixer happens Thursday evening from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. The networking session is hosted at Elan Travel by owner George Clark, "Heart disease and ‘Stroke. cause each year. 37% of Canadian death F888: -HSF-INFO Where good friends meet SEE YOU TONIGHT EVERY FRI& SAT PRIME RIB NIGHT Dinner: Sun-Thurs - 5-10, Fri-Sat - 4-10 Lunch: Tue-Fri - 11-2 Steak & A332 Lakelse Ave., Terrace, Seafood 635-9161 Take Your Time. | Freedom 30 gives you all the time in the world on your first 30 calls cvery month. You talk as long as you like - or not at all There's no hurry. ’. Freedom 30 also gives you up to 1000 minutes "of free weekend calling each month. And additional airtime (if you need it) is only 30 cents a minute. | s30'r°: KEITH ANE. 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